Ron Cook: Can Shero keep this going?

Ray Shero

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

One by one, they proved themselves. Michel Therrien proved he can be a big-time hockey coach. Sidney Crosby proved he's the best player in the world. Marc-Andre Fleury proved he should be good enough one day to be a Stanley Cup-winning goaltender, that 1-4 record against the Ottawa Senators be damned. Evgeni Malkin proved he can adjust to the NHL in a big way, those five goalless games against the Senators notwithstanding. Jordan Staal proved he has more going than any 18-year-old hockey player on the planet.

Now, it's Ray Shero's turn.

We're about to find out just how good of a hockey manager he really is.

All indications are that Shero will be terrific. His first 11 months with the Penguins went better than anyone could have predicted. The proof is his young team's stunning 105-point season. More proof is the way he has brought the organization -- especially the scouting department -- into the 21st century. Looking at the Penguins now, it's hard to believe they were a franchise that didn't have Internet access for its coaches until Therrien took over late in '05.

More Shero innovations are on the way. Next week, he will be in Moscow to scout the world championships, a trip his predecessor, Craig Patrick, never made. In July, the Penguins will conduct their first conditioning camp for rookies. In early September, they will send a team of rookies to play a series of games against rookies from three other NHL clubs.

Those are small things, to be sure. But they could add up to something big for the Penguins down the road.

"I've always believed a manager's job is to give direction to the franchise," Shero said yesterday.

"My big thing coming in was change. 'We're going to change the culture here, change the expectations, change the professionalism. We're going to move this franchise forward.' "

Shero has been brilliant doing just that. But it's still too early to completely judge him. He gets an incomplete grade as a talent evaluator.

When Shero took the Penguins' job May 25, he talked about having "vision, patience and a plan." It quickly became clear that plan involved moving cautiously. One reason was the financial parameters imposed by the Lemieux ownership group. There was no promise of a lucrative new arena then. The last thing Shero wanted to do was jump deep into the free-agent pool and commit the franchise to a multiyear, multimillion-dollar deal with a player. Another reason was Shero wanted to evaluate the players he had. That's where patience came in.

Shero made some wise decisions. He didn't trade the No. 2 overall pick in the June entry draft -- despite having numerous chances -- because he loved Staal's potential. He brought back veteran winger Mark Recchi to provide leadership for his young players. He signed defenseman Mark Eaton, a pretty good player until a serious wrist injury.

But Shero also traded a No. 2 pick for winger Nils Ekman.

Shero gets the same mixed reviews for his conservative work at the February trade deadline. You get the feeling he really didn't want to do anything -- that he accurately realized the Penguins still were a bit short of being a serious Cup contender -- but that wouldn't have sent much of a message to his team, which had worked so hard to get into playoff contention. "I really felt it would have been demoralizing to fall back and miss the playoffs," he said.

Shero hit a home run by getting veteran winger Gary Roberts in a trade for young defenseman Noah Welch. That will be remembered as a great deal even if Welch becomes a top four defenseman and Roberts turns out to be a rent-a-player and moves on. Roberts had a tremendous impact in the dressing room.

But Shero also traded a third-round pick for winger Georges Laraque and a fourth-round pick for defenseman Joel Kwiatkowski.

Now, Shero is back at the plate again.

He used the same words -- "vision, patience and a plan" -- again yesterday. "I don't think a 105-point season changes that."

That was a bit disheartening to hear. So was Shero's response when asked if he will have more resources to use this offseason because the new arena is a done deal. "A little bit. But I still have to talk to management about that." And his response when asked about having a window to compete for a Cup with Crosby and the others. "I don't believe in windows. ... Players are going to come and go. They had Lemieux, Jagr and Francis here. They all left.

"I want to build a franchise that's going to be good for a period of time."

That's prudent strategy, no doubt.

But we don't have to like it, do we?

Here's hoping Shero and the Penguins are a lot more aggressive going after players this summer. They need a goal-scoring winger to play with Crosby despite Shero's assertion that "we scored plenty of goals this season." They need a banging winger to play on a line with Staal and Malkin. And they need at least one defenseman, probably two.

It doesn't make sense to wait with this group of young players. Strike now and take your shot. There is a window, contrary to what Shero said. It's hard to imagine him being able to keep Crosby, Fleury, Malkin and Staal together for the long term under the NHL salary cap. Beyond that, those young players really did prove plenty in this marvelous regular season. They also learned plenty about playoff hockey in the not-so-marvelous series against the Senators. They clearly believe a Cup is in their near future. Why shouldn't the rest of us believe it?

"My job would be a lot easier if we had improved from 58 to 75 points," Shero said, grinning, probably only half-teasing about the suddenly heavy expectations.

Shero can blame his players for messing that up.

They speeded up his plan dramatically.

Now, Shero must catch up and keep the thing moving.

How he does will determine how we judge him.




(Ron Cook can be reached at rcook@post-gazette.com.)