Very soon, he could be. The only question is when, not if, he will shed the title of associate coach and take over a team that is still very much in the Eastern Conference playoff race despite a 2-1 loss Monday to Tampa Bay.

This certainly isn't the way Hlinka wanted to debut -- losing a game and the Penguins' best player, Jaromir Jagr, who injured his right hamstring and will be out indefinitely.

"This was a big game for me," said Hlinka, the former Czech Olympic coach. "I hoped it would be better."

His first impressions of the Penguins are much like those who have watched the team all season; they often try to make an easy play difficult and overpass when they have good scoring chances.

"We play too complicated a game," Hlinka said. "We have to move the puck more. We have to shoot the puck more. We play a lot in the corners ...."

For now, Hlinka is undergoing an NHL orientation course, learning the players, the organization and the league while another former Olympic coach of renown, Herb Brooks, runs the team.

But Brooks suggested Hlinka's transition will be a short one. And, from the way he acted as soon as the game began, Hlinka clearly understands the Penguins now are his team.

Even though he had only one practice and one pregame skate beforehand, Hlinka was soon patting players on the back, leaning over when a player came off the ice to offer encouragement and a word or two of advice.

"Give me a couple of days, and we'll see what happens," Hlinka said. "I have to know about the players, know more about the players. After that, I will make decisions."

When the Penguins announced Feb. 7 that Hlinka would join them as soon as he finished coaching his former Czech team in a tournament, it was assumed Brooks would finish out the season and Hlinka would take over next season.

But from the body language being offered by both Hlinka and Brooks, who has not seemed to especially enjoy his return to NHL coaching, Hlinka's learning curve will be a short one.

"We welcome him with open arms," said Brooks, who was recalled from a scouting assignment to take over as interim coach when Kevin Constantine was fired Dec. 9.

Still, Hlinka said he would be "very happy if Herb Brooks stays the rest of the season." And general manager Craig Patrick said he will allow Brooks to decide how long he wants to stay around, even though Brooks is still living in a hotel and has never moved his wife to Pittsburgh.

"He's not going to coach forever," Patrick said. "We don't know when that time will come. He is welcome to stay as long as he wants."

But Patrick said Hlinka "will have more say" once he becomes more familiar with his new team.

Before getting hurt, Jagr, clearly tried to make an impression on his old -- and new -- coach. He went to the ice in the first period to block a shot on a Lightning two-on-one break, which might have been a first this season for the NHL's leading scorer. He later drew a high-sticking penalty during what for Jagr was an especially physical game.

Hlinka was expected to join the Penguins in Pittsburgh last week in advance of their four-game road trip, which continues Tuesday night against the New York Rangers. Coincidentally, that will be the 20th anniversary of the Brooks-coached U.S. Olympic hockey team's "Miracle on Ice" victory over the Soviet Union in the 1980 Lake Placid Games.

But Hlinka, who coached a mini-miracle of his own as the Czech Republic won the 1998 gold medal in Nagano, was delayed for several days as he awaited a work permit. He finally joined the Penguins on Sunday in Tampa, even if one of his three suitcases didn't. It was lost in transit.

Hlinka acknowledged part of his adjustment will be to speak English as a primary, not a secondary language. He will talk individually to the Penguins' half-dozen Czech players in Czech, but he will always use English when addressing more than one player.

"I can promise my English will be better every day," said Hlinka, who played for two seasons with the Vancouver Canucks from 1981-83. "English will be my language. I have to respect the other players, too."