Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang are in their late 30s and nearing the twilight of careers that could end with enshrinement in the Hockey Hall of Fame.
And one way or another, Ray Shero will have had a hand in all three getting there.
Shero, who was the Penguins general manager when the trio won its Stanley Cup together in 2008-09, died on Tuesday after a battle with an illness. Shero was 62.
A day later, Crosby and his alternate captains all shared fond memories of Shero.
The Penguins hired Shero as GM in 2006, after a disappointing season for the team in Crosby’s rookie year. Shero made a point to empower Crosby, who was still just a teenager at the time. And it wasn’t just making him the NHL’s youngest captain.
“As a young guy, he encouraged me to talk to him,” Crosby said. “He said his door was always open. And for a young player, you’re pretty intimidated to talk to the GM. But he made it a point to bring me in there sometimes, talk hockey, kind of tell me what he expected of us. [He’s] just someone who ... had a huge impact on me.”
Malkin was playing in Russia when Shero took over the GM job. The Penguins had to find a way to bring Malkin to the NHL, and Shero took part in those efforts. Malkin thinks Shero was the “first guy who texted me” as they hatched a plan to get him over here.
Malkin said he didn’t hear of Shero’s passing until the news came out Wednesday.
“It’s a tough loss,” he said. “He’s an amazing guy. We win together. He give me nice contract, you know? But it’s very, very tough. He’s still young. I hope his family is OK.”
Shero quickly put the right pieces around his two superstar centers, and the Penguins made it to the Cup Finals in back-to-back seasons. They defeated Detroit in 2009.
Crosby praised Shero for developing a culture where the expectation was to win.
“I think that the way he talked, the people that he brought in, we got the message right away that we’re a group that should believe in ourselves,” Crosby said. “With it being a young team, it [can be] easy to be patient sometimes and look at the long outlook. But we showed pretty early on that we’re going to be pretty competitive.”
Letang also had high praise of Shero. He called him a “gentleman” and said the longtime NHL exec “gave me all the opportunity to become the player I am today.”
Shero showed faith in Letang when he let other defensemen leave and committed to Letang with an eight-year contract in 2013. That proved to be the correct call.
“Obviously,” the six-time All-Star said, “keeping me in Pittsburgh for an extra eight years was a pretty big moment for myself, my family — and between me and Ray.”
Letang added Shero helped mold all of the young Penguins into “more of men.”
“It doesn’t happen,” he said, “if you don’t have a guy ... that cares about his players.”
For Crosby, the genuine care Shero showed on a human level was never more apparent than when Crosby went through his battle with head and neck issues.
Crosby said Shero made sure to let him know he was always available to chat.
“It was kind of new territory,” Crosby said. “It was kind of just navigating through a fairly unknown situation. So he was great to deal with, and it wasn’t an easy situation. But he did his best to make sure that it was as painless as possible. Whether it was that or numerous other things over his time here, he made a huge impact.”
The outpouring of tributes on Wednesday from former players and coaches, fellow executives and countless media members showed Shero had impacted many.
“It says a lot. He was involved with hockey for so long. I think everybody that you talk to that he either worked with or has some connection to him has some way that he impacted them,” Crosby said. “That says everything you need to know about him. We’re forever grateful for everything that he did and the impact he had.”
First Published: April 10, 2025, 7:05 p.m.
Updated: April 11, 2025, 2:00 a.m.
