George McPhee Named GM of Las Vegas NHL Team

The NHL's Las Vegas expansion team made a big hire in bringing aboard George McPhee as general manager. The team announced the move Wednesday.

Steve Carp of the Las Vegas Review-Journal initially reported the news of McPhee's hiring Tuesday, as did ESPN.com's Scott Burnside.

McPhee was the Washington Capitals GM from 1997 to 2014, helping the club to its first Stanley Cup Final appearance in his first season at the helm of the front office. He also spearheaded the Alex Ovechkin era, which has given Washington eight playoff berths in the past nine years.

This past September, McPhee was named special adviser to the GM for the New York Islanders but will now be in charge of building a new team from the ground up.

Given the exemplary job he did in Washington and how long he was able to hold his post there, the new Las Vegas team has to be thrilled to have McPhee aboard as it tries to find its footing.

Carp and Burnside both indicated in their reports that the Las Vegas team will hold a press conference on Wednesday to officially introduce McPhee in his new role.

Burnside reported McPhee's experience gave him an edge over other candidates in what he described as an "exhaustive" search process led by team owner Bill Foley. Per Burnside, a top priority for McPhee will be assembling a scouting staff.

The NHL approved Las Vegas as a new expansion destination in June, as the location beat out Quebec City, who used to have the Nordiques franchise before they moved to Denver and ultimately became the Colorado Avalanche.

McPhee will get his crack at filling out a roster ahead of Las Vegas' inaugural 2017-18 through the NHL expansion draft.

According to NHL.com, Las Vegas will select one player from each franchise and submit its picks by June 20. Before that occurs, all other clubs will submit a protected list of players who are off limits.