Former Penguins forward Gary Roberts has been hired by the NHL’s expansion Seattle Kraken franchise as a sports performance consultant.

A power forward in the NHL for 21 seasons, Roberts had a brief, but memorable stint with the Penguins over the parts of two seasons in 2006-07 and 2007-08, the latter of which resulted in the Penguins winning the Eastern Conference and playing (but losing) in the Stanley Cup Final. During that time, Roberts became something of a cult hero in Pittsburgh.

In 57 career games with the Penguins, Roberts had 28 points (10 goals, 18 assists).

After retiring as a player, Roberts embarked on a second career as a personal trainer to several NHL players based out of the Toronto area. That eventually led to a position with UPMC as sports performance director at the Lemieux Sports Center in Cranberry when that facility opened in 2015.

It is unclear when Roberts parted ways with UPMC.

Roberts joins a Kraken franchise which already includes several ex-Penguins players, including general manager Ron Francis as well as scouts Stu Barnes and Ulf Samuelsson. The Kraken is scheduled to begin playing in 2021-22.

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