According to TSN’s Bob McKenzie, former Washington Capitals general manager George McPhee is the favorite to be the first general manager for the Las Vegas expansion team.
Las Vegas will be getting an NHL expansion team next summer. Before the expansion draft occurs, they first need to assemble a front office. Vegas is expected to officially name a general manager very shortly, perhaps as soon as Wednesday. According to Bob McKenzie, former Washington Capitals general manager George McPhee is the favorite.
I'm on vacation, not working, so I'm not "reporting" anything. But were I to wager who's LV inaugural GM, I'd put my money on George McPhee.
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) July 12, 2016
McPhee will eternally have his name linked to the trade that sent Filip Forsberg to the Nashville Predators in exchange for Martin Erat and Michael Latta. That was a terrible trade that led to McPhee being fired after the 2013-14 season.
However, McPhee is an excellent candidate and arguably the best general manager for Vegas. McPhee has a ton of front office experience. He engineered a very quick and efficient rebuild of the Capitals once the Caps admitted that Jaromir Jagr wasn’t working out in DC. McPhee did so by stockpiling draft picks and using them wisely on players like Nicklas Backstrom, Mike Green, Alexander Semin, Marcus Johansson, Karl Alzner, and John Carlson (all first round picks of the Caps under McPhee).
If Vegas is going to have success, they will likely have to build through the draft. That’s something that McPhee is very familiar with. Once Vegas is ready to contend, McPhee has proven that he is willing to be aggressive to get his team what it needs to contend.
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