PRESTO, Pa. - Owner-player Mario Lemieux said he is more encouraged about the Penguins' future in Pittsburgh than he was last year, promising Thursday the team will be greatly improved as soon as this season under the new NHL labor agreement.

Lemieux also said the Penguins' proposed new owners will have more money to spend on star-quality players than his group did, and that he expects that slot machine money will be committed for a new Pittsburgh arena.

Lemieux was visibly more upbeat Thursday during his annual charity golf tournament press conference, possibly because a small market-friendly new NHL labor agreement may be announced within days or weeks.

But with the Penguins coming off a league-worst season last June, Lemieux warned that the clock was ticking on the team's future in Pittsburgh. Unless a new arena deal is in place when the Penguins' Mellon Arena lease expires in 2007, he said, the team is all but certain to leave.

"People are starting to talk about it (the arena), and I'm optimistic the right thing is going to happen to create a new facility for the city and the Penguins," Lemieux said. "I think, at the end of the day, it will happen."

Although city and Allegheny County officials and Gov. Ed Rendell have said there is no public tax money for the arena, Lemieux said he is convinced that newly enacted slots machine legislation can be the conduit for the arena money.

Lemieux revealed that the Penguins are talking to various groups - presumably, casino operators - about a venture guaranteeing arena construction. He said he expects the downtown Pittsburgh casino license to be issued in late 2006.

"We're still talking to a few people, but we haven't settled with anybody yet," he said.

Lemieux said he also expects lots of talking once the labor deal is done - namely, with some of the numerous free agents that will be available.

The Penguins have only about $10 million to $11 million committed in 2005-06 player salaries, meaning they could have $20 million or so in cap money available to upgrade their roster. They finished last in the NHL standings during the 2003-04 season.

"We'll be able to go out and sign some key free agents, and it's probably going to change the face of this team," Lemieux said. "I'm confident that with the young players we have in Wilkes-Barre, we can put a great product on the ice this year."

William "Boots" Del Biaggio, the San Jose, Calif., businessman who is buying the team, also will have more money to spend on players than the Lemieux group did.

"We are going to have a fair chance to compete against the bigger markets, and that's something we haven't been able to do the last three or four years," Lemieux said. "We had to trade some of our best talent because we couldn't afford all of them at the same time."

Asked who the Penguins might add, Lemieux jokingly rattled off the names of some of the Penguins' departed stars: "Kovy, Marty, maybe Langer" - referring to Alexei Kovalev, Martin Straka and Robert Lang.

Lemieux also said that he:

will retain a 5 percent stake in the Penguins and remain as the chief executive officer when the Del Biaggio group takes over, perhaps before the season starts in October.

knows of no other way to build the arena except with the slots money. "We've heard many times the county and city don't have any money and that's fine, but there's still a way to make it work if they want to," he said.

is not selling the team because doing so will make it easier to move the Penguins if a new arena isn't built. "I just thought this was a great opportunity for me to take some money off the table and it was just the right deal," he said.

believes the fans will return quickly in Pittsburgh, despite the NHL's lockout-lost 2004-05 season, if the team is greatly improved immediately. "If we have a good team, people are going to show up," he said. "That's the plan, to go out and get some free agents who can create some excitement."

still plans to play at least a season or two beyond this one, as long as he stays healthy.