New Beginnings
By Bob Grove

Krys Kolanos was enjoying a storybook rookie season in the National Hockey League back in 2002. The promising Phoenix Coyotes' center, fresh off scoring the overtime goal that gave Boston College its first national championship in 52 years, had scored his first NHL goal in the second game of the season and was quickly establishing himself as one of the league's players to watch.

Then, on the night of Jan. 19, Buffalo's Vaclav Varada blind-sided the Calgary native from behind, crushing him into the glass and sending him out of the lineup for 22 games with a concussion. He returned to the ice for a game here in Pittsburgh on March 20, but he wouldn't be the same player for some time.

Post-concussion syndrome is a scary phrase for any athlete, and Kolanos can tell you about it first-hand. He tried to play in a preseason game against Anaheim in September 2002 and suffered another concussion, then wound up missing all but the last two games of the regular season.

"Fortunately, that was over three and a half years ago and I haven't had any problems since-knock on wood," says Kolanos, whom the Penguins acquired from the Carolina Hurricanes last month in the Mark Recchi trade. "It definitely tested my character and will, and it's something I'm proud of overcoming and being able to move forward from."

The 6-3, 210-pound Kolanos was assigned to the Penguins' AHL affiliate in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, where he promptly scored six points in his first seven games to continue what appears to be a real resurgence of his offensive game. He had 28 points in his first 29 AHL games this season, a production rate better than that he achieved in 32 AHL games two seasons ago with Springfield.

"I was thrilled when I first found out about the new opportunity I was going to have, but I was disappointed I didn't get the chance to start right away with the Penguins," he said. "I wanted to prove myself at the highest level. But it's making me work even harder down here to get that opportunity. I'm working hard and smart here every day for that opportunity."

Penguins' general manager Craig Patrick assigned Kolanos to the AHL, in part, "because we know they're going to play longer than we are this year."

Kolanos can use the games. He played only 22 games in Europe during the lockout last season, including seven-perhaps prophetically-with the Krefeld Penguins in Germany.

Like Phoenix GM Bobby Smith, who drafted the kid 19th overall in 2000, Patrick likes Kolanos' size and speed.

"That (speed) is one of the strong points of my game and always has been," said Kolanos, who was named to the inaugural NHL Young Stars Game and led all NHL rookies in 2001-02 with five game-winning goals despite playing only 57 games.

"Under the new rules, a player first and foremost has to be able to skate, to fly out there. I center my training around speed and power in the off-season; that's something I have focused on and it will be focused on even more this off-season."

Kolanos, who turns 25 this summer, also comes to the Penguins hoping for some stability after a crazy four-month trip around hockey this winter. He was placed on waivers by Phoenix while being reassigned to the AHL Nov. 11 and was subsequently claimed by Edmonton. After six games with the Oilers, he was on waivers for the purpose of another AHL assignment and was re-claimed by Phoenix Dec. 19. Nine days later he was traded to Carolina for Pavel Brendl, and two a half months later he was headed to the Penguins.

"For me it was an educational experience," he says. "The biggest thing I was able to take away from it is learning from a variety of different coaches. Edmonton was a great experience playing a higher tempo game they play there, and then in Carolina you hoped there would be an opportunity to take a run at the Stanley Cup.

"Now in Pittsburgh I have an opportunity with a great group of young guys and I'm looking forward to the opportunity for a fresh start."

So is Andy Hilbert, the 25-year-old center/left wing claimed on waivers from Chicago at the NHL trade deadline. The 5-11, 194-pound Hilbert, like Kolanos, played only two seasons of college hockey before turning pro but couldn't stick with the Boston Bruins, who drafted him 37th overall in the 2000 draft. He spent most of his first three pro seasons in Providence.

During the lockout, the former University of Michigan star became Providence's all-time leading scorer and finished seventh in the AHL scoring race with 37 goals and 79 points in 79 games.

"There's not much more I could have done in Providence," he says. "Obviously, the No. 1 goal is to play in the NHL; no one has aspirations to play in the AHL right off the bat. I was only 20 years old, and only a handful of guys can play full-time in the NHL when they're 20. Now I'm 25 years old, a fifth-year pro, and I'll carve myself a job in the NHL here in Pittsburgh."

Moved to center for the first time in four years, Hilbert scored a goal in his first game with the Penguins and had three points in his first two games playing on a line with left wing Tomas Surovy and right wing Michel Ouellet. More importantly, however, he was +2 and established himself as an effective penalty killer and a smart player.

"Guys are bigger, stronger and faster at this level, so you have to think ahead of them and be smarter. And when you get chances, you have to bury them," says Hilbert. "And you have to be good defensively; otherwise you won't play. You can't be a liability out there, and that's what I'm really trying to work at."

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.