The Flyers added to their hockey operations department Tuesday by bringing in a familiar name.
The club hired Patrick Sharp as a special advisor to hockey ops. The 41-year-old will be involved in all aspects of the department and have a strong focus on the development of prospects.
“I am proud to announce the addition of Patrick Sharp to our hockey operations team,” Flyers general manager Danny Briere said in a statement released by the team. “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.”
As a player, Sharp won three Stanley Cups with the Blackhawks, scoring 30-plus goals four times in Chicago.
His career with the Blackhawks started when the Flyers traded the winger to Chicago in December 2005. They traded him and Eric Meloche in exchange for Matt Ellison and a 2006 third-round pick.
Sharp was selected by the Flyers during the third round of the 2001 draft, played 66 regular-season games in Philadelphia and won the 2005 Calder Cup championship with the AHL affiliate Phantoms.
He earned his first Stanley Cup ring in 2010, when the Blackhawks beat Briere and the Flyers.
“In adding Patrick Sharp to our group, we are gaining an individual who has a wealth of knowledge when it comes to building an environment of winning at all levels,” Flyers president of hockey operations Keith Jones said in a statement released by the team. “Patrick knows what it takes to win, he understands how to convey that to our players and is a relationship maker. He will be a vital component as we continue to build the foundation of the Philadelphia Flyers.”
Over the last five seasons, Sharp had worked in broadcasting with NBC Sports and NBC Sports Chicago. Since September 2021, he had also served as an advisor to the coaching staff at Vermont, where he played his college hockey.
“It is a similar feeling for our staff to see Patrick’s next steps as a hockey executive,” Catamounts head coach Todd Woodcroft said Tuesday to NBC Sports Philadelphia. “When he returned to UVM to help us as a coaching advisor, Patrick was coming home to the place where he started his college career. Now, he is once again returning to a place he made better and that had an impact on himself — Patrick is going back to his first NHL team.
“Patrick is an industrious, hard-working, character man who helped UVM for two full seasons in a volunteer capacity. He helped us in player development with his elite hockey mind and he aided our coaches by always pushing us to exceed our limits. He is an extraordinary man with a huge future ahead of him. We thank him for all he has done for UVM and we are excited to watch him grow professionally.”