Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania • Page 55

C-16 PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1998 HOCKEY 9 feels eo explores swiicm The Penguins, in dire need of a first-line center to replace Ron Francis, could not do much better than to re-sign Nedved, although it is unclear if Nedved would want to return. Kondel has said throughout the summer that Nedved does not want to play in Pittsburgh again, having been embittered by the long stalemate. Nedved has not spoken to local reporters since last year. Nedved, 26, scored 78 goals in his two seasons with the Penguins, but has not played in the NHL since the 1997 playoffs. He has been staying mostly in the Czech Republic since then, managing only brief hockey stints in the International Hockey League and for a club team in his homeland.

By Dejan Kovacevic Post-Gazette Sports Writer Petr Nedved could switch agents as soon as tomorrow and, if he does, that would mark the most significant breakthrough in his year-long contract stalemate with the Penguins. Michael Barnett, the prominent California-based agent who secured a $48 million contract for Jaromir Jagr last season, confirmed yesterday that he has spoken with Nedved and his agent, Tony Kondel about taking over the negotiations with the Penguins. "We've had some discussions with Petr and Tony Kondel," Barnett said. "That's really all I want to say right now." Barnett, who also negotiated Sergei Fe-dorov's $26 million deal last season with the Detroit Red Wings, is more than familiar with Penguins officials, having spent several months working with owners Howard Baldwin and Roger Marino on Jagr's contract. And, perhaps more important, never at any point in those talks did either side characterize the other in rancorous terms, as has frequently been the case in the Penguins' dealings with Kondel.

If Nedved should choose to work around Kondel, he would not be the first client to do so this year. Josef Beranek, a journeyman winger who played for the Penguins briefly in the 1996-97 season, is believed to have negoti ated his own contract with Edmonton this summer after Oilers General Manager Glen Sather balked at dealing with Kondel. Beranek, like Nedved, missed a full NHL season because he could not agree to terms with the Penguins after the 1997 playoffs. Reached at his Calgary office Friday, Kondel was terse in his comments concerning Nedved's holdout, saying, "There is -nothing new to report" Craig Patrick, the Penguins' general manager, has been trying to trade Nedved, but has blamed Kondel for his inability to do so. Patrick said that when teams have inquired with Kondel about Nedved's salary demands, they have been turned off.

Holdout Petr Nedved has been talking to Jaromir Jagr's agent. off as Vs. PENGUINS NOTEBOOK Injured Stewart a no -show Formany of the Penguins' camp players, the big lure is simply a contract to skate in the MIL Bob DonaldsonPost-Gazette Forward Sean O'Brien and defeseman Tom O'Connor hit the ice for the first day of camp yesterday afternoon at Southpointe. fd 0 clean siieet 01 ice By Dave Molinari Post-Gazette Sports Writer Cam Stewart was dubbed "The Mini-Cam" when he broke in with Boston a few years back. Some observers saw him as a scaled-down version of Cam Neely, the Bruins' brilliant power forward.

Well, Stewart never lived up to those grand expectations, and played for Houston in the International Hockey League last season after being released by Boston. The Penguins gave Stewart a chance to revive his NHL career by inviting him to their training camp on a tryout, but his comeback hopes were torpedoed by a serious rib injury that will prevent him from reporting. "It's something that's going to keep him out a while," Coach Kevin Constantine said yesterday. Stewart and center Jan Fadrny, the Penguins' sixth-round draft choice in June, were the only two invitees who didn't show up for the start of yesterday's week of workouts for young players and free agents at Iceoplex at Southpointe. Center Alexei Kolkunov, who missed training camp last year because of a broken wrist, might not skate during the early days of camp because of a back problem.

One foot forward Defenseman Brad Werenka played nearly all of last season on a broken foot. Trouble is, he didn't discover it until after the playoffs. Werenka subsequently underwent surgery to repair the fracture, and said yesterday his rehabilitation included a six-week stretch when he was not permitted to put weight on the foot. Werenka's recovery is, according to Constantine, "way ahead of schedule" and Werenka has returned here so that he can receive therapy, but odds are his work in training camp will be limited. Although Werenka has skated, Constantine said he is "probably a month" from being fully prepared to play, and the Penguins are unlikely to jeopardize his return by rushing him into preseason workouts.

Tip-ins One of the most promising young players in camp is a Russian winger named Aleksey Morozov. He's not a rookie, however. Morozov simply has changed the English spelling of his first name to conform with the way it appears on legal documents. Because of a league rule that prohibited coaches from going onto the ice yesterday, the opening-days workouts were limited to informal scrimmages. Formal practices begin today at 10 a.m.

Constantine predicted that "20 to 25" of the players participating in the camp for rookies and free agents will be held over when the team's regular camp opens Saturday. By Dejan Kovacevic Post-Gazette Sports Writer On the big board behind Kevin Constantine's desk at Southpointe, he has mapped out all of the team's training camp plans through the end of this month. It is typical of the Penguins' coach, to account for every meticulous detail and leave little to chance. Yet, even though Constantine has had all summer to prepare for its opening, the portion of camp that is the least predictable is the on that comes first. Six days remain before the regulars skate into town, but yesterday, the initial wave of players reported to Iceoplex at Southpointe, the rookies, draft picks, minor-leaguers and other veterans grasping at a second chance in the NHL.

Who among the unknowns will make it? Constantine has no idea. Must be pretty frustrating, right? "Oh, it's a blast," Constantine said. "That's a big part of the fun. You have all these guys in there, a lot of them new to the organization, and you get a chance to see what they can do. The surprises in the first week are the best part." The Penguins discovered that a year ago, when their expectations from the first-week crop of unsigned participants were more than exceeded.

Players such as Rob Brown, Grant Jennings and Mike Donnelly were among the veterans invited to try out-then, with no promise of a contract and not much hope that their NHL careers could be resurrected. Predictably, Jennings and Donnelly fizzled quickly, but Brown was an instant hit. The coaches TomBarrasso. Who will be the Penguins' next unsigned upset, the next Brown, Skudra or Dome? Several candidates, rookies and veterans alike, hit the ice yesterday with an eye toward securing a contract. Among the older players are three left wingers with NHL experience: Gilbert Dionne, who turns 28 in 13 days, bolted onto the NHL scene in the 1991-92 season with 21 goals in 39 games for Montreal.

After that, he had seasons of 20 and 19 goals before sputtering his way out of the NHL. If he can show flashes of his old touch and combine it with two-way diligence, he might fit in with the Penguins. "Certainly, he's a guy who has some credentials," Constantine said. Dionne had 42 goals in 76 games last season for Cincinnati of the IHL. Steve Maltais, 29, has been a big scorer in the minor leagues for years, but never clicked in 95 NHL games, managing just nine goals.

In his past four seasons, all with Chicago of the IHL, he averaged 55 goals. Patrick Lebeau, 28, has been out of the NHL the past four seasons, having had three brief stints in the league between 1990-94. He scored 17 goals in 40 games for Cheux-de-fonds in Switzerland last season. The crop of unsigned rookies appears less likely to produce a surprise. Center Milan Kraft, the Penguins' top draft pick in 1998, is projected to be three years away from the NHL and is almost certain to head back to junior hockey and play for Prince Albert of the Western Hockey League.

Other youngsters looking for contracts, such as center Martin Sonnenberg, who had 40 goals in 72 games for Saskatoon of the WHL last season, most likely would need some seasoning in the minor leagues. "I wouldn't rule anything out," Constantine said of the rookies. "You just look back at Dome, and nobody was projecting that he'd make our team in his first year, and he did it." Those looking to match Dome's performance took their first step yesterday. Players reported to Southpointe at 8 a.m., underwent several hours of introductions and instructions from the coaching staff, then hit the ice in the afternoon for some informal sessions. Today, tomorrow and Tuesday, they will have two days of on-ice instruction before the three-day camp tournament begins Wednesday.

After that, several hopefuls will be sent packing before the big boys report Saturday. Maybe a couple dozen will stick around. "You need to have the practices for the purpose of education, to be able to teach them the drills and the way we do things," Constantine said. "And then you need the games for evaluation. Games are the best way that we can see how these players will do in our system." You can expect Constantine will cite the Rob Brown example a few more times in the coming week.

"Not all the guys last year made it, and not all of these guys will make it," Constantine said. "But Brownie came in here and showed all of us that he could play disciplined, that he was listening to the coaches and learning from them, and that he could keep up his intensity throughout the whole camp. Any of these guys this week can do that for us." watched him closely, and admired his enthusiasm and newfound commitment to two-way play. "I liked the staff and what they wanted to do, from my first day in camp," Brown recalled. "I thought that if I worked hard and showed them what I could do, that I would get the chance." Brown, who had been out of the NHL three years, got that chance, lingering through camp even when the regulars reported.

And, the day before the regular season, the Penguins signed him to a big-league contract. "He made us do it," Constantine said. "The way he played made us do it." Brown was not the only surprise. Of the unsigned players in camp a year ago, few rookies were given a realistic chance at making the team. Then Robert Dome, the team's first pick in the 1997 NHL Entry Draft, 17th overall, flashed a form that prompted the team to sign him to an NHL deal.

"We didn't have to sign him," Constantine said, pointing out that the team would have retained Dome's rights either way. "But Robert showed us in camp he could help us, that we would be smart to bring him in right away." Dome, 19, would go on to produce only five goals and two assists in 30 regular-season games, but he was one of just four 1997 first-round picks to play in at least that many games. Another rookie, Peter Skudra, proved that he could tend goal at a higher level than the International Hockey League by consistently stopping the puck in his first week at Southpointe, then excelling in preseason action. He will enter this camp as the No. 2 netminder behind CONTEST NO.

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