CRANBERRY, Pa. -- On July 22, 2005, the NHL held its draft lottery to determine the No. 1 overall pick and winner of the Sidney Crosby Sweepstakes.
Garry Bettman announced the draft order, starting with the team picking last and working his way up to No. 1.
The final two teams in the order were the Penguins and Mighty Ducks. Then-Mighty Ducks general manager Brian Burke and then-Penguins president Ken Sawyer were brought onto the stage for the final announcement.
Bettman announced that the No. 1 selection in the draft belonged to the Penguins, revealing the logo inside the envelope. Sawyer and Burke shook hands, and Burke exited the stage while Sawyer grinned from ear to ear.
Burke went on to work as the president and general manager of the Maple Leafs, and then president of hockey operations of the Flames before stepping down and transitioning into a role in television.
Crosby went on to win three Stanley Cups and is a handful of games away from his 1,000th in the NHL.
Burke never let Crosby forget how close he was to being his.
"You remember back in the lottery in '05, I just missed on Sidney Crosby," Burke recalled on Tuesday. "Whenever I see Sid in the rink, I hold my finger and my thumb about that far apart and I say, 'We almost had you, Sid.'
On Tuesday, the Penguins named Brian Burke president of hockey operations, and Ron Hextall their new general manager. And one of the first things Burke spoke about in his introductory press conference Tuesday was how he finally won the Sidney Crosby Sweepstakes, just a bit later than he originally hoped for.
"Well, now I've got Sidney Crosby," Burke said. "It's good to be here."
Hextall and Burke haven't yet arrived in Pittsburgh, but they've spoken with a few members of the organization already over the phone, including Crosby and Mike Sullivan, who spoke about the hirings after Wednesday's practice at the Lemieux Complex.
Crosby said that he didn't know Hextall or Burke well prior to the hires (aside from those moments where Burke reminded him how close he was to being a Mighty Duck, of course), but that he's familiar with the type of teams that each has built in the past.
"Anaheim (under Burke) was a pretty heavy team," he said. "Toronto (under Burke) was back to being pretty skilled. Philly (under Hextall) was pretty skilled. ... I've heard great things. ... With those two being named, I think everyone is excited to meet them and move forward."
Sullivan said that he wasn't very familiar with Hextall personally, but is familiar with what Hextall was able to accomplish in Philadelphia and is looking forward to Hextall bringing his experience to Pittsburgh. He said that he already had an "established relationship" with Burke, however, and they worked together closely in 2016 when Sullivan was the assistant coach for Team USA at the World Cup of Hockey and Burke was the general manager.
"We had good conversations," Sullivan said of his phone calls with his two new bosses yesterday. "I'm looking forward to the opportunity to work with these guys. ... These are really smart guys. They've been around the game a long time, they've got a ton of experience on managing teams and building teams, and supporting teams to make them better. ... I think it's a great opportunity for us to learn from one another."
Sullivan is at least a little familiar with Hextall from his playing days.
As a player in the NHL, Sullivan didn't score many goals, just 54. I'd imagine he at least remembers scoring some of the bigger ones. One of the biggest came when Sullivan was a Shark, in the 1992-93 season, during Hextall's brief stint with the Nordiques.
Sullivan's Sharks, down by three goals at the midway point of the third period, mounted a three-goal comeback to force overtime before ultimately losing when now-Penguins director of player development Scott Young scored in overtime for Quebec.
Sullivan's goal with just under two minutes remaining in regulation was the one that forced overtime. He was asked about that goal on Wednesday, and he conveniently didn't remember the goal he scored on his new boss.
"I can't even remember the play, so I can't comment on that," he said. "But what I will say is my recollection of Ron as a goalie was that he was ultra-competitive. He was a fierce competitor and he wanted to win. That, I think, was evident whenever you played against him. He had a tremendous career, and I'm sure that his competitive spirit is part of what he brings to the management team as well."
Hextall's one-year stint in Quebec was one of just two seasons in his 13-year NHL career that he didn't spend with the Flyers. Crosby was asked about Hextall's clear association with the Flyers, and grinned when it was said that Hextall coming to work for the Penguins would be like him taking a job with the Flyers a few years down the road.
"Yeah, I mean it's funny when you think about it," he said. "You probably don't ever anticipate that. But at the same time, I think that you find yourself saying that a lot in hockey. It finds a way of bringing people together in different circumstances. In this case it's not any different. You think about rivalries and players getting traded, things like that, and how many times you see something like this happen. It's funny to think about it now, but looking back, you probably wouldn't have expected this."
Bringing in one of the all-time Flyers villains to manage the Penguins might defy expectations a little. The expectations on the ice remain the same, though.
"I think the objective is the same," Sullivan said. "And that's to do our very best to try to win a Stanley Cup with the core that we have here, and trying to surround these guys with the best possible people, and to play a style of play that gives us the best chance to be successful. From my standpoint, my job doesn't change. I'm going to coach this team the best way I know how, and we're going to coach this team as a coaching staff the best way we know how that's going to give us the best chance to win each and every night."