Pittsburgh sports fans have it good. Sure the Pirates have endured 19 straight years of losing and the Penguins suffered through their dark period, but since 2006, the Penguins and Steelers have both been championship caliber teams each and every season. While the talent on the ice and field get most of the recognition, it’s the men behind the scenes who deserve the majority of the credit.
The years 2002-2006 were rough years for the Penguins as they missed the playoffs in each of the seasons. The “Igloo” was half-filled up with fans watching the likes of Kris Beech, John Sebastian-Aubin, Johan “The Moose” Hedberg, Milan Kraft, Ramzi Abid, Dick Tarnstrom and Rico Fata each and every night. When the lottery came along and the Penguins selected Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby, the team’s future looked brighter than ever. Talks of a new arena coming to town thanks to Mario Lemieux’s purchase of the team to prohibit it from moving had the city buzzing about hockey once again. All they needed now was a general manager to lead the way.
Ray Shero spent 14 seasons, six with Ottawa and eight with Nashville, as an assistant general manager which helped him gain the knowledge he needed when the Penguins announced him as their new general manager in 2006. Since that year, the Penguins have become one of the faces of the league and a mainstay in the playoffs each season. The Penguins won the 2009 Stanley Cup against the Detroit Red Wings, a year after losing to the Red Wings in the 2008 Stanley Cup. Shero has helped build a young nucleus through the draft and find hidden gems in midseason trades.
Shero has been able to sign Malkin, Crosby, Marc-Andre Fleury, Jordan Staal, Brooks Orpik, Kris Letang and others to long-term deals without jeopardizing the rest of the team. Shero has been able to pull off trades that added key role players to the team. In Feb. 2009, Shero traded defenseman Ryan Whitney to the Anaheim Ducks for Chris Kunitz and Eric Tangradi. In Feb. 2008, Shero traded Colby Armstrong, Eric Christensen and Angelo Esposito to the Atlanta Thrashers for Marian Hossa and Pascal Dupuis. Hossa helped lead the Penguins to the Stanley Cup that year before leaving for the Red Wings in the offseason. Dupuis however, was looked at as a throw in for the trade and has turned out to be a key player for the Penguins and is having his best year of his career this season.
Last season, with Crosby out indefinitely with concussion symptoms and Malkin out with a torn ACL, Shero made a trade to help the Penguins offense out. Defenseman Alex Goligoski was traded to the Dallas Stars for forward James Neal and defenseman Matt Niskanen. Neal didn’t contribute as much as Penguins fans had hoped last season with only one goal in 20 games. This season however, Neal has 21 goals in just 36 games and Niskanen has been a huge lift on the second powerplay with the absence of Letang on the point.
Not every trade a general manager makes works out the way they hope. Look at the 2009 deal that send Luca Caputi to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Alex Ponikarovsky. Ponikarovsky turned out to be a major bust for the Penguins but with that put to the side, Shero has a great track record. Shero has also been able to find key pieces to his teams on the free agent market. Darryl Sydor, Petr Sykora, Jeff Taffe, Miroslav Satan, Ruslan Fedotenko, Mark Recchi, Jarko Ruutu and Steve Sullivan have all contributed to the Penguins success over the past five years.
Pittsburgh has become a place of destination for hockey players. They have great ownership, great players, great management and great fans. Despite the injuries that seem to occur each and every season, the Penguins always find a way to get it down. If Crosby doesn’t play again this season, look for Shero to make a move to improve the team once again. Never doubt the man. In Shero we trust.
Photo Credit: jtbourne.com
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