By Karen Price

The drill was nothing special -- a basic three-on-none during an informal pre-camp skating session -- unless you consider who was involved.

There was Mario Lemieux, who just four months ago seemed ready to retire from hockey, but is now reportedly in the best shape of his life. There was Mark Recchi, the former Penguins player now with the cross-state rival Philadelphia Flyers but still an area homeowner. And there was Aleksey Morozov, who hadn't been on the ice in a Penguins practice jersey in over eight months.

The trio went end-to-end six times in a row last Monday, weaving in and out of each other, trading passes and taking shots on goal. Morozov's passes were crisp. The shots rolled off his stick with ease and speed. And when he turned and twisted his wrists to stickhandle, the look on his face betrayed nothing but business as usual.

It appeared the broken scaphoid bone that ended his season last December was fully healed.

"Everything's good. No pain anywhere," Morozov said after coming off the ice at the Island Sports Center at Neville Island. "It feels good. My wrist is OK; now, I just have to try to be ready for the season."

Morozov's last game with the Penguins -- Dec. 10, 2002 in Toronto -- may as well have been eight years ago for all that's changed. When he last laced up the skates, "youth movement" meant putting Morozov and Jan Hrdina together on the ice. The Penguins were making headlines because of their power play, not their financial fragility. Eddie Olczyk was the interviewer, not the interviewee.

One surgery, four months of wrist immobilization and two-thirds of a year later, Morozov's ready to go again.

"Now, everything's coming back; it feels like everything's normal," he said.