Confirmed with Link: George McPhee Hired as General Manager.

[BattleBorn]

The Choice Is Made: Might as well bust out a Gameday Thread Edition.

Press Conference Wednesday 1:00




Everyone get your guesses in today. One official guess per poster. This isn't 'nam.

Click to read more...

 

[BattleBorn]

Also, I'm going with Craig Conroy as my guess.

 

[Soundgarden]

George McPhee, I don't like it, but got a feeling.

 

[The Feckless Puck]

 

[702]

Tell me why I should hate McPhee

 

[The Duck Knight]

Tell me why I should hate McPhee

Because he made one of the worst trades of the salary cap era, trading Filip Forsberg for Martin ****ing Erat. Also, did nothing to address obvious holes in the Caps top 4 defensively during their window with Boudreau.

 

[hockeykicker]

Because he made one of the worst trades of the salary cap era, trading Filip Forsberg for Martin ****ing Erat. Also, did nothing to address obvious holes in the Caps top 4 defensively during their window with Boudreau.

pretty much, he hates stay at home defenders and will try and stack up as many offensive defenders as possible. he builds teams to outscore teams not to keep leads

 

[Brew]

I'm hoping Don Maloney will be in there somewhere. When he was released by the Coyotes, a ton of fans were shocked. I could see him being a great builder for this franchise.

Edit: Also wondering if they will give an idea for a team name for Las Vegas. I know a lot of people have gone with casino related names, but I hope for something like the Bandits, Outlaws, or something old-western style for a team name. Could have fun with those jerseys.

 

[Brew]

Tell me why I should hate McPhee

He had arguably the best player in the NHL to build around, and never really built around him. The difference that Brian Mclellan and Barry Trotz did this year showed they know how to utilize and build around their best player, something that McPhee did not.

 

[HanSolo]

Yeah I'd veto McPhee if I could.

 

[BattleBorn]

There isn't any real substance to the McPhee thing that I've seen.

I think it's just a complete lack of information and a few well informed media people guessing, then everyone else picking it up and running.

 

[BattleBorn]

Eh, just saw this:



So, there's something real. Damn.

 

[HanSolo]

 

[hockeykicker]

isles beat writer on team mcphee works for

 

[Brew]

Eh, just saw this:



So, there's something real. Damn.

You just ruined my day. Hopefully the assistant GM will be more useful.

IF McPhee is the GM tomorrow, who does he bring in as head coach?

At the moment, IMO Todd Richards is the best available coach, and personally I would have a coach that he could scout with to build a team that is compatible with the coaching style. Unfortunately, I could see McPhee waiting until the end of the season to see who gets fired before selecting one.

 

[HanSolo]

Ugh. Whatever. McPhee oversaw the big Capitals rebuild. So one hand his managerial failures busted up a team, but then after lucking out at the draft he built a pretty decent team. But then he pawned off a top tier asset for a dud of a player...there's worse options out there but...meh

 

[702]

Not really the young exciting choice. Bummer.

 

[BattleBorn]

Here's an article with a pretty negative headline, but good content:

http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/2014/4/26/5655838/george-mcphee-capitals-fired-analysis

 

[BattleBorn]

Carp:

 

[Super Cake]

Absolutely did not want Mcphee. ****

Over/under the years he is fired?

 

[derriko]

My worry is an all out offensive style may be exciting, but classically, it doesnt win, and the roster (at least initially) wont have any firepower to it.

 

[Pokecheque]

Tell me why I should hate McPhee

Because he made one of the worst trades of the salary cap era, trading Filip Forsberg for Martin ****ing Erat. Also, did nothing to address obvious holes in the Caps top 4 defensively during their window with Boudreau.

Take it for what it's worth but McPhee strongly implied ownership had a pretty heavy hand in affairs at times, and it's not surprising when that ownership is Ted Leonsis. No doubt about it though, the Forsberg-for-Erat deal was a panic trade, plain and simple.

That's not to say McPhee was not at fault for those moves, but it shouldn't be overlooked that he rebuilt a Washington Capitals franchise following the failure of the Jagr experiment, it's just too bad he panicked a bit when he basically dismantled a very dangerous and talented Caps squad in that ever-foolish quest to "get tougher."

He's as good a choice as any to get a fledgling franchise off the ground, but maybe not the ideal guy to take it to the next level.

 

[KnishOfTheCrease]

This sucks. I'm glad to see him gone from the Isles but I sure as hell don't want him near us now.

 

[Soundgarden]

Not someone I wanted, but I'm not going to get worked up over it, there are worse choices out there I'm sure we'll be fine. I'm just happy things are beginning to happen.

 

[BattleBorn]

Here's a post from a Caps fan over on the NHL Talk board.

Perhaps it will get some people off the edge.

McPhee will be great for them. People who evaluate his career based on drafting Ovechkin or the Erat trade are missing the big picture. He made the bold move to rebuild a veteran team that wasn't getting any better, and made a series of shrewd trades to create a rapid and successful rebuild in Washington. It was a lot more than simply the Ovechkin pick. He brought in a series of A+ prospects and additional draft picks. John Carlson, Mike Green, Semyon Varlamov, Tomas Fleischmann, and Brooks Laich were all brought into the franchise via trade. During his decade managing the team in the salary cap era, he only really signed two real bad contracts (Brooks Laich and Michael Nylander). Until his last couple years, he generally "won" almost every trade or negotiation he was part of.

He might not be the right candidate to put the finishing touches on a roster or get it over the hump, but he's a great GM to build a franchise from the ground up. Solid hire for Vegas.

It's also worth mentioning again that he's going to walk into a situation where there's at least a year of scouting done through Craven's people, that's in addition to the guys he's worked with that may come along and the type of data he's worked with every day for the last couple decades.