Ray Shero could have proceeded cautiously as the NHL trade deadline closed in.

A lot of people thought the Penguins' general manager would. And should.

After all, Shero's patient approach to constructing a championship contender had worked out pretty well since he succeeded Craig Patrick in May 2006.

His team, thanks to high draft choices earned by spending much of the decade near the bottom of the standings and a remarkably fortuitous bounce of a pingpong ball in the 2005 draft lottery, owned a core of young talent without equal in the NHL.

Sure, there were some conspicuous holes in the Penguins' lineup, but there was every reason to believe they could win a round or two in the playoffs this spring and, in the process, take another meaningful step in their development.

So it's unlikely much of his team's fan base would have complained if Shero had adopted a conservative approach in the days and hours leading up to 3 p.m. Feb. 26. Maybe explored a few minor deals to bolster his depth chart and gone through with one or two if the price wasn't exorbitant.

But Shero sensed the potential for more than just long-range greatness in this team. He looked beyond its short-term uncertainties -- how Sidney Crosby would recover from a high ankle sprain, how goalie Marc-Andre Fleury would fare in high-stakes games -- and saw a group that, with the proper infusion of personnel, could be a major force this spring.

And so, as the deadline began to close in, Shero addressed his need for a veteran defensive defenseman by sending a second- and fifth-round draft choice to Toronto for Hal Gill.

Then, with just minutes remaining, he pulled off the most dramatic move any team made at the deadline, acquiring forwards Marian Hossa -- the goal-scoring winger the Penguins had been seeking to play on Crosby's right side -- and Pascal Dupuis from Atlanta for forwards Colby Armstrong and Erik Christensen, 2007 No. 1 draft choice Angelo Esposito and the Penguins' first-round selection in the 2008 draft.

Hossa, whom the Thrashers had been unable to re-sign, was the biggest name available at the deadline, but the prevailing sentiment had been that he would end up in Montreal or Edmonton.

"There were a number of teams interested in his services," Shero said. "And we weren't sure what the price was."

Indeed, Shero had told his staff the night before the deadline that the Penguins' chances of landing Hossa were "less than 5 percent," and the Canadiens reportedly were preparing a news conference to announce the acquisition of Hossa when Shero struck his deal with Thrashers general manager Don Waddell.

News of the trade reverberated through the NHL, and while it earned Shero widespread praise for his willingness to make such a bold move, he had some understandable uncertainty about how it would turn out.

"At 3:01, I was like, 'What the heck did I just do?' " Shero said. "At 3:05, 3:10, 3:15, you're just letting the dust settle.

"I wasn't sure. I really wasn't. The chemistry, I wasn't sure. The challenge was for this group to give the new players an opportunity, to see how they fit in."

Armstrong had been one of the most popular figures in the Penguins' locker room, and Christensen was well-liked and respected. There were justifiable concerns about how their former teammates would react to having them yanked out of the team's mix of personalities.

Wasn't a problem, though. Or even an issue. Ever.

All three players were accepted, even embraced, immediately by their teammates and didn't need long to establish themselves as valuable contributors. The goal-scoring the Penguins wanted from Hossa didn't show up immediately, in part because of a knee injury that forced him to miss six games, but he has found the net with regularity lately.

Hossa, while easily the biggest name Shero has traded for, isn't the only player he has acquired to upgrade the Penguins' offense. Some, like Petr Sykora, have given a nice return on Shero's confidence and investment; others, like Nils Ekman, have cost more -- a second-round draft choice, in Ekman's case -- than they were worth.

"Nils Ekman didn't work out," Shero said. "I'd like to have that one back. I was somewhat surprised he didn't do better than he did, if you look at the two seasons he had in San Jose. It just wasn't a good fit."

More often than not, however, the guys Shero has brought in have been, although there was a solid nucleus in place when he accepted the job. Of the 26 players currently on the Penguins' playoff roster, 11 preceded Shero into the organization.

Ten -- forwards Evgeni Malkin, Ryan Malone, Tyler Kennedy and Max Talbot and Crosby, defensemen Ryan Whitney, Kris Letang, Rob Scuderi and Brooks Orpik and goalie Marc-Andre Fleury -- were drafted during Patrick's tenure as general manager, and Patrick had signed defenseman Sergei Gonchar as a free agent.

"You had Crosby, you had Malkin coming, you had Ryan Whitney on defense and Marc-Andre Fleury," Shero said. "There were some good pieces in place. We're just adding in around that."

Perhaps, but it's important to add the right pieces and, as Ekman proved, a player's resume doesn't always indicate whether he'll be a good fit with a particular team.

Most of the free agents Shero has brought in -- forwards Jarkko Ruutu, Adam Hall, Jeff Taffe and Sykora, defensemen Mark Eaton and Darryl Sydor and goalies Ty Conklin and Dany Sabourin -- have made meaningful contributions, and the only Shero draft choice on the current team, Jordan Staal, ranks among the top young players in the game.

Shero made two trades in 2007 to add grit and toughness, bringing in Georges Laraque and Gary Roberts, and added Kris Beech off waivers from Washington this season when the Penguins had injury problems.

Most of his acquisitions have been plugged into voids Shero identified during his first few months on the job, although not every move worked out as planned.

"I still have all my notes from the summer when I first got here," he said. "I was like, 'Holy cow, there were a lot of holes.' [Mark] Recchi came in [as a free agent] and filled a hole.

"Colby ended up settling into a certain role for us, but Colby had had 40 points in 47 games [in 2005-06]. We hoped he was going to play with Sid, and he did, but he wasn't exactly the right fit."

Hossa looks like he is, which goes a long way toward validating Shero's decision to relinquish so many assets to bring him in for the stretch drive and playoffs. To give people like Crosby and Malkin an opportunity to prove there's no reason to delay their first serious run at a championship.

"It's not like we're building for the future with these guys," Shero said. "These kids are ready now."