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Tuesday, March 19, 2002

By Dave Molinari, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

ATLANTA -- Shane Endicott hasn't met Lee Giffin. Never was introduced to Rusty Fitzgerald. Wouldn't recognize Domenic Pittis if they collided on a street corner.

But he knows all about them. Or, more to the point, their legacy.

The one they share with Pavel Skrbek, Marc Hussey and Richard Park. And Mark Major, Dave Capuano and Rick Tabaracci.

All, like Endicott, were second-round draft choices by the Penguins. Few had any impact in the NHL, and those who did didn't do it with the Penguins.

And so Endicott, a rookie center drafted 52nd overall in 2000, is confronted not only by the challenges of adapting to the NHL, but by the specter of all the Penguins' second-rounders before him who failed.

Then again, even though he jokes, "I'll try to stay away from those guys," Endicott isn't inclined to get bogged down by the finer points of franchise history.

"I don't worry about that at all," he said. "All I want to do is go out, work as hard as I can and, if it doesn't work out, at the end of the day, I can say I worked my very hardest, so I'm going to be happy no matter what happens."

Well, even if he decides to retire tomorrow, Endicott will be guaranteed of going down in Penguins history as one of franchise's greatest second-round picks of the past 20 years or so.

After all, even though the Penguins are returning him to their American Hockey League affiliate in Wilkes-Barre after acquiring veteran forwards Shean Donovan, Kent Manderville and Jeff Toms, Endicott still has four NHL games on his resume.

And while that's not a terribly imposing total, it's more than Alexander Zevakhin, Jeremy Van Hoof and Brian Gaffaney -- combined.

Endicott made it to the NHL at the tender age of 20 largely because of the glut of injuries to Penguins centers -- Mario Lemieux, Robert Lang and Wayne Primeau are unable to play -- but came by his promotion from the Baby Penguins honestly.

He had 19 goals and 19 assists in his first 55 games with Wilkes-Barre, performing well enough during his first pro season to be selected for the AHL All-Star Game.

But while it's Endicott's offensive numbers that got the most notice, his future in the NHL won't necessarily be as a big-time scorer. He has the size (6 feet 4, 200 pounds) and mind-set necessary to be an effective checker, a critical niche on any club.

"This year, in the AHL, I was put in a first-line role and [used on the] first power play and all that, where I was put in situations where I had to score goals and produce points," Endicott said.

"But I have also in the past been put in a third-line role, where I had to stop the other team's top line. So I'm comfortable playing in any role the coach will put me in."

Penguins Coach Rick Kehoe allows that, "we really don't know yet what kind of player he's going to be." And while he's been impressed by Endicott's work in his own zone -- "He does a lot of good things defensively that he's learning at this level" -- Kehoe isn't prepared to write him off as a potential contributor to the offense.

That's only reasonable, in light not only of Endicott's output with the Baby Penguins, but of the 36 goals and 43 assists he compiled in 72 games with Seattle of the Western Hockey League a year ago.

"It's a matter of maybe, offensively, getting that one goal that will jump-start him, give him a little more confidence," Kehoe said. "He put up some numbers in the American League, but this is a little different league. When you get to the NHL, sometimes you have to adjust your game and [fill] a different role than you did in another league."

Regardless of his niche, just how long of a career Endicott has in the NHL might hinge, in large part, on his skating. That was his most striking weakness when the Penguins drafted him, but has improved significantly over the past couple of years.

Nonetheless, no one has been moved to compare him to, say, Pavel Bure just yet, which is why Endicott is adamant about upgrading his skating during the off-season.

"I'll be going to power-skating schools," he said. "Every day, I'll be go to the rink and work on my skating. I've been doing that for the last two years.

"If I didn't do that, there's no way I would have played four games in the NHL. Or maybe even the AHL."

Which would have made him a classic second-round draft choice for the Penguins.

Trivia question

When Eric Meloche was promoted to the Penguins, Jan. 14, he joined Gilles Meloche to form the second father-son team in franchise history. Who made up the first? Answer at end.

Football investment

The Los Angeles Times reported Sunday that Ron Burkle, one of the Penguins' primary investors, is part of a group investigating the possibility of building a privately financed stadium in downtown Los Angeles, with the ultimate objective of getting an NFL franchise for that city.

And while Penguins owner Mario Lemieux said yesterday that he was unaware of Burkle's involvement in the group, headed by fellow billionaire Philip Anschutz, there ultimately could be repercussions for the Penguins if the plan succeeds, because the NFL frowns on having owners involved with other leagues.

Lemieux declined to discuss the issue, saying simply, "I don't want to talk about that."

He did, however, reiterate his long-standing position that, even though the Penguins lack the financial resources to compete with teams as Detroit, Philadelphia and the New York Rangers, he has no interest in adding investors.

"Not right now," he said. "It's always tough, but we're trying to run it like a business. It's tough to compete with the big markets -- we're not a big market -- so just to go out and raise money and [destroy] the [salary] structure we have now is not something I'm interested in."

Burkle, incidentally, was part of a group that made an unsuccessful attempt to bring the NFL back to Los Angeles in 1999.

Last-minute deals

General Manager Craig Patrick has until 3 p.m. today to work out trades, and there's plenty of precedent for his colleagues using every minute of time available.

Indeed, Patrick contends, if circumstances are right, he and another general manager could begin discussing a trade by 2:59 p.m. and still slip in under the deadline.

"It could take a minute," he said. "But it also could take months."

Or, in the case of the deal that sent Billy Tibbetts to Philadelphia for Kent Manderville, Sunday, it could take an hour. Patrick said talks with Flyers General Manager Bob Clarke began around 3:30 p.m. and the deal was done by 4:30.

While there is considerable sentiment to have the trade deadline be earlier in the season, with the objective of reducing the number of teams that "rent" a player for the postseason, Patrick does not support any such move.

"I'm satisfied with it the way it is," he said. "I like it right where it is. I don't think there should be any changes. But ... there are a number of people who think it should be changed."

Playing for jobs

As the Penguins moved closer to the end of the regular season -- and, in the process, toward formal elimination from playoff contention -- it's inevitable that someone will intone somberly that they remain a dangerous, highly motivated team, because "they're playing for jobs next season."

Whether that observation comes from inside their locker room or from an opposing player won't matter.

The real issue, it would seem, is this: Shouldn't the Penguins -- and every other player in the league who doesn't plan to file retirement papers this summer -- have been doing that since training camp?

Trivia answer

The first father-son team in Penguins history featured Wayne Hicks, who played from 1968-70, and his boy Alex, who played 1996-98.