Craig Patrick

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Craig Patrick bigraphy, stories - American ice hockey player

Craig Patrick : biography

May 20, 1946 –

Craig Patrick (born May 20, 1946) is a former American hockey player, coach and general manager, the son of Lynn Patrick and the grandson of Lester Patrick. During the 1980 Winter Olympics, Patrick was the Assistant General Manager and Assistant Coach under Herb Brooks for the United States men’s national ice hockey team, which won the gold medal and defeated the Soviet Union in the "Miracle on Ice". From 1989 to 2006, Patrick was the General Manager of the Pittsburgh Penguins where he oversaw back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 1991 and 1992, as well as the drafting and signing of some players that would later win a Stanley Cup title for the Penguins in 2009.

Amateur career

After spending most of his childhood in Wellesley, Massachusetts, he was sent at age fourteen to Quebec to play junior hockey in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League for the Lachine Maroons and later the Montreal Junior Canadians.

He attended the University of Denver where he helped guide the Pioneers hockey team to the NCAA championship in 1968 and 1969. He played on the US National Team for 1969–70 and 1970–71 seasons, including the 1970 and 1971 Ice Hockey World Championship tournaments while serving in the US Army.

NHL management and beyond

In 1980, he became director of operations for the New York Rangers and in 1981 became the youngest general manager in Ranger’s history. He also served as head coach of the Rangers for parts of two seasons (1980–81 and 1984–85).

He was named general manager of the Pittsburgh Penguins on December 5, 1989. During his tenure, the Penguins won two Stanley Cup championships, one President’s Trophy, and five division titles. Patrick also served as head coach of the Penguins twice, during the 1989–90 and 1996–97 seasons.

His early years as GM of the Penguins are remembered as some of the most productive in the history of the franchise. In 1990, he spent his first round draft pick on Czechoslovakian forward Jaromir Jagr. He traded the Penguins’ second round pick that year to Calgary for Joe Mullen, a player the Flames had considered to be over the hill. Perhaps his most legendary trade occurred March 4, 1991, when he sent John Cullen, Jeff Parker and Zarley Zalapski to the Hartford Whalers in exchange for Ron Francis, Ulf Samuelsson and Grant Jennings. The move was viewed as a huge gamble. Cullen was the fifth leading scorer in the NHL at the time. However, the players Patrick acquired in the trade played big roles in the Penguins’ Stanley Cup championship victories in 1991 and 1992.

Later years as GM

The Penguins also reached the Conference finals in 1996 and 2001.

However his later years were plagued by the Penguins’ financial woes as well as a series of poor trades.

Perhaps his most infamous trades came in March 1996 when he sent future NHL scoring ace Markus Naslund to the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for Alek Stojanov, a role player with just two career NHL goals; a 2003 Sports Illustrated article described this as the "worst trade in NHL history". Then, in an effort to appease then player and captain Mario Lemieux, Patrick traded top scoring defenseman Sergei Zubov to the Dallas Stars for Kevin Hatcher, a slower moving and older version of Zubov with less upside at that point in their careers.

Redemption for the disaster came in July 2001 when Patrick sent Jagr and role player Frantisek Kucera to the Washington Capitals for three minor league prospects (Kris Beech, Michal Sivek, Ross Lupaschuk) and nearly US$ 5 million cash. The deal was forced by the Penguins financial woes (indeed this saved the club much money as Jagr would fail to live up to expectations with the Capitals), as well as Jagr’s growing dissatisfaction with the Penguins. The trade was nonetheless widely criticized in the Pittsburgh media, as the three prospects acquired in the deal never made any significant contribution to the Penguins’ organization. Another reason for this criticism was because the New York Rangers were willing to make a deal which would have given Pittsburgh two established players and higher quality prospects. But many believed Patrick resented the Rangers for firing him earlier in his GM career, which made him ask for a greater and to an extent unfair return. One published report had Patrick demanding Petr Nedvěd, Radek Dvořák and Mike York, as well as two prospects for Jágr, which Rangers GM Glen Sather quickly shot down as Patrick’s demands were unreasonable.