Olivier is fired up

I don't know if I've talked to anybody all summer who was more fired up about coming to Fort Wayne than Olivier Legaut, and that's saying something considering how excited Mathieu Curadeau and Craig Cescon were.

``Once you've played in Fort Wayne, you always want to play there,'' Legault said. ``I'm so excited, I've got goose bumps sitting here thinking about what opening night is going to be like. It's going to be like my first pro game all over again.''

Legault said he weighs 238 right now and wants to get down to 230 by training camp so he can be quicker. He recently got engaged to a Fort Wayne girl, Rachel Weaver, and said he'll be down early for preseason skates.

``I have to show up there and do what I can do,'' he said. ``I won't be coming in out of shape. You still have to show that you want to be a Komet in camp."

Komets general manager David Franke said the team is still looking for toughness if the right person comes along.

``I think with Olivier we know what we're getting, and we know all about him,'' Franke said. ``He's big, he's tough, he's great in the room and he's a professional. The biggest thing now with Olivier compared to when he was here before is he has his head screwed on right and knows his role. He'll be happy to do whatever the club asks him to do.

``I think he'll help us out tremendously in an area that we needed some help last year. Mac fought everybody and did whatever the team needed. That was very remarkable about Mac. He was very willing to do it and never complained. WIth Olivier, we legitmately have somebody now to go up against the bigger guys in the CHl. We needed that element in our lineup.''