The Pittsburgh Penguins brought back an old friend this week when they announced that former general manager Craig Patrick had been hired to serve as a professional scout. Patrick spent more than a decade in the team’s front office and helped build a two-time Stanley Cup champion, while also having his fingerprints all over the current Penguins’ mini-dynasty.
In the early years, Patrick was constructing the 1991 and 1992 championship teams (and the 1993 Presidents’ Trophy winning team) by acquiring players like Larry Murphy, Ron Francis, Ulf Samuelsson, and Rick Tocchet.
In the middle years, he still had some impact trades for the likes of Luc Robitaille, Petr Nedved, Sergei Zubov, Alex Kovalev.