The Pittsburgh Penguins brought Craig Patrick home,
Monday. The Penguins hired the 72-year-old Hall-of-Fame general manager as a
pro scout.
Patrick, who built the Penguins Stanley Cup teams of the
1990s managed to field competitive rosters throughout the late 1990s and early
2000s despite the Penguins organization’s severe fiscal instability. Patrick
was enshrined into the Hall of Fame in 2001. He was the Penguins GM from
1989-2006.
“Derek (Clancey) has taken on more responsibility making
player personnel decisions and has been more involved with free agency,”
Rutherford said. “With that, I wanted to add someone to our pro scouting staff,
and I knew that Craig was available. He became the obvious choice to me.”
Clancey, the director of pro scouting was in Anaheim
scouting the Anaheim vs. Colorado game, last night. Clancey’s presence added
more speculation to reports the Penguins and Anaheim have engaged in trade
discussions.
“He always has
been a great evaluator of talent and he brings a unique level of expertise to
our scouting staff,” Rutherford continued. “It’s also great to have Craig back
here with the Penguins, where he built such a legacy of success. We’re excited
to add him to our staff.”
Since his Penguins tenure, Patrick has been a senior
advisor or special advisor for Columbus and Buffalo but has not been officially
employed by an NHL club for a couple of seasons.
Patrick’s stamp is still on the current Penguins. He
selected Evgeni Malkin in 2004 NHL Draft (2nd overall), and in his final NHL
Draft with the Penguins, he selected Sidney Crosby first overall and Kris
Letang in the third round of the 2005 NHL Draft. Patrick was previously the GM
of the New York Rangers and famously an assistant coach to Herb Brooks for the
1980 Team USA, “Miracle on Ice.”
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