George McPhee an awful GM

[TOGuy14]

He's tanking. I don't know why so many people are surprised by this.

Trading Methot to tank and getting awful value for him in a trade are two different things.

This is an early candidate for worst trade of the year. He traded a good defenceman on a good contract for a 7th round pick + 2nd round pick three years from now. Just this past deadline an inferior Brandan Smith was traded for a 2nd + a 3rd.

In a past life he famously traded FF for Martin Erat.

Outside of being a member of the Old Boys Club in the NHL I don't see how he remains employed. For all the talk and bluster leading up to the expansion draft, I don't think he did that well form an asset POV.

 

[theIceWookie]

Trading Methot to tank and getting awful value for him in a trade are two different things.

This is an early candidate for worst trade of the year. He traded a good defenceman on a good contract for a 7th round pick + 2nd round pick three years from now. Just this past deadline an inferior Brandan Smith was traded for a 2nd + a 3rd.

In a past life he famously traded FF for Martin Erat.

Outside of being a member of the Old Boys Club in the NHL I don't see how he remains employed. For all the talk and bluster leading up to the expansion draft, I don't think he did that well form an asset POV.

When teams are coming down on the wire and no longer have the ability to trade after 3pm.

Now teams can continue to trade other teams, and they have the ability to sign a dmen on July 1st. Trades rarely happen between July 1st and the start of the season.

The two situations are totally different.

 

[madinsomniac]

The next expansion the league needs to axe protection deals and lock the expasion team into a top 5 pick for the first 3 years to discourage tanking

 

[InfinityIggy]

The issue isn't just that he is 'tanking'. That is an understandable strategy for an expansion team.

It's that the trades he is making to aide in his tanking are incredibly poor. The Methot trade is a perfect example. Why trade him right now for a 2020 2nd, when if he had just waited until the deadline he could probably fetch a 1st in a great looking 2018 draft. I also find it hard to believe he couldn't get a better offer right now, had he done a little more shopping.

There is a play he can make wherein this all starts to make slightly more sense. He is in a position to pay Radulov, Kovalchuk and Dadonov good money to come and play with Shipachyov.

 

[mouser]

The issue isn't just that he is 'tanking'. That is an understandable strategy for an expansion team.

It's that the trades he is making to aide in his tanking are incredibly poor. The Methot trade is a perfect example. Why trade him right now for a 2020 2nd, when if he had just waited until the deadline he could probably fetch a 1st in a great looking 2018 draft. I also find it hard to believe he couldn't get a better offer right now, had he done a little more shopping.

There is a play he can make wherein this all starts to make slightly more sense. He is in a position to pay Radulov, Kovalchuk and Dadonov good money to come and play with Shipachyov.

Even if he doesn't ultimately land them, if the team is willing to spend those sorts of dollars on July 1st and take a run at them then it makes sense to move a contract now. The Knights were at just over $10m in summer cap available before the move.

 

[BlueBaron]

I am not sure he maximized his asset potential and it does seem like he crapped the bed on some picks and his returns on traded D-men have been less than inspiring.

That said he did accomplish a few things.

1. 3 First round picks in your first draft has never been done before by an expansion team and that is a really nice foundation on which to build. Passing on Vilardi made me shake my head though but I'm not a pro scout and will give him the benefit of the doubt.

2. For good or ill Vegas was all anyone was talking about for weeks, they got plenty of publicity and created a buzz which is nice for our newest team.

3. He did get a few keeper assets. Theodore, Fluery, Miller and Pickard could all be long term guys. (though I suspect they will trade a lot of back up goalies in the coming years) Others like Reinhart, Schmidt and Tuch could also prove to be part of the solution.

4. He managed to attract Shipachyov who could plausibly be a low end #1 C for a few years. Also opened the door for other Russians.

5. He got some solid deadline assets like Neal and Perron. They along with their top 6 highest paid D are all sitting with one year remaining on their contracts. You can be sure 2 of them will be moved with max retention to get the highest return.

6. He got home town boy Engelland which is a great PR move.

7. Future draft picks. He got an extra 2 second rounders for both of the next two drafts plus a 3rd, 4rth and 5th so their system is going to get heavy talent infusions every year for the next few drafts.

Could have been worse I guess.

 

[AlexBrovechkin8]

McPhee is awful. Vegas fans need to get used to hearing him say, "we like our team."

 

[Bieber fever]

Typical case of outsmarting yourself.

Why is he obsessed by picks in 2020 lol ?

 

[Seedling]

The Vegas expansion picks and process has been a master class in how not to do an expansion draft and build a team. It's been horrendous.

 

[Riddum]

Derek Morris.

Superior to Bobby and Paul Coffey combined... at every level.

 

[Langway]

Even if he doesn't ultimately land them, if the team is willing to spend those sorts of dollars on July 1st and take a run at them then it makes sense to move a contract now. The Knights were at just over $10m in summer cap available before the move.

Maybe he should have thought about that after selecting Emelin and Sbisa in addition to the Clarkson and Grabovski dumps.

 

[Stickpucker]

The way he has constructed that team is honestly shocking to me. The NHL laid out a set of rules that gave him a good chance to skip the "terrible expansion team" phase. And even until the day of the draft, it looked like he had done a great job of maneuvering assets to get a lot of bang for his buck.

Then he started calling names, and ever since then it's been downhill. I can understand passing up good players to position himself for the future, but he's collecting 5ths and ECHL-level prospects. It's bizarre.

Pretty much. Is it too late for LV to fire him and ask for a redo?

If he's just looking to tank good luck with the new lottery.

Feel kinda sad for MAF. Helping the Penguins and waiving his NTC to go get lit up like the strip.

 

[Anglesmith]

Typical case of outsmarting yourself.

Why is he obsessed by picks in 2020 lol ?

To be fair, everyone thinks of that pick as a prospect who won't play for ages, but it's also currency, so maybe he is happy to stockpile picks like that so that he can go out and get a player in a couple seasons once the prospects are coming along.

 

[BackToTheBrierePatch]

I dont think he is a great GM but he has to balance building a competitive team and building up the prospect pool for the future. It cant be an easy job.
But I am sure all the armchair GMs here think it would easy right?

 

[thepuckmonster]

I still don't comprehend how getting Theodore and Stoner is more valuable than one of Vatanen or Manson.

 

[boredmale]

I still don't comprehend how getting Theodore and Stoner is more valuable than one of Vatanen or Manson.

Hypothetically if they didn't have a side deal, Anaheim would either buy out Bieska or get him to wave his NMC, protect Manson then Trade Vatanen. Once Anaheim does a 7-3-1 protection method who exactly is left? All of a sudden getting Theodore looks like a good option

 

[Number 57]

GMGM is a known quantity though, and other teams didn't have nearly the opportunities at expansion that he did. He had Minny and the Islanders over a barrel, and let both of them off easy. Doesn't really make sense (especially Minny because the return was dreadful - would have gotten more just from taking Scandella/Dumba or whichever forward they would have had to expose to protect them).

Man, fan speculation really is the worst. You didn't hear any of the phone conversations those GMs had! What don't you understand from the following exchange?

Minny: So we have a deal to send Brodin to TOR for picks and Scandella to MTL for picks. So you won't be able to pick anything from us. But we'd rather keep them, so we'll give you Tuch, but you have to pick Haula. OK?

Vegas: OK!

If you can't comprehend this, I don't know what to tell you. Same with Anaheim.

(said TOR and MTL randomly, plenty of teams could have added pieces and protected them before the expansion draft)

 

[thepuckmonster]

Hypothetically if they didn't have a side deal, Anaheim would either buy out Bieska or get him to wave his NMC, protect Manson then Trade Vatanen. Once Anaheim does a 7-3-1 protection method who exactly is left? All of a sudden getting Theodore looks like a good option

Buying out bieksa would require him to be healthy which he is/was not.

 

[Woodrow]

Hypothetically if they didn't have a side deal, Anaheim would either buy out Bieska or get him to wave his NMC, protect Manson then Trade Vatanen. Once Anaheim does a 7-3-1 protection method who exactly is left? All of a sudden getting Theodore looks like a good option

While it's true that Anaheim would have explored their options, hypothetically Manson or Vatanen would then take up a protected slot on the team they are traded to and that team would have to expose a player they would otherwise protect. It would be a game of musical chairs where a good player somewhere would be available.

Basically McPhee was soft and let teams off the hook from doing these moves.

 

[The Duck Knight]

Buying out bieksa would require him to be healthy which he is/was not.

Bieksa is currently a lot more healthy than Despres who the Ducks just bought out.

 

[Pfft]

Man, fan speculation really is the worst. You didn't hear any of the phone conversations those GMs had! What don't you understand from the following exchange?

Minny: So we have a deal to send Brodin to TOR for picks and Scandella to MTL for picks. So you won't be able to pick anything from us. But we'd rather keep them, so we'll give you Tuch, but you have to pick Haula. OK?

Vegas: Do you expect us to believe that a 106-point team would actually gut its defensive depth for picks? We call your bluff.

Sure, we may never know what McPhee could have gotten but the consensus is that he should have received more from Minnesota but chose not to press the issue to maintain good relations. Who knows--perhaps that could turn into a favourable deal in the future but that doesn't change the fact that he didn't maximize his value here.

 

[Seedling]

The other part of this is that there would have only been two or three teams able to "hide" a guy traded like Dumba or Scandella, Manson, Vatanen etc. No way in hell those GMs would have traded them for mere picks while their window for contention is closing.

If those guys got traded to other teams it would have forced those other teams to expose other guys. There would be a ripple. Vegas still could have taken a lot of really good players even with trades. You can't protect everyone and GMGM didn't fully exploit the situation IMO.

 

[NoShowWilly]

The Engelland selection still gets me. I get he is a local but really?! Sign the guy as a UFA then.

 

[Seedling]

Vegas: Do you expect us to believe that a 106-point team would actually gut its defensive depth for picks? We call your bluff.

Sure, we may never know what McPhee could have gotten but the consensus is that he should have received more from Minnesota but chose not to press the issue to maintain good relations. Who knows--perhaps that could turn into a favourable deal in the future but that doesn't change the fact that he didn't maximize his value here.

Exactly. I'd love to hear the conversation between Fletcher and his owner about how trading two or three really good D men for picks is better than losing one.

 

[Jag68Sid87]

The Engelland selection still gets me. I get he is a local but really?! Sign the guy as a UFA then.

So he can add yet another defenseman to the mix, another guy who would have to pass through waivers after training camp next fall?

Engelland makes sense from the standpoint of having a leadership group in place for Year 1 of the franchise.