Ex-GM Patrick comes back to Pittsburgh a scout

In the dozen years since he left the Penguins, Craig Patrick hoped he could one day return to the organization he helped win five Stanley Cups, the one that still had his heart.

“I’m not sure I thought it would come to reality,” he said. “But I’m sure grateful it did.”

The Penguins announced Monday that they hired Patrick, the team’s former general manager during two Stanley Cup championship seasons, and also a Hockey Hall of Famer, to be a pro scout.

In addition to those first two Stanley Cup squads, Patrick drafted Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang and Marc-Andre Fleury — four franchise cornerstones who lifted the Cup three times over the past decade.

Now, Patrick will try to help Crosby and Co. win at least a couple more Stanley Cups.

“It would be awesome if that could happen,” he said Monday. “That’s the goal.”

Patrick, 72, last worked in the NHL three years ago but had been hoping to latch on with another NHL team. He has worked in advisory roles in Columbus and Buffalo since leaving Pittsburgh.

Then, within the past couple of weeks, Penguins executive vice president and general manager Jim Rutherford called him out of the blue.

“I’m very grateful to ownership and upper management that they gave me a call and asked me to come back and help,” Patrick said. “No better place to be than where your heart is.”

Patrick still has that dry sense of humor.

Asked what his relationship with Rutherford was like, he quipped, “I think pretty good. I traded him Mark Recchi so he could win a Cup.”

Rutherford, whose acquisition of Recchi from the Penguins helped the Carolina Hurricanes win it all in 2006, said the Penguins are “excited” to add Patrick to their pro scouting staff.

“[Director of pro scouting] Derek [Clancey] has taken on more responsibility making player personnel decisions and has been more involved with free agency,” Rutherford said in a statement. “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.”

Patrick was their general manger for 17 seasons, from 1989 to 2006. He was in charge when Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr and that crew won back-to-back championships in 1991 and 1992. After leaving the Penguins following the 2005-06 season when the team did not renew his contract and replaced him as general manager with Ray Shero, Patrick worked as a senior adviser for Columbus then Buffalo. His stint with the Sabres ended in 2015.

Patrick said today’s NHL is “a lot different” than when he was last with the Penguins, in Crosby’s first season. Today, there’s a greater emphasis on speed and skill. But those were always important to Patrick, whose Penguins teams were typically high-flying.

“Speed’s always been an important part of the game,” he said. “It’s still a physical game, but not like it used to be. You still need a lot of character, still need toughness.”

The logistics of his new role will be a lot different, too.

Everything is done on computers and smart phones now. And analytics are being utilized by all 31 of the league’s teams.

Patrick said he was impressed by the team’s analytics staff during a meeting earlier in the day Monday.

And he chuckled looking back at the glory days, when they had boxes and boxes and boxes of printed scouting reports inside the old Civic Arena.

Cullen out ‘longer term’

Center Matt Cullen is out indefinitely with a lowerbody injury.

Cullen was injured in the 6-4 loss in Ottawa.

He had a goal against the Senators and was a plus-2 but had ice on his right ankle/foot after that game.

Asked about Cullen’s status after he did not participate in the morning skate Monday at PPG Paints Arena, coach Mike Sullivan said Cullen will be out “longer term.”

With Cullen out, Riley Sheahan returned to the lineup.