As happens with a lot of sports friendships, the business side of life is often the first interaction.

Ray Shero, then the general manager of the Pittsburgh Penguins, hired Tony Granto to be an assistant coach for the Penguins before the 2009-10 season. Granato was looking for a landing spot after his seven-year tenure as a head coach and assistant coach with the Colorado Avalanche came to an end.

Granato and Shero developed a bond over the years that led to being integral in each other’s lives, even after their stay in Pittsburgh concluded following the 2013-14 season. Those daily text messages or phone calls came to an end on April 9 when Shero passed away after a battle with an aggressive form of cancer. Shero was 62.

“When anyone says, ‘Hey, I’m going to meet Ray Shero. Hey, I just met Ray Shero,’ I start smiling because I go, ‘I can bet you could figure out Ray in one second, what kind of person he was,’” Granato said, “because he just knew how to engage. He knew how to make you feel special. He cared about people. That was really a quality that I hope all of us that knew him carry forward.”

Shero was a Hall of Fame person to many like Granato. But he also was a pretty good hockey executive. He was the architect behind the Penguins’ appearances in the 2008 and 2009 Stanley Cup Final, capturing the 2009 championship. 

Shero will posthumously receive the Lester Patrick Trophy during the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Induction Celebration on Dec. 10 in St. Paul, Minnesota. The Lester Patrick Trophy goes to an individual for their outstanding service to hockey in the U.S. Being enshrined in the Hall’s Class of 2025 are photographer Bruce Bennett and players Scott Gomez, Tara Mounsey, Zach Parise and Joe Pavelski. 

Shero grew up watching his dad coach the Philadelphia Flyers, who developed the Broad Street Bullies reputation under his watch. Fred Shero was also known as an innovative coach and guided the Flyers to the 1974 and 1975 Stanley Cup titles after playing three seasons as a defenseman for the New York Rangers, whom he later served as coach and general manager.

That common background made Ray Shero and David Poile quick friends. Shero first started as a player agent in the mid-1980s, about a decade after Poile began an unprecedented run of 41 years as an NHL general manager. Poile’s father, Bud, was also an NHL player, coach and GM. 

David Poile hired Shero as an assistant general manager in 1998 and the two stayed together until the Penguins named Shero general manager in 2006. They also worked together for USA Hockey, when Poile was the general manager and Shero his assistant for the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Shero had a hand in selecting 13 other teams that represented the U.S. internationally.

However, there was more to Shero than hockey.

“Ray made me laugh every day,” Poile said. “In a business that we work really, really hard, a lot of hours, lot of sacrifice, hardships. And again, I’m probably known as being pretty, pretty serious by my colleagues, Ray broke the ice every day. He’d have something funny to say or some story, some serious situation, he would just make it real and made it fun. It was fantastic to have somebody like that who could give me a little balance in my life. I miss Ray dearly because he was such a good guy, good hockey guy and such a fun guy to work with.”

While Shero made people laugh, he earned his titles through his hard work and the knowledge he accrued through the people he came across during his various experiences, beginning with his dad.

“The thing that sets him apart was Ray Shero listened,” said Brian Burke, another longtime NHL exec who roomed with Shero in Sochi as part of the Team USA staff. “He talked a lot, but he listened — great listener and a great guy. Things you said to him, 10 years later, he could repeat them. ... Great with names and just endeared himself to the people around him.”

Shero kept his cancer battle quiet, especially from Granato, who was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in December 2023 and was in remission by the summer of 2024. When Shero passed in April, the Penguins and Devils honored him by wearing a sticker on their helmets. The sticker had “Ray” encircled by the words father, husband, friend and legend.

Granato has one of those stickers. It is affixed to the back of his phone so he has it close to him every day, a reminder of his friend. The two lived close to one another when they worked together in Pittsburgh and developed a routine where Granato would pick Shero up daily and drive to the rink or the airport or wherever they had to be that day.

“We always kidded that once we got separated, I always said, ‘I’m going to be your driver again, Ray, wherever you go. Make sure you remember I’m going to be your driver,’” Granato said. “Every time we would see each other, the final thing we’d say, ‘Buddy, love you. But you know what? Remember we’re going to be together again someday.’ We kept saying that. I said, ‘I’ll be your driver. I don’t care what position I’m in, I’m your driver, trust me on that.’”

Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.

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