PITTSBURGH -- Mario Lemieux, whose comeback has excited his
sport as much as Michael Jordan's did for basketball, wants to be
hockey's dominant player again.
|  | | Mario Lemieux said a main part of his decision to make a comeback was so his 4-year-old son could watch him play in the NHL.
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"I'm not coming back to embarrass myself," Lemieux said at a
news conference Monday. "That's the last thing I would do. I
wouldn't come back unless I thought I could play at a high level
... to try to regain the title of the best player in the world.
It's something I have the desire and passion to do."
Lemieux said his unexpected comeback after a 3½-year layoff has
nothing to do with enhancing the finances of the Pittsburgh
Penguins franchise he now owns.
"The most important thing is I miss the game tremendously," he
said.
He also predicted this comeback will go more smoothly than those
he made in 1991 from back surgery, in 1993 from Hodgkin's disease
and in 1995 from a year's layoff for health reasons.
"I feel that being 35 isn't too late and I have a lot of great
hockey left in me," Lemieux said. "This comeback, I feel, will be
the easiest because I've been resting and I'm healthy and I have a
fresh start mentally and physically."
Lemieux also said Penguins lack only an experienced leader to
challenge for the Stanley Cup, and his return can help four-time
scoring champion Jaromir Jagr break out of a long scoring slump.
"I play this game to win championships, and I feel this team is
very, very close to competing for a Stanley Cup. I do believe we
need some experience down the stretch, especially in the
playoffs," he said.
Lemieux, a six-time NHL scoring champion, first began thinking
of playing again early this fall. He started working out on his own
Nov. 1, borrowing an exercise bike from the Penguins' practice
rink, and began skating Nov. 28 with the help of former Penguins
defenseman Jay Caufield.
Penguins employees didn't become suspicious until he stopped
keeping regular morning office hours.
"I've made a lot of progress in 2½ weeks," he said. "I feel
very good about my chances. The first week was discouraging. I
couldn't skate the way I used to, but I've showed a lot of progress
in the last week or 10 days."
Lemieux plans to start practicing with the Penguins early next
week and could play again in late December, though he said it might not be until early January.
"I'll come back when I'm ready to play at a high level," he
said. "I do intend to come back ready to go."
Lemieux's remarkable and unparalleled progression from hockey's
most dominating player to team owner and back to player has created
never-envisioned problems with the NHL Players Association. But he
said none are serious enough to derail his comeback.
"I'm going to pay my union dues," he said.
It was agreed in negotiations with the players association that
he will be paid $1.41 million -- the league's average salary -- even
though he will essentially be paying himself. If he had paid
himself minimum wage, it would have dragged down the average
salary, a figure used in contract negotiations.
Lemieux must remain on the NHL's Board of Governors because it
was a legal requirement of his ownership group's takeover of the
Penguins in federal bankruptcy court. But he will not take part in
any sensitive issues relating to owners-players relations, and he
will divorce himself from much of the team's day-to-day business
decisions.
He expects no trouble in the locker room because of his unique
role as owner-player.
"I'm going to be a player, just like all of them are," Lemieux
said. "I'm going to tell them I'm coming back to be a player. I'm
going to be their teammate. ... Being a player will take up 99
percent of my time."
Lemieux will play at least the rest of this season before
assessing how successful his comeback was, but he currently plans
to play for at least several more years.
"I see guys playing this game at 40, and playing very well,"
he said.
He became teary-eyed when he said he also wants to play again so
his four children, especially 4-year-old son Austin, can see him
play for the first time.
"He's a young kid who gets up early in the morning with a
hockey stick in his hands and he loves the game of hockey, and
he'll get to see Daddy play before it's too late," Lemieux said.
Lemieux was so secretive about his comeback, he didn't even tell
his children until the news broke Thursday.
"We told them, 'Daddy's coming back to play with Jagr,"'
Lemieux said, drawing loud laughter.
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AUDIO VIDEO
 Mario Lemieux makes his return official at a Monday news conference.
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 Mario Lemieux says he decided to play the game of hockey to win championships.
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Wayne Gretzky says Mario Lemieux will be a strong force for the Pittsburgh Penguins.
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ESPN's Al Morganti talks about Mario Lemieux desicion to skate again for the Pittsburgh Penguins.
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