Shero

PITTSBURGH — Penguins general manager Ray Shero, whose deft handling of the salary cap and midseason hiring of coach Dan Bylsma in 2009 helped Pittsburgh win its first Stanley Cup in 17 years, has agreed to a five-year contract extension that runs through the 2015-16 season.

Shero's current five-year contract, signed at the start of the 2006-07 season, would have expired at the end of this season.

"It worked out great," Shero said Monday of the negotiations. "It was relatively painless on my part."

The Penguins have twice played for the Stanley Cup and won it once under Shero, an assistant general manager in the NHL for 14 seasons before being hired by the Penguins. They've made the playoffs in all four seasons since Shero took over after missing them the previous four under Hall of Famer Craig Patrick.

"This was an easy decision," co-owners Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle said in a statement issued by the team. "Ray has done a tremendous job with our hockey operation — not only leading us to the Stanley Cup in 2009 but also building a team that can continue to compete for the Cup year after year."

Shero's most successful move might have been replacing successful coach Michel Therrien with the less-experienced Bylsma midway through the 2008-09 season, although the Penguins had made one of the best one-season turnarounds in NHL history by going from 22 victories in 2005-06 to 47 the following season. Bylsma had less than a year of head coaching experience, yet the Penguins immediately turned their season around after he was hired and won the Stanley Cup four months later.

Under Shero, the Penguins signed cornerstone players such as forwards Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal, goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury and defenseman Brooks Orpik to multiyear contracts. Crosby, a former NHL MVP and scoring champion, and Malkin, a former playoffs MVP and scoring champion, both agreed to accept significantly less money than they could have made on the open market.

Shero did the same with forward Matt Cooke during the most recent offseason, re-signing a valuable role player before he tested free agency. Shero also signed defensemen Paul Martin and Zbynek Michalek to contracts worth $45 million on the first day of free agency in July.

In other key moves, Shero turned down numerous offers to trade and chose Staal with the No. 2 pick in the 2006 draft and traded for forwards Gary Roberts in 2007 and Marian Hossa in 2008.

Staal went on to score 29 goals as an 18-year-old rookie, and his two-way play was pivotal in the Penguins rallying from a 3-2 series deficit to win the 2009 Stanley Cup finals in Detroit. Staal was a Selke Trophy finalist last season as one of the NHL's best defense-minded forwards.

"In this job, this business, you have to take chances, take risks," Shero said. "Some (trades and signings) haven't worked out as well as others, but you have to take that chance sometimes. Hopefully, you have more good ones than bad ones."