Penguins Update: Jack Riley Passes Away

He wasn’t the winningest general manager in Penguins history. Nor did his teams capture a Stanley Cup. Or even a division title. Yet Jack Riley was a pivotal figure through the Pens’ difficult early years. Thanks, in large part, to his perseverance and dedication, a foundation for future champions was formed.

Riley, who passed away on Wednesday at the age of 97, remained an active supporter of the team he helped build long after he was replaced at the Pens’ helm. Beloved, too.

“He’s done so much for us,” said friend and fellow former Pens GM Eddie Johnston in 2014. “There’s no better gentleman than Jack. They don’t come any better. Jack’s a jewel.”

As a kid growing up in Toronto during the Great Depression, Riley played youth hockey with cut-down sticks donated by Maple Leafs owner Conn Smythe. A clever playmaker but a fair skater at best, the 5’9” 178-pound right wing never made it to the NHL. Instead, sandwiched around a tour of duty with the Canadian Army in World War II, he plied his trade mostly in the Eastern Hockey League and American Hockey League.

Following his playing career, Riley entered the coaching ranks and eventually became general manager of the AHL’s Rochester Americans. Jack then served as AHL president for two seasons before he was hired by Pennsylvania Senator and principal owner Jack McGregor to serve as the Pens’ first GM in 1966.

Building a team from scratch was tough. When the Penguins entered the league, the six established teams held the rights to nearly all of Canada’s top junior players through existing sponsorship agreements. The first Entry Draft (called the Amateur Draft back then) still was two years away.

Like his expansion GM brethren, Riley had to assemble a team from the hodge-podge collection of has-beens and wannabes left unprotected in the Expansion Draft by the Original Six.

Still, the Pens’ inaugural team featured two Hall-of-Famers—scoring ace Andy Bathgate and hard-rock defenseman Leo Boivin—and a cast of solid pros, including Ab McDonald, Keith McCreary, and Ken Schinkel. In fact, Riley received a compliment from legendary Montreal GM Sam Pollock, who said the Pens and Oakland did the best job of drafting.

Stability, financial or otherwise, was virtually nonexistent. During his tenure, Riley worked for no fewer than three groups of owners. Four if you count the NHL, which assumed control of the troubled franchise from Donald Parsons in December of 1970. Each had a different vision.

“They weren’t bad guys,” Riley recalled. “They just didn’t have much hockey know-how or enough money.”

Using every means at his disposal, Riley worked hard to cobble together a decent club. Mining the minor leagues for undervalued talent, he unearthed a gem in goalie Les Binkley—a 33-year-old rookie. He traded for future mainstays Jean Pronovost, Duane Rupp, and Bryan Watson and added the likes of Glen Sather and Dean Prentice through the Intra-League (Waiver) Draft. When Riley finally got an opportunity to draft a talented youngster, he plucked scoring sensation Michel Briere from the ranks of the Quebec League.

His tenure was interrupted after the team’s rousing playoff run in 1970, when the Pens came within two wins of reaching the Stanley Cup Finals. Red Kelly was named coach and general manager; Riley was promoted to club president.

Jack reassumed the GM duties on January 29, 1972. By the following season the energetic Irishman had assembled a talented nucleus, including rising young stars Syl Apps, Dave Burrows, and Greg Polis. However, he was unable to lead the club over the hump to contender status. In January of 1974 he was replaced by long-time assistant, Jack Button.

Riley remained with the Penguins as a scout through the 1974-75 season. After leaving the organization, he stayed active in hockey. From 1975 through January of 1977 he served as commissioner of the Southern Hockey League. In 1979 he began a four-year stint as commissioner of the International Hockey League.

At the end of his term, Riley worked as a consultant for the IHL and the East Coast Hockey League. He also served as a goal judge at the Civic Arena, but retired in 1993-94 so he could enjoy the games.

In December of 2009 he received a special token of appreciation for his years of service: the Penguins awarded him a Stanley Cup ring.

“I was kind of surprised when I saw the ring, even though I knew I was getting it,” Riley said. “Tom McMillan gave it to me in a jewelry box. I tried it on, and it was perfect. I thanked Ray Shero personally. I told him to thank Mario [Lemieux] and Ron [Burkle]. I thought it was really nice of them to think of me.”