Penguins defenseman Darius Kasparaitis insists he still hasn't decided whether to have season-ending surgery on his right knee, but it sounds as if he's becoming resigned to the idea.

"I feel a little bit better, but not significantly," he said yesterday from his off-season home in New York. "It's still sore and still a little swollen.

"I don't want to say anything right now, because I don't want to make promises. I don't want to say I'm not going to play because I'm not sure."

Kasparaitis damaged the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee during the Penguins' 2-2 tie March 5 with Edmonton. He initially injured the knee during a preseason game Sept. 20 in Detroit.

He is scheduled to return to Pittsburgh tonight and have his knee examined before the Penguins play Dallas tomorrow night. After that, Kasparaitis said, "we'll decide how to long to do the rehab or whether to do surgery."

An operation, which would include a rehabilitation period of at least six months, is inevitable at some point. Kasparaitis put off surgery after he first injured his knee and would prefer to delay it until after the playoffs.

Kasparaitis said it will be "mostly my decision" on which course to follow. He added, though, that doctors have warned him that if he opts against surgery now, "the chances of hurting knee again are very high. It's a risk."

One that Kasparaitis, who is only 26, seems increasingly reluctant to take.