Shero has a winner's background

Personality-wise, Rejean (Ray) Shero isn't much like his late father, Fred, who coached the Philadelphia Flyers to Stanley Cup titles in 1974 and '75.

Fred Shero was an introverted, enigmatic sort. His nickname was "The Fog." His son - some have jokingly referred to Ray Shero as "The Mist" -- talks more than your average auctioneer. That became clear Thursday at Mellon Arena, when the younger Shero was introduced as the Penguins' new general manager and couldn't find a way to close his opening remarks.

He kept saying he was about to finish, but he kept going, speaking first through a malfunctioning microphone, then through its replacement.

His first news conference went into triple overtime.

"He's an extrovert, loves talking to people," said Karen Shero, Ray's wife. "He'll tell you how it is and what's going on."

That would not only differentiate the younger Shero from his father but also from Craig Patrick, the man Ray Shero succeeded in the Penguins' front office.

The three have some things in common, though. Namely, a deep affection for the sport of ice hockey and a deeper affection for winning.

"I remember spending time at a wedding with Ray and his father, before I was an assistant coach with the Penguins when they won a Cup," said Canadian hockey analyst Pierre McGuire, a close friend and former work partner of Ray Shero's. "All we talked about was the passion it takes to win a Stanley Cup."

Ray Shero, 43, brings that passion and plenty of other qualities to an organization starved for it. He vows to surround himself with fellow self-starters. Having played a vital role in building two successful franchises from scratch, he knows that winning traditions don't evolve overnight, or by accident. One must be consumed with the goal.

As Fred Shero once said, "Success is not the result of spontaneous combustion; you must set yourself on fire."

Neighborhood bullies

Ray Shero was born into a most interesting environment in 1962 in St. Paul, Minn. His father was a former amateur boxing champion in Western Canada, a former NHL defenseman, a budding hockey coach and the son of immigrants who'd fled Russia to escape religious persecution.

Fred Shero was coaching the minor-league St. Paul Saints at the time and would soon move his French-Canadian wife, Mariette, and their two boys, Rejean and Jean-Paul, to Omaha, Neb., and Buffalo, N.Y., as he pursued other minor-league assignments.

In 1971, Fred Shero landed with the Flyers. He brought with him his tinted glasses and a wealth of original, sometimes eccentric ideas. He is credited with inventing the game-day skate, for example, and had his players use tennis balls during practice in an effort to improve their stick-handling.

Soon, he would transform the fledgling Flyers into the legendary "Broad Street Bullies," but he never bullied his sons into playing hockey or hanging around the team.

"There was no pressure on Ray to do anything other than be as good as he could be and to get a good, quality education," said former Ottawa Senators president and GM Randy Sexton, a teammate of Ray Shero's at St. Lawrence University and his first NHL boss. "Freddie used to come to some of our games, but he would only talk hockey if you asked him to."

Ray Shero was more like his mother - "outgoing and gregarious," he says - but he soon found he couldn't stay away from the rink.

"Growing up, it was great being on the ice with (ex-Flyers stars) Bobby Clarke and Rick MacLeish and Bernie Parent," he said. "It was a wonderful environment."

The younger Shero developed into a high-scoring little left winger and hoped to play in the NHL someday. His youth hockey travels sometimes took him to Pittsburgh, where he stayed at the Greenfield home of a local player, Donald "Dee" Rizzo, who would go on to star at Michigan State and become a noted NHL talent hound. Today, Rizzo is one of Sidney Crosby's representatives.

Ray Shero loved other sports, too. He was a hard-hitting third baseman at Cherry Hill (N.J.) High School, where one of his teammates was future Los Angeles Dodgers star Orel Hershiser. His favorite football team was the one that starting winning Super Bowls around the time the Flyers started winning Stanley Cups.

"I loved the Steelers," Shero said. "That was my team back then."

His favorite player - toothless, raging middle linebacker Jack Lambert -- would have fit right in with the Broad Street Bullies.

Once at St. Lawrence, Shero's leadership qualities emerged. He became a two-time captain (1983-84 and 1984-85) and finished his career with 58 goals and 77 assists in 125 games. However, he sustained a severe knee injury early in his college career, was granted a medical redshirt for a year, and, according to Sexton, was "never quite the same."

The Los Angeles Kings took a flier on Shero in the 11th round of the 1982 draft, but he did not play professionally.

After briefly considering a law career - he'd graduated from St. Lawrence with a double major in economics and sociology - Shero decided to forge his way into the hockey world as a player agent. Rick Dudley, who would later compete with Shero for the Penguins' GM job, hooked him up with agent Steve Bartlett.

Shero worked in the field for six years. Many who dealt with him spotted a future star. They saw a man teeming with smarts, integrity, ingenuity and a hockey player's feistiness.

"I knew he had a great future in the game," Bartlett said. "He had a real good feel for the talent evaluation side and the business side. That doesn't mean we always have a harmonious relationship."

Indeed, now that they are on opposite sides of the table, Bartlett and Shero sometimes drop the figurative gloves. Another prominent agent, Rich Winter, has had a few disagreements with Shero, too, though he says Shero is "more staid than passionate."

"If anything gets him completely upset, it would be somebody making a commitment and not following through," Winter said. "If Ray tells you he's going to do something on Thursday, he's going to do something on Thursday. He's a man of his word, just a good guy."

By the early 1990s, shortly after his father's death from stomach cancer, Ray Shero wanted something different. He missed the competitive side of the game. He wanted to build hockey teams for a living, which is why he was so pleased to get a surprise call from Sexton in 1993.

Sexton, then running the expansion Senators, offered Shero a job as his assistant GM, knowing full well he was getting a guy who would work 25 hours a day.

As Fred Shero once said, "When you have bacon and eggs for breakfast, the chicken makes a contribution -- but the pig makes a commitment."

Building blocks

In Ottawa, Shero worked closely with McGuire. The two scouted many a game together, amateur and pro.

"He's a workaholic, in a good way," McGuire said. "He's a problem solver."

Soon, Shero was managing the Senators' top minor-league affiliate and helping to run the team's drafts. There were some misses, to be sure. Alexandre Daigle, the top overall pick in 1993, stands out. But there were plenty of hits, as well - Daniel Alfredsson at 133rd overall in 1994, for example - as the Senators slowly moved toward respectability.

One year, the Senators were desperate for help on the power play, and Sexton dispatched Shero to St. Louis to scout Blues defenseman Steve Duchesne. Shero recommended acquiring him, and, a year later, Duchesne scored the power-play goal that gave the Senators their first playoff appearance, in 1997. They haven't missed the postseason since.

"Quite frankly, my philosophy is to hire people who are capable of taking your job someday," Sexton said. "I knew Ray had those qualities."

The Senators sustained a major shakeup in the mid-1990s, costing Sexton his job, and Shero soon headed for a new challenge with the expansion Nashville Predators. He was hired as GM David Poile's right-hand man.

Poile had known the elder Shero. In fact, when he was running the Washington Capitals, Poile hired a semi-retired Fred Shero to serve as an eye-in-the sky scout during a playoff series.

"I still have his notes," Poile said. "I'm going to give them to Ray."

One of Ray Shero's many duties in Nashville was running the team's American Hockey League affiliate in Milwaukee. The team won the Calder Cup in 2004 and is playing for another championship this season.

Like the Senators, the Predators were built patiently and within a strict budget, largely through the draft. Stability became the franchise's calling card. It missed the playoffs in its first five seasons but stuck with the same coach - Barry Trotz - and Poile.

Now, the Predators have made the playoffs two years running and show no signs of reversing field.

"Ray was an extension of what I was doing," Poile said. "You are going to be very happy with him."

Shero's work earned him a serious look from the Boston Bruins, before the Penguins came swooping in to offer a five-year deal.

Winter, borrowing a phrase the late "Badger" Bob Johnson made famous in these parts, said, "The day Ray Shero was hired was a great day for hockey in Pittsburgh."

Shero has been credited with being a new-age, cutting-edge executive. He shies away from the label.

"I'm definitely not old-school," he said. "But, I'm not coming here to say I'm some guru -- like (Boston Red Sox GM) Theo Epstein -- who's going to revise the way the game is. If you're behind, you're behind, and it's not a good place to be. Really, to me, it comes down to people. I need good people around me."

The Penguins have been falling farther and farther behind the pack for years, but their GM job was about as attractive as one could be. Shero arrives to find a talent base that includes four top-five picks in center Sidney Crosby, goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, defenseman Ryan Whitney and Russian center Evgeni Malkin. He isn't saddled with many long-term contracts (Sergei Gonchar's notwithstanding) and has been given free reign to make sweeping changes in the hockey operations department, if he sees fit.

Away from the rink, Shero is a dedicated family man. He and his wife have two sons - Christopher, 10; and Kyle, 8.

"His hobbies are his children and his family," Karen Shero said. "He spends a lot of time with his sons, doing their sports and taking them to different things."

The Shero boys were thrilled when Penguins managing general partner Mario Lemieux called and left a congratulatory message for their dad earlier this week. Ray Shero's plan is to restore the Penguins to a place of prominence, to a place where Lemieux and Craig Patrick put them in the early 1990s. His hiring date, in fact, marked the 15th anniversary of the Penguins' first Stanley Cup title.

This is about forming a new attitude, about forming a group of people who all have a stake in restoring Penguins pride.

As Fred Shero once said (to his team before a clinching Game 6 of the 1974 Stanley Cup final):

"Win together today, and we walk together forever."

Additional Information:

THE SHERO FILE

A profile of new Penguins GM Ray Shero:

Age: 43

Birthdate: July 28, 1962

Birthplace: St. Paul, Minn.

Hometown: Cherry Hill, N.J.

Wife: Karen

Children: Christopher, 10; Kyle, 8.

Most recent position: Assistant GM, Nashville Predators

Duties: Oversaw operations for Nashville's AHL affiliate in Milwaukee, negotiated player contracts, scouted pro and amateur players, helped oversee day-to-day hockey operations under GM David Poile.

Previous professional experience: Served as Ottawa Senators assistant GM from 1993-98; worked as player agent with Sports Consulting Group from 1986-93.

Playing experience: Played left wing at St. Lawrence University, captained team in 1983-84 and 1984-85. Took a medical redshirt in 1981-82 because of severe knee injury. Career totals: 58 goals, 77 assists in 125 games. Drafted in 11th round (216th overall) by Los Angeles Kings in 1982, did not play professionally.

WHAT THEY'RE SAYING

&#149 'He's helped build a couple of good teams, and he's got a background in the collective bargaining agreement, which is a whole new animal.' -- Nashville Predators coach Barry Trotz, to 'The Tennessean'

&#149 'The day Ray Shero was hired was a great day for hockey in Pittsburgh.' - Rich Winter, agent

&#149 'The timing is perfect. You have a young, up-and-coming team with a lot of potential, and you have a young, up-and-coming general manager with a lot of potential.' - Predators GM David Poile

&#149 'Ray brings a vision for the modern-day NHL.' - Pierre McGuire, TSN hockey analyst

&#149 ' He's a passionate guy, and I mean that in a positive way. He's competitive, and he fights hard for his position.' - Steve Bartlett, agent