Home >  Sports >  Notebooks

Tuesday, October 09, 2001

Mario Lemieux walked away from hockey for more than 3 1/2 years, then returned in December and promptly reclaimed his spot among the game's dominant forces.

It was the most stunning comeback in NHL history.

At least for a few months.

Remarkable as Lemieux's story was, it wasn't nearly as astonishing as what Bryan Berard, now with the New York Rangers, has managed to do.

Berard is just 24 years old -- Lemieux was 35 when he left retirement -- but he has come back from one of the most gruesome injuries the league has seen.

Berard, then a defenseman with Toronto, was inadvertently struck in the right eye by the stick of Ottawa's Marian Hossa March 11, 2000. The blow left Berard all but blind in that eye -- his vision was about 20/600 -- and forced him to retire.

But he had seven operations and eventually was fitted with a special contact lens that restored his vision to something above the league minimum of 20/400, and he sifted through several offers before accepting one from the Rangers.

That meant giving up $6.5 million in insurance payments he would have received for a career-ending injury, but his deal with New York is reported to be worth $11.75 million.

Not, according to the Penguins who know Berard, that cash would have been an issue with him.

"You know he turned down that [insurance money] in two seconds, so he could come back and play," said winger Dan LaCouture, who has played with and against Berard since he was 11 years old. "That's how much he loves the game.

"[Berard's comeback] didn't surprise me. Once his eye had progressed a lot, you knew a guy like that wasn't going to sit out. He wanted to come back. He's been itching to come back."

LaCouture said he realized when he saw Berard play in a Boston-area summer league that he was intent on getting back into the league.

"I was skating around and looked down at the other end and I saw Bryan," he said. "Then we were talking at center ice, and I knew he was close to coming back. I knew he was serious."

Whether he'll be successful is another matter. For while Berard was a gifted offensive defenseman in the first phase of his career, having impaired vision will make almost everything more difficult for him.

"He's a big kid, skates really well," said Penguins defenseman Ian Moran, a casual acquaintance of Berard's. "What he was so good at was finding the open guy, moving [the puck] quick and jumping up on the play. I really hope he can do it."

Whether he can remains to be seen, because hockey is a challenge even for those aware of everything happening around them.

"The game moves pretty fast, and there are big guys, pretty physical," Moran said. "I have pretty good vision, and it's tough enough."

Trivia question

Which Penguin holds the NHL record for most points in a season opener? Answer at end.

Coffey talk

Paul Coffey's critics -- and they are legion -- probably would have you believe his retirement announcement last week came a bit late. By four or five years. That Coffey ceased being an elite player long before a miserable stint with Boston early last season put the punctuation at the end of his career.

But to his teammates from the Penguins in the late 1980s and early '90s, Coffey was an extraordinary talent who added a dimension that few, if any, other players in NHL history have provided.

His work in the defensive zone could be downright comical at times -- a one-liner circulating at the 1991 Cup team's reunion last month suggested that the event's golf tournament represented Coffey's first chance to be "plus" in years -- but he had speed and skill rarely, if ever, found at his position.

"I don't think anybody could ever skate like he could," said left winger Kevin Stevens, who played with Coffey with the Penguins. "Not even close. He's in his own league.

"He passed the puck so hard; he was such a great passer. You just learn a lot from a guy like that."

And one thing people should be able to learn from Coffey in a few years is how to get to the Hall of Fame. Considering Raymond Bourque, who had 1,579 points, is the only defenseman in league history to surpass his total of 1,531, Coffey's an odds-on favorite to be inducted. Probably in his first year of eligibility.

"I'll bet there's a pretty good chance," Stevens said, laughing. "If I was a betting man -- which sometimes, I am -- I'd be willing to bet a little money that he ends up there, sooner or later."

Schedule consideration

The regular season is nearly a week old, and still the Penguins have more than a few unanswered questions. One of the most intriguing is how they will split the work between No. 1 goalie Johan Hedberg and his backup, Jean-Sebastien Aubin.

The idea is to get maximum mileage out of the top guy while giving his partner enough work that he can stay sharp in case an injury forces him to fill in as the No. 1.

Hedberg, who has not been particularly sharp to this point, seems willing to accept whatever division of labor the coaching staff settles on but made it clear that he likes as much work as possible.

"I'm the kind of guy who wants to play every game," he said. "I know that's not going to be the case -- I don't know what's going to happen during the season -- but a lot of goaltenders feel that way.

"You want to be playing. I wouldn't go and ask for a day off unless I was really, really not feeling good. I like to play."

Goalie coach Gilles Meloche, meanwhile, said shortly before the opener that there is no rush to establish a routine for how Hedberg and Aubin will be used.

"You can't tell before the season starts," he said. "If things are going well, maybe you leave [Hedberg] there until he gets tired.

"If things don't go the way you like, [Aubin] can get in there. That's the good thing about having two goalies who can play."

Retirement party

The final major act of the Raymond Bourque era played out Thursday night, when Boston retired his No. 77 sweater.

Colorado -- the team with which Bourque won the Stanley Cup in June, ending a 22-year quest -- will do the same later this season, but, aside from that championship, his time with the Avalanche will be little more than a footnote in his career.

Bourque already was an established star when Lemieux broke into the league in 1984 and, from Lemieux's perspective, probably still had a few good seasons left when he walked away from the game.

"He could still play the game if he wanted to," Lemieux said. "He played 35, 40 minutes last year in the playoffs and was still going strong at the end. It's quite amazing for a guy 40 years old to still be able to play that many minutes."

Bourque was a pretty remarkable talent throughout his career, though, and Lemieux regards his as one of the finest to play his position.

"He's probably in the top two of all time, as far as defensemen, or the top three. Just a guy who showed up every night and gave everything he had every shift, his dedication to the game. He worked hard throughout his 22 years, not only during the season, but in the off-season, and was a great example to the young guys.

"I never played against Bobby Orr, obviously, but [Bourque] has got to be up there with Bobby Orr, Denis Potvin. Those three guys ... Larry Robinson. But as far as talent, pure talent, he's probably at the top."

Trivia answer

Left winger Kevin Stevens set an NHL record by recording two goals and four assists in the Penguins' first game of the 1990-91 season, a 7-4 victory at Washington. Linemate John Cullen had five assists than night.