Pittsburgh Penguins sign GM Ray Shero to 5-year extension; A look at his biggest moves

FILE - This June 12, 2009, file photo shows Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Ray Shero holding up the Stanley Cup after the Penguins beat the Detroit Red Wings 2-1 to win Game 7 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup finals, in Detroit. The Penguins have signed general Shero to a five-year contract extension that runs through the 2015-16 season. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)

AP

The Pittsburgh Penguins announced that they signed GM Ray Shero to a five-year extension today.

The Penguins and Shero have agreed on a five-year contract extension that ensures the team’s 2009 Stanley Cup champion architect will remain in Pittsburgh through the 2015-16 season.

“I’d like to thank Mario Lemieux, Ron Burkle and the ownership group for showing confidence in me,” Shero said. “They made a decision to hire me back in May of 2006, and it’s worked out for both of us. The ownership group has supported me and given me the resources to do the job. The stability we get from with our ownership group is how you have success both on and off the ice.

“I wanted to stay here long term. This is a good fit for me and my family.”

Despite the fact that Craig Patrick laid some of the groundwork for the 2009 Stanley Cup winning team, there’s no doubt that Shero helped the team get over the hump once he took over. Shero was a member of the Nashville Predators front office before coming to Pittsburgh and that interest in adding grit and hustle shows; in fact, I’ll look back at the trade that shipped turnover machine Ryan Whitney to Anaheim for forechecking demon Chris Kunitz as the moment the Penguins truly became difficult to play against.

Here’s a quick look at some of the biggest decisions Shero made as the Penguins general manager.

• Promoting coach Dan Bylsma - You cannot say Michel Therrien was a horrible coach, not after helping the team make the Stanley Cup finals. Still, his message was fading on a young Penguins team, so Shero decided to fire Therrien and bring Bylsma up from the minors. The result: the team made a late surge to the playoffs and a Cup win.
• Drafting and signing Jordan Staal - Drafting Staal with the No. 2 pick helped the team become one of the league’s strongest up the middle, though I can’t help but wonder if they could have squeezed later draft picks such as Jonathan Toews, Nicklas Backstrom or Phil Kessel into their cap instead.
• Trade deadline dealings - Landing Marian Hossa and Bill Guerin ranks as some of the best post-lockout deadline deals. Trading for the semi-miserable Alex Ponikarovsky last season? Not so much.
• He wisely resisted the urge to lock up less essential players (Ryan Malone) as well as guys who are aging (Sergei Gonchar). Instead, he signed young players from Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin to Kris Letang and Marc-Andre Fleury.
• Signing Paul Martin and Zbynek Michalek to huge deals this off-season will make a big impact on how his next five years will look.

So that’s a quick snapshot of Shero’s time with the Penguins. Will he add another Cup to his resume in the next five years? That much is unclear, but it’s tough to say that the team isn’t in good hands.