Penguins To Name General Manager Today
The Pittsburgh Penguins have announced that they will name Ray Shero general manager this afternoon. Shero, 43 has been the assistant general manager for Nashville Predators for the past 7 yrs and was also an assistant GM for the Senators for 8 yrs. Two days ago it was reported Shero was the front runner to land the Bruins GM vacancy but issues over power and the idea of building a team with the likes of Crosby, and Malkin made him turn down the Bruins last night and turn his attention to the Penguins. More on this move tomorrow morning
My take: Ray Shero was a very good pick for this job. Most important he is young and helped build small market teams like Nashville and Ottawa to what they are today. Shero has had a very good draft record the past 7 yrs and that is a big reason why the Predators have averaged 98 pts per season the past 2 years. In the new NHL it’s all about building through the draft and finding a few pieces here and there. Nashville finished with 94 pts in 03-04 and upsetted the heavily favored Detroit Red Wings. To build on that after the lockout Nashville didn’t go out and bring in big names. They brought in Paul Kariya (2 yrs – 9 million ) who was a perfect fit for their system that relies on speed. Another big move they made was signing Yanic Perreault to the league minimum. The result: 22 goals and top 3 in faceoff percentage. The Predators finish the season with 106 pts earning a #4 seed in the playoffs. Overall it makes more sense bringing in a small market guy whose biggest attribute is scouting and drafting instead of a guy like Neil Smith.
