In 1980, he became director of operations for the
New York Rangers and in 1981 became the youngest general manager in Rangers 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, succeeding
Tony Esposito, who in one of his last moves had traded for goaltender
Tom Barrasso. 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
Czechoslovak forward
Jaromír Jágr. 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 Näslund 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. In July 2001, Patrick sent Jagr and role player
František Kučera 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 that the New York Rangers allegedly were willing to make a deal which would have given Pittsburgh two established players and higher quality prospects. However, 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. From the 2001–02 season onwards, Penguins missed the playoffs in the next four seasons of Patrick's term as general manager. After the 2004–05 lockout, in the 2005 off-season, Patrick drafted teen phenomenon
Sidney Crosby with the first overall pick. Patrick also acquired veterans
Žigmund Pálffy,
Sergei Gonchar,
John LeClair and
Mark Recchi. While 18-year-old Crosby became the youngest player in NHL history to score 100 points, the older free agents had little to show for the millions that Patrick spent on them (though Gonchar would remain a key player in 2008–09). The Penguins finished last in the Atlantic Division for the fourth consecutive time. After 17 years as Penguins General Manager, Patrick was relieved of his duties on April 20, 2006, when his expiring contract was not renewed by team president
Ken Sawyer. Succeeding GM
Ray Shero praised Patrick's selection of
Marc-André Fleury, Crosby, and
Evgeni Malkin, but also said that work had to be done to build up the depth and third/fourth lines for the long-term, rather than a quick-fix. Patrick was initially bitter about his firing and stayed away from hockey-related activities for a while afterwards. The Penguins returned to the postseason in 2007, with Crosby being named regular season MVP and winning the scoring title, though they lost in five games to eventual finalists, the
Ottawa Senators. In 2008, Patrick accepted an invitation from owner
Mario Lemieux to watch the game in the owners box where the Penguins defeated the
Philadelphia Flyers to take the Eastern Conference championship. Patrick's later draft picks, Marc-Andre Fleury, Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby were credited with the team's advance to the Stanley Cup Finals that year, where they lost to the
Detroit Red Wings in six games. In 2009, these players had instrumental roles in Pittsburgh's Stanley Cup win.
Draft history His tenure as GM also saw a hit and miss record in the
NHL entry draft. Sparkling first round picks early in his tenure such as Jagr,
Martin Straka and Naslund were balanced by later first round busts such as
Chris Wells,
Robert Dome,
Craig Hillier,
Milan Kraft and
Stefan Bergkvist. Productive drafts in the early 2000s produced young talent such as
Marc-André Fleury,
Evgeni Malkin and
Sidney Crosby, but could not reverse the growing opinion in the public or among team management that Patrick had lost his touch. == Patrick family history ==