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Tuesday, November 27, 2001

Players in the NHL are insulated from many of the realities of everyday life. Their tax liabilities dwarf the gross earnings of most workers. They receive raucous applause simply for doing their jobs well. And despite crisscrossing North America for six or more months every year, most take only a handful of commercial flights, if that.

Even though most teams, including the Penguins, travel to and from games exclusively on charter flights, players are pretty much unanimous on the need for stricter airport security. Especially European players who are accustomed to more rigorous safety inspections in their homelands.

"It would mean more delays and more people upset with longer lines, but you have to do it," said defenseman Darius Kasparaitis, a native of Lithuania. "Especially with the situation the way it is now in the world. You have to check all the bags."

Center Robert Lang, who grew up in Czechoslovakia, likened air travel in the United State to "taking a bus" because so many people do it so often and said part of the reason it is viewed differently on the far side of the Atlantic is that flying isn't such a common mode of transportation.

"In Europe, it's a little bit different," he said. "Airports always were special. The screening, the whole luggage check and all that always has been a lot more serious. People don't fly as much as here, so they can do that."

Left winger Jan Hrdina, another Czech, acknowledged that he doesn't travel extensively in the off-season because, "when I go [back to the Czech Republic] for the summer, I pretty much want to be at home." Still, he isn't certain there is a major difference in security levels between European airports and those here.

"I think it's pretty much the same," he said. "At least what I've seen [in] London, Frankfurt, Prague, Paris."

Lang spends his off-seasons in South Carolina and hasn't been back to Europe in several years. He doesn't sound like he's eager to return, either.

It's nothing against the Czech Republic, or anyplace else on the continent, for that matter. Just that Lang doesn't have the confidence in commercial air travel that he once did.

"It's just a feeling," he said. "If it would be necessary [to fly], yeah, I would do it. But the feeling wouldn't be the same."

Trivia question

How many times have the Penguins avoided being shut out over the course of a season? Answer at end.

Mixed blessings

As lines go, a unit featuring Mario Lemieux between Martin Straka and Alexei Kovalev would be better than most. Maybe all.

A defense pairing featuring veterans Janne Laukkanen and Hans Jonsson would be able to get steady work on a lot of teams, too.

Just a few weeks ago, the Penguins could put those guys together on a pretty fair five-man unit. Trouble is, the only place it could work was in the training room, because everyone on it was injured.

The Penguins are a little healthier these days -- Lemieux (hip) and Straka (leg) are the only ones still unable to play, although no one seems to know precisely when either will play again -- but Coach Rick Kehoe knows that simply getting key players back comes with no guarantees.

That the danger of a letdown might even outweigh the benefits of returning to something near full strength.

"We're getting guys back, but the thing is, when you get your players back, the other players still have to do what they've been doing," Kehoe said. "If they don't do what they were doing before, we're in trouble again.

"That's what we're trying to watch, that we don't lose what we've worked at so far. We've got to keep that work ethic, keep those things we're doing as a team. Keep that, and let the other guys do their thing."

Two of a kind?

General Manager Craig Patrick caused a few eyebrows to arch in the off-season when he suggested the style of play of 20-year-old center Kris Beech, newly acquired from Washington in the Jaromir Jagr trade, was reminiscent of that of Ron Francis.

Francis, of course, will be a first-ballot Hall of Famer when -- if? -- he retires, but the comparison wasn't as outlandish as some might have thought at the time.

For while Beech has a little catching up to do -- he trails Francis by 1,630 or so points and a couple of Stanley Cup rings, for starters -- he also shows many of the same traits that have made Francis one of the NHL's top centers for the past two decades.

He is strikingly comfortable on every area of the ice and in game situations, a rare quality in a player his age, and has excellent instincts and hockey sense that complement his skill level.

That doesn't mean Beech's career will rival the one Francis has had; few guys in the history of the game have. Still, he's given the Penguins every reason to believe he'll be a valuable two-way contributor for a lot of years.

And while it's a reach to suggest that any similarity between Beech and Francis is purely coincidental, Beech insists that he didn't model his game after Francis'. Or that of any other player, for that matter.

"I was a hockey-watcher in general," he said. "I'd watch all the best players and try to learn things from all of them. Just take little things from all of them."

Old foes

Larry Robinson and Kehoe have been familiar with each other since they competed in the old Ontario Hockey Association.

And while both are best known for what they accomplished as players -- Robinson was a Hall of Fame defenseman, Kehoe a lethal goal-scorer -- each has moved into coaching and had some measure of success.

Robinson endured a mostly forgettable four-season stint in Los Angeles but subsequently led New Jersey to the 2000 Stanley Cup championship and back to the Cup final last season.

Kehoe's resume is decidedly skimpier -- he has run the bench for just 19 games since replacing Ivan Hlinka as coach of the Penguins Oct. 15 -- but his work has begun to get a little notice around the league.

What has gotten most people's attention, including that of Robinson, is how much more disciplined and determined the Penguins have been than in some past seasons.

"You're going to get a heck of a lot of effort out of this team, which is what I've noticed [since the coaching change]," Robinson said.

"I think the biggest difference from when I saw them before and since Ricky's taken over is that they're more conscious of their defensive-zone coverage and extremely aggressive. They're working hard."

Trivia answer

The Penguins were not shut out in the 1989-90, 1990-91 or 1993-94 seasons.