Who Could Be on the Las Vegas Hockey GM List?

Las Vegas NHL franchise owner Bill Foley is busy organizing his front office, and has stated he'd like to have his General Manager on line by the start of August. He is probably working with a mix of candidates that have sent their resumes to him, but also looking at some other that his advisers have suggested.

Reportedly, Foley's first goal was to get to a short list of 3-5 candidates to do interviews for the Las Vegas GM. No word yet on how far along in the process he is into it, but I thought I'd comment on a few names that have been bandied about.

Possible Candidates Now Outside Looking In

There are a few candidates who are between jobs or are in sattelite positions which should make them easy to access.

Don Maloney

Just was released after nine years as the Arizona Coyotes general manager and has over 20 years front office experience. Strong on organizational skills, especially the calmness to navigate the Coyotes through the years of League Ownership and financial pain, and seems to be well regarded by most of the league and especially Gary Bettman.

The negative side is that the Coyotes had an under-performing draft history under Maloney, so he probably would need to have some strong scouting and player personnel staff to support him. 

George McPhee

McPhee was the general manager of the Washington Capitals from 1997 through 2014, now currently holds a position as a special adviser to the New York Islanders. This guy knows all about building successful rosters. McPhee helped build a thriving minor league and scouting system for the Capitals that produced loads of prospects and successful franchises.

He is also famous for the infamous "Fire Sale" of 2003-2004 where he completely gutted the over-budget and unbalanced Capitals roster - including dealing off stars like Jaromir Jager Peter Bondra, Michael Nylander and captain Steve Konowalchuck. McPhee rebuilt the Capitols who followed with their best ever seasons in franchise history.

Currently Have Key Jobs with Other Teams

Jason Botterill

Botteril is 39 and a key member of the champion Pittsburgh Penguins front office, and has been long considered one of the rising stars in management. Feelings are that Bottril deserves a chance, but will have to be looking a long time before Botteril would get a chance at the top job at Pittsburgh. He is probably a long shot, but an interesting one.

Mike Futa

The VP of hockey operations for the Los Angeles Kings has been sought after by other teams. He is strong in scouting and player development with the Kings although the Kings reportedly have turned away other franchises who wanted to talk to Futa. Futa has more experience than Botterill and also is well respected around the league.

Norm MacIver

The Chicago Blackhawks assistant general manager has worked for Stan Bowman for several years. His name has been bandied around several times for open positions.

Scott Mellanby

The Assistant General Manager for the Montreal Canadiens is another name that keeps popping up, although he has less experience than many of the others on this list.

Dale Tallon

Tallon built two dynamic, successful and young teams, first with the Chicago Blackhawks and then the Florida Panthers. However his latest "promotion" at Florida from GM to President of Hockey Operations position takes him out of the direct business of building and managing a team.

At sixty, Tallon might want the less direct involvement now, but if the itch starts scratching, there would be no one better.