Las Vegas NHL club hires McPhee as GM

TSN’s Bob McKenzie tweeted Tuesday that McPhee was the likely candidate.

It is also worth noting that McPhee previously served as a special advisor to New York Islanders’ general manager Garth Snow. George McPhee is the team’s general manager.

The Capitals went through a few different transitions during McPhee’s time at the helm, including a almost complete rebuild during the 2003-04 season that saw Washington trade off most of its pieces before landing the No. 1 overall pick in 2004. “I think it’s a real good fit”.

Foley said he wanted a GM who was focused, dedicated and had a “take-no-prisoner” attitude and feels he got that in McPhee.

“I can tell you the people we talked to are all well-known in the hockey community and are well-respected”, Foley said Monday, per the Review-Journal. “We’ve got two primary candidates and we’re trying to get this done”. With McPhee in charge, the risk of Las Vegas following the same path as Atlanta or Columbus is mitigated.

“When I heard he was involved in this, I was hoping I could run into him”, McPhee said.

McPhee said he’s looking forward to working with team owner Bill Foley, and considers himself lucky to be back in the business as a GM. “Then you take a deep breath and go, ‘Oh great, another excellent manager that you’re competing against.’ But that’s the game, everybody’s good”. “This is what every GM wants to experience at some point in his career”.

The league approved the expansion franchise in Las Vegas, the league’s 31st team, on June 22.

He also had the chance to spend more time with family and see his son, Graham, get drafted by the Edmonton Oilers in the fifth round of the 2016 Draft. The team will first take the ice during the 2017-18 season.

Foley mentioned Salt Lake City as a potential option geographically close to Las Vegas.

McPhee helped construct back-to-back gold-medal winners for Canada at the past two world hockey championships. He’s going to be pushing, and everything else, but from everything I’ve heard about him, he really backs you up and backs his employees up. But thats the game, everybodys good.”.

It’s one of the most fascinating jobs available and apparently we’re going to learn who gets the first crack at building up the Las Vegas roster from scratch within days.

McPhee played parts of six seasons in the National Hockey League for the Rangers and Devils.