Having a Lemieux in a leadership role isn’t new territory for the Penguins’ organization.
Mario served as captain for 13 seasons, and has been the principal owner since 1999.
But at the team’s prospect development camp this week, it’s his son, Austin, who is starting to take charge.
Austin Lemieux, 22, is one of the oldest players in camp, which he is attending for the third consecutive year. That experience gives him more ability to help welcome younger players and newcomers to the organization he has known his entire life.
“A few guys asked me how many camps I’ve been to and I told them this is my third,” Lemieux said. “They kind of asked me a few questions, but I just say be yourself, enjoy it and take back as much as you can to your teams from what we do here. I think they’re doing it.”
It’s pretty much impossible for Lemieux to avoid his last name — it’s plastered on the side of the building, after all — but he also looks at this week as a chance to establish his own reputation as a hockey player, not just as Mario’s son.
“I just try and do my own thing,” Austin said. “You have the ups and downs of being his son, but it’s great. I just try and be myself every day, see where that goes.”
Over the past year, that journey has taken Austin out west, to Arizona State. He joined the Sun Devils’ Division I hockey program as a freshman last year, and redshirted the 2017-18 season. Even though he didn’t get into any games, he took plenty away from his first year as a college hockey player.
“I got a lot of development stuff done, out of the way,” Lemieux said. “I think it helped my game to come here to camp, work on little things. I think it just gets better every year.”
But it’s not quite the same as competitive action. The Sun Devils open the 2018-19 campaign Oct. 6 against Alaska-Fairbanks, and Lemieux is looking forward to that one.
“I think I’m ready to go first game,” Lemieux said. “It's going to be a good experience, and I think I’m ready to go.
“[It’s] just a great opportunity for me. Play D-1, hopefully play at a high level early on at this stage of my career. Looking to be a top-line player there, so I think I’m ready to go.”
As Lemieux spends the next few months getting ready to take the ice as a college player for the first time, he does have some resources at his disposal that other players probably don’t. Being Mario Lemieux’s son will afford you that.
He’s close with Sidney Crosby, who lived with the Lemieux family during his first few years in Pittsburgh, when Austin was in elementary and middle school.
“He’s more a mentor and a friend to me,” Lemieux said. “I look up to him and just like my dad, if I have any questions, he’s not shy to help out and he’s a great person to have.”
And, of course, he’s got his dad. Even if Austin is hoping to establish his own reputation as a hockey player first and Mario’s son second, he’s not going to turn down an invaluable resource like that. Austin said he talks to his dad “almost every day.”
“Get some pointers and stuff like that,” he said. “He’s great to ask any questions and be around.”
Jean-Sebastien Dea re-signs
The Penguins announced Thursday they had struck a one-year, two-way contract with forward Jean-Sebastien Dea. It carries an average annual value of $650,000 at the NHL level.
Dea, 24, played in five NHL games in 2017-18, scoring his first goal Jan. 23 against the Carolina Hurricanes. He tallied 50 points in 70 games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton last season.
Sam Werner: swerner@post-gazette.com and Twitter @SWernerPG.
First Published: June 28, 2018, 3:39 p.m.
