Editing Craig Patrick (section)

== NHL management and beyond ==
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. 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 [[Czechoslovakian]] forward [[Jaromír Jágr|Jaromir Jagr]]. He traded the Penguins' second round pick that year to [[Calgary Flames|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 (hockey player)|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".<ref>{{cite web |last=Steigerwald |first=Paul |url=http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_116086.html |title=Naslund trade no big deal back then - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review |publisher=Pittsburghlive.com |date=February 2, 2003 |access-date=September 23, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081207062224/http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_116086.html |archive-date=December 7, 2008 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> 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 [[Frantisek Kucera]] 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.<ref name="sports illustrated">{{cite web|url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/jim_kelley/05/22/craig.patrick.notes/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080526063916/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/jim_kelley/05/22/craig.patrick.notes/ |last=Kelley|first=Jim|
url-status=dead |archive-date=May 26, 2008 |title=Sweet vindication for Craig Patrick|publisher=Sportsillustrated.cnn.com |access-date=September 23, 2011}}</ref> 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 [[Ziggy Palffy]], [[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]].<ref>{{cite web|author=CBC Sports |url=https://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl/penguins-part-ways-with-patrick-1.584127 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105071029/http://www.cbc.ca/news/story/2006/04/20/patrick-penguins060420.html |url-status=live |archive-date=November 5, 2012 |title=Penguins part ways with Patrick - CBC News |publisher=Cbc.ca |date=April 21, 2006 |access-date=September 23, 2011}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.espn.com/nhl/news/story?id=2457592&campaign=rss&source=ESPNHeadlines |title=Shero hired by Pens after talks with Bruins lapse - NHL - ESPN |publisher=[[ESPN]] |date=May 25, 2006 |access-date=September 23, 2011}}</ref>

Patrick was initially bitter about his firing and stayed away from hockey-related activities for a while afterwards.<ref name="sports illustrated" /> 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.<ref name="sports illustrated" /> 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 (ice hockey)|Chris Wells]], [[Róbert Döme|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.