Behind The Net
New Role For Olczyk
By Bob Grove

The day after Craig Patrick walked into the NHL Draft Lottery with his lucky four-leaf clover and emerged with Sidney Crosby, you could almost hear the gears turning in Eddie Olczyk's mind as the Penguins' coach sat on the periphery of a press gathering at Mellon Arena.

On the surface he was the same old Edzo, kidding with reporters and staff, shaking hands with people he hadn't seen much during the lockout, saying hello to everybody nearby. But as Patrick, team president Ken Sawyer and Mario Lemieux began to answer questions about the dawning of the Crosby era in Pittsburgh, Olczyk looked to be contemplating, oh, 66 or 87 possibilities at once.

"The direction is the same, but everything's been expedited with bringing in Mark Recchi, who adds so much on and off the ice, getting Mario healthy and the addition of a young player who has the opportunity to be. . . the sky's the limit," Olczyk said. "All of a sudden you've added three pieces - that could be the difference between 75 points and 95 points. It's unbelievable.

"It's an unbelievable city to live and play in. What better drawing card could you have than Mario? We've signed Recchi, and oh, by the way, we have one of the best players ever to come out of junior hockey. People liked what we were trying to do before the lockout. Seeing some of the young players: Ryan Malone, (Konstantin) Koltsov, (Brooks) Orpik"

Patrick, meanwhile, is hoping to sign Evgeni Malkin by Aug. 15 and promises to add at least one big-name forward sometime after the start of the Aug. 1 free agent season. But Olczyk insists that the temperature isn't rising in the coach's office.

"The fact of the matter is two years ago, Mario was in the lineup. It doesn't get much more pressurized than coaching arguably the greatest player that ever played the game.

"So for me it's putting guys in a situation to have success. I'm not looking at any more pressure than I had two years ago. Not at all. I'm going to put the same pressure on myself and I'll put the same pressure on the guys. Obviously, if you have more highly skilled players, you have a much better chance of competing and winning in this league. And that's certainly the direction that we're going."

Lemieux's ability to serve as a mentor for Crosby, both on and off the ice, is invaluable. But it won't hurt, either, to have a coach who has had a taste of what Crosby will be going through this season. Once upon a time, Ed Olczyk was an 18-year-old who was drafted third overall by his hometown Chicago Black Hawks and plopped right into the thick of the NHL.

"For me, yes, I can relate to a certain extent. Hockey skill-wise, we're not even in the same neighborhood because he's that good, so put the hockey side away," Olczyk says with a laugh. "But mentally, again, is where I feel my strong people skills will help - He's a young player that's going to need some guidance, and he's going to get that, obviously, in the dressing room with guys like Mario and Recchi there. Then it's up to me to put him in situations where he's comfortable. For young players in this league, there's transition; there's going to be good, there's going to be tough times. So you have to continue to talk and communicate, and I think that's one of my greatest skills."

PSR Senior Writer Bob Grove has been covering the Penguins since 1981 and currently serves as a regular co-host on the Penguins Radio Network.