Hear the echo?
Penguins call on Soo Connection … again
The Penguins have hired Ron Francis as a special advisor, hockey operations.
The name might be familiar to some.
Specifically, people who remember him as a Hall of Fame center and core member of the Penguins’ Stanley Cup-winning clubs in 1991 and 1992.
Francis went on to finish his playing career in Carolina, and later served as GM of the Hurricanes and Seattle before being bumped to the president of hockey operations job with the Kraken.
The road that led him back to Pittsburgh stretches much farther than his time in the NHL, however.
All the way back to his youth in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.
The same hometown as Kyle Dubas, the Penguins’ general manager and president of hockey operations.
People from The Soo are incredibly connected, perhaps more so than any other group in the hockey universe. Maybe the entire universe.
It’s no surprise, then, that Francis and Dubas have ties that predate – and transcend – any professional bonds they have developed.
Consider: Dubas’ grandfather was one of Francis’ coaches in youth hockey, around the time he was nine or 10 years old. What’s more, Francis’ mother was in Dubas’ grandparents’ wedding party, and remains friends with them all these decades later.
Get the idea?
What some people might not realize is that this is not the first time the Soo Connection has shaped the Penguins’ management structure.
When Hall of Fame goalie and Soo native Tony Esposito was named to replace Eddie Johnston as GM in 1988, some of his first moves were to pick Gene Ubriaco – guess where he’s from – as coach and to add Angelo Bumbacco, a legendary figure in Sault Ste. Marie hockey circles, to the scouting staff.
The Esposito Era had few memorable moments – acquiring Tom Barrasso from Buffalo might be the only one – and ended after less than 20 months, when he was fired and the Penguins brought in Craig Patrick.
Dubas’ run in charge already has far outlasted that of Esposito – and has been, by any reasonable metric, a much bigger success – but he won’t go down as the one who broke new ground by bolstering his staff with a guy from their shared hometown.
Another interesting Soo connection is Darnell Nurse, who played Junior hockey for the SSM Greyhounds, while Dubas was the GM there at the time, which gives some of the current rumors some credibility. I wouldn't be surprised if Nurse ended up a Penguin by the end of June if the Oilers sweeten up the pot for Dubas to even consider taking on that albatross of a contract ($9.25M annual salary cap hit with 4 years left).