Blackhawks great-turned-broadcaster Patrick Sharp will be leaving Chicago for a new gig — this time, in the front office.
Sharp, a three-time Stanley Cup champion with the Hawks, will become the new special advisor to hockey operations with the Philadelphia Flyers, the team announced Tuesday.
“I am proud to announce the addition of Patrick Sharp to our hockey operations team,” Flyers General Manager Daniel Briere said in a statement. “Patrick is a well-established veteran on-and-off the ice and his incomparable hockey knowledge will be a valuable asset to our organization and young prospects.”
The job marks a return home for Sharp who, although his ties run deep in Chicago, started his career in Philly in their minor league system.
Sharp was drafted by the Flyers as the no. 95 overall pick in the third round of the 2001 NHL Entry Draft. He was then traded to the Hawks in December of 2005.
He joined the broadcast team at NBC Sports Chicago in 2018 as a studio analyst.
“After a long career on the ice, it will be fun and challenging to be a part of the game from a new perspective and I look forward to working with former teammates and people that I’ve watched on NBC Sports Chicago for many years, ” he said at the time.
Sharp spent 11 of his 15 pro seasons in a Blackhawks uniform and helped elevate the franchise to new heights, as he was a key factor in the team’s historic run of three Stanley Cup titles in six seasons. Sharp finished his stellar NHL career with 939 games played, scoring 620 points (287 goals, 333 assists).
But a front office gig was something even his former teammates saw in his future.
In a 2020 interview, Patrick Kane said he envisioned Sharp “trying to get in with the team somewhere, whether it was scouting or trying to get into the front office.”
“I could see him doing that even to this day,” Kane said at the time. “Maybe that’s a stepping stone for him maybe in the future. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him in the front office at some point because I think he’s pretty good at scouting players and knowing a lot about the league, too.”
Turns out, Kane was right.