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Penguins sign top pick C Crosby, re-sign C Lemieux

PITTSBURGH - The links between centers Sidney Crosby
and Mario Lemieux continue to grow.

On Friday, the Penguins signed Crosby, who was the first overall
pick in the July 30 draft, and re-signed Lemieux, their Hall of
Fame captain.

Terms of the deals were not disclosed, but Lemieux made $5.25
million in 2003-04.

Widely considered the best player available in an NHL draft
since Eric Lindros in 1991, Crosby's 2.51 points per game in the
Canadian Hockey League rank second only to the 2.81 of Lemieux,
who was chosen first overall by the Penguins in 1984. The only
other player Pittsburgh has selected with the top pick was
goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury in 2003.

Lemieux ranks seventh on the NHL's all-time scoring list,
amassing 683 goals and 1,018 assists in 889 games. He won six
scoring titles and three Hart Trophies before retiring after the
1996-97 season following a bout with cancer and two back
operations. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1997.

Lemieux, who also is the Penguins' chairman and CEO, returned to
the league in 2000-01 and recorded 35 goals and 41 assists in
just 43 games. In 2003-04, injury limited him to 10 games and
he managed a goal and eight assists.

Since then, Crosby was named the Canadian Hockey League's Player
of the Year for both 2003-04 and 2004-05, recording 120 goals
and 303 points in 121 games with Rimouski of the Quebec Major
Junior Hockey League.

The 5-11, 193-pound Crosby - who will reside at Lemieux's home -
will make his NHL debut at New Jersey on October 5, Lemieux's
40th birthday. The duo will have at least one year together
before the torch from one former phenom to another effectively
is passed.

Crosby and Lemieux will be joined by free agent signees Ziggy
Palffy, Mark Recchi, John LeClair, Sergei Gonchar and trade
acquisition Jocelyn Thibault as the Penguins attempt to rebound
from the worst record in the NHL in 2003-04 to one of the top
contenders in the Eastern Conference.

The Penguins also parted with a center Friday, trading Kris
Beech to the Nashville Predators for an undisclosed draft pick.

Beech, 24, has recorded 10 goals and 17 assists in 99 career
games with the Penguins and Washington Capitals. He was
considered the key to the three-player package Pittsburgh
acquired in July 2001 for superstar Jaromir Jagr.

In 79 games with Pittsburgh in 2001-02, Beech notched 10 goals
and 25 points. He registered 14 goals and 48 assists in 68
games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League
last season.

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