George McPhee Handed the Reigns For Las Vegas NHL Franchise - Good Call

After a storm of swirling speculation and rumors, Bill Foley handed the General Manager reigns for his NHL franchise to George McPhee. For one, I think this is a fantastic call, and says something about the direction our Las Vegas franchise is heading.

Last week when speculation was rampant I added my thoughts on who were the likely candidates for the Las Vegas GM job. Truth be told my own personal choices at what I thought were the best likely candidates were McPhee and Florida's President of Hockey Operations Dale Talon.

Word has it that seven candidates were interviewed while Foley, Foley's hockey advisor Murray Craven and a small group of Hockey In Vegas staff huddled in a ranch in Montana. They whittled it down to two candidates, and George McPhee got the nod.

McPhee is famous for a lot of things, perhaps most from the "Fire Sale" of 2003-2004 and infamous for the Filip Forsberg for Martin Erat. And a few comments made by McPhee at his introductory news conference resonated with me.

His first was an aside comment about being out of the GM chair for awhile which had given him a change to "recharge."

The second was from a question about if he was going to scout more the pros (for the Expansion Draft) or the amateurs (for the Entry Draft). His main response was that he was going to scout both, "every day" but had an interesting follow. He mentioned that his best trades were made "when I knew the players," but that over time, tied to his GM responsibilities, his ability to really know the players was not as good. He knew his own players, but his knowledge of other players in the league slowly degraded.

Since his leaving the Capitals he has been "watching a lot of hockey... I'll be watching hockey every day."

In the 2003-2004  season, with a fairly expensive and unbalanced roster, and with a messy lockout looming, ownership directed McPhee to blow up the club. After the end of the bitter lockout of 2004-2005 used smart drafting from the picks he had accumulated  to build a fast, athletic team that peaked in a 2009-2010 season where the Capitals tallied an amazing 124 points and a one seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

From there a series of poor drafts and poorer trades including the Forsberg-Erat fiasco. In this one the shining but still developing star Forsberg was dealt for winger Erat. This transaction made with the seemingly good intentions to trade one roster spot (where Washington had an embarrassment of riches) for a winger (in which Washington had a gaping hole), Erat objected to how coach Adam Oates was using him, and demanded to be traded. Soon more players demanded trades. Oates, and by extension McPhee had lost the locker room.

From there a flurry of draft day trades were meant to clean the roster of malcontents but were receiving poor return for the assets jettisoned out. Not long after McPhee, who had been the highly successful GM of the Capitals for 17 years, was out.

Complacency, too-slow-to-adjust, married to a roster, or maybe just burn out after 17 years?

But this is a guy who built and rebuilt the Washington Capitals several times during his 17 years at the helm. No, his teams never won the Stanley Cop, and that is an issue. But he knows how to develop a roster and how to develop personnel. He was key in building the Capital's scouting and player development systems to give them a talented, athletic team that won games.

And now he has had a couple of years to recharge, to get the fire back in his belly, and to watch lots of hockey.

I can't wait to see what McPhee does as the Las Vegas General Manager.

Foley Down to Final Two for Las Vegas GM

Rumors continue to crackle as Las Vegas awaits any news about Bill Foley's search for the General Manager for the new NHL franchise. The Las Vegas Review Journal reported comments by Foley that he seems to be down to a final two candidates.

Foley and his advisers have been in stealth mode since last week when they burrowed into anonymity at a Montana ranch. Word has it that they have interviewed no less than seven candidates, in person or by phone. The boss would make an intel officer proud, as not a hint has whispered on exactly who or what or when.

A few things we do know is that two names that have been bandied about, Florida Panthers President of Hockey Operations Dale Tallon and Chicago Blackhawks Assistant GM Norm McIver were not interviewed. I talked about who some of the GM candidates could be on an earlier post.

In any case, days are falling away and the faster a GM can be named the faster the important scouting department can be formed. The 2017 Expansion draft is only eleven months away, not much time to get an entire department up and running with enough time to develop a solid draft board.

With indications that we are down to two primary candidates, we could have a hire by the end of this week. Then the pace will start to pick up.

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.

While Free Agents Buzz - the Hockey World Cup Looms

The 2016 free agent signing season is roiling the NHL news but looming over all for teams and players is the looming World Cup of Hockey coming in September.

The World Cup has eight teams of NHL players, divied up into eight teams:

Group A

• Team Canada

• Team Czech Republic

• Team Europe (a team of European players not from countries that have their own national team)

• Team USA

• Team Finland

• Team North America (a team of U-23 players from USA and Canada)

• Team Russia

• Team Sweden

Group B
Training camp for the World Cup teams are slated to start September 4-5. This is a bit earlier than the normal team camps, as they normally start around the second week of September.

Games will be played at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto from September 17 to October 1. For a lot of the top players, it means a short off season since the games will be played as NHL teams will be starting to play their preseason schedule at the end of September. For teams it means their early preseason training will be without their top players.

From the original NHL announcements of the 2016 World Cup of Hockey issued out before the 2015-2016 season:

"NHL training camps prior to the start of the 2016-17 season are expected to start on time, with the players competing in the World Cup joining their NHL teams once their teams are eliminated from the World Cup or once it is finished."

So each team will probably get their best players back in bits and drabs, and the coaching staffs will have to hustle to get their players incorporated into their team.

Hall - Larsson Blockbuster Trade First Setup for Expansion Draft?

The Edmonton Oilers traded prolific goalscorer Taylor Hall to the New Jersey Devils for their defenseman Adam Larsson. A lot of Edmonton fans are upset with the trade. It looks like the Oilers drastically over payed to solidify their defense,

No doubt there are loads of factors involved in this particular trade being done. I expect one of them is Edmonton working to align their roster to make it easier to protect during next year's Expansion Draft.

With that June draft each team can protect either

• Seven forwards,  three defensemen and one goaltender, or
• Eight skaters (forwards/defensemen) and one goaltender

Edmonton is a club with a wealth of forwards, but is weaker on defensemen. If nothing else changes between now and June Edmonton would probably have had to expose a quality goal scorer in the draft. They still may have to depending on how next season plays out, but this way the Oilers get some value out of a piece they might have lost for nothing next year.

And to clarify, this doesn't mean to suggest that Hall would have been the odd forward out in our hypothetical draft list for the Expansion Draft. In fact, I expect Hall would not have been on that list. But now one the Oiler's embarrassment of riches is one less, meaning a somewhat easier decision making process for next year to better balance their roster.

The Name of the New Las Vegas NHL Franchise Roils the Pot

Here in Las Vegas the name of the new NHL franchise is making people crazy. Owner Bill Foley reportedly is holed up in a Montana retreat with his staff to bang out some solid fans for the new franchise. But meanwhile back in Sin City the airwaves, newspapers and Internet are crackling with suppositions on the name.

Ever since Las Vegas was awarded the 31st NHL franchise locals have wanted a name, and preferably, NOT the Black Knights moniker that Foley prefers from his Army Academy days.

Practically everybody with a web page is running polls and suggestion campaigns for the team nickname, with names from the good (Neon Knights, Vipers, Scorpions) curious (Mandalay Rays, Sinners) to the ridiculous (86ers, Bagmen, Keno Runners). The local Review Journal is running a March Madness inspired poll-off between 64 different nicknames, and they had to reach far to get some of the names.

No, I am not running a poll.

But at least you and I can enjoy the new and growingly idiotic reaches people are making in a harmless past time in passing their opinion over something no one has any control over, with the exception of Bill Foley and the NHL of course.

The powers that be are saying they will break out the finalized Nickname, logo and color scheme hopefully in September, while Foley has stated he'd like to hire and have the franchise's first GM at the wheel by the start of August, just four short weeks away.

So for the next few weeks all it will be is talk. Be ready for a wave of mindless chatter as people fill in the lack of real news with the barest of speculations and groundless gossip.

But soon we might start having some great thing to talk about as Bill Foley establishes ice hockey in the desert, and begins the search of the holy grail - the Stanley Cup in T-Mobile Arena.

Las Vegas’ Jason Zucker back with Minnesota Wild

Our hometown Las Vegas boy Jason Zucker just resigned with the Minnesota Wild, as expected.

Reports are that Zucker signed a 2-year, $4mil extension to continue playing with the Wild which originally drafted him in 2010.

It is something to keep in mind as NHL Las Vegas continues to unroll towards a 2017-2018 entrance. All signings from now until the 2017 Expansion Draft is going to have an impact on what talent pool will be available for the Las Vegas franchise to look at.

Zucker is a good, quality Left Wing, but has had some injuries he has had to work through, and this last season was definitely a down year for the 24-year-old, scoring 13 goals and 26 points in 51 games. The extension provides a bridge for the Wild and Zucker. He was due to become a Restricted (Group 2) free agent on Friday but his stock had fallen due to his injury-hampered season. The Wild get a two year commitment from a solid winger with skills while Zucker has a chance to get his career back on track before he hits unrestricted free agency.

But for Las Vegas, it is something to keep an eye on. There is a new coach in Minnesota, Bruce Boudreau, and you never know how a player might or might not mesh in a new system. Zucker might well recover and get back to the level that suggests he could be a 30-goal scorer or better.

Or he could continue to struggle, and might come available in the Expansion Draft, and an interesting hometown pickup for Las Vegas to gamble on.

Official: Las Vegas is Home to the NHL.

After 2.5 years of what sometimes seemed to be an endless process, the NHL awarded an NHL franchise to Bill Foley and Las Vegas.

Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.
                                                                          Winston Churchill

But even though it has been a hard slogging battle, the work goes into overdrive. Bill Foley may need to clone himself a few times just to keep up.

Just a few of the items that need to be done fast:

• The team's practice facility needs to be ready to go by 2017 - just over 12 months away, and the plans for it are still unsettled. They need to be finalized and construction started toot sweet.
• One of the most important moves needs to be a General Manager hired and hitting the ground running. The GM needs to be experienced and with a strong personality, because that person will be going a long way in establishing the culture of the franchise.
• The Front Office needs to be filled out. 
• Community marketing and sales needs to pop into overdrive.
• A strong scouting department needs to start developing a data base keying into two key 2017 events - the 2017 Expansion Draft and the 2017 Entry Draft which will come up bang-bang right after each other. 

Okay, maybe we are not even at the End of the Beginning, as old Winston Churchill once said. Maybe we are simply in the middle of the Prologue.

If a Las Vegas Entry Draft Happened Now

Everyone is still breathlessly waiting for the expected Wednesday announcement which (hopefully) finalizes Las Vegas receiving the next NHL Franchise.

And at the very real danger of squirling the future, the buzz is humming at an intense level over what will the first Las Vegas team looks like, assuming it actually does get off the ground for the 2017-2018 season.

Just for fun, our buddies over at ESPN threw out what the draft might look like if it happened today:

http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/16375666/nhl-our-projected-las-vegas-expansion-team-roster

There is a lot of water to flow under the bridge, but there are a lot of interesting things to chew on. I will probably look back on this in a few weeks.

It is fun to dream, but there are going to be a whirlwind of action, assuming that the NHL does give Las Vegas a great announcement on Wednesday. Some of the very first actions the new franchise would need to do - apart from finalizing their name that is - are naming a GM and getting a scouting department installed. The experience and bent of whoever the new GM is plus the expertise and preferences of the scouting clipboards are going to go a ways in establishing which way any Las Vegas NHL team will be looking on how to fill their roster.

The Stanley Cup is coming to the Hard Rock!

The annual NHL Awards will be handed out at a special event at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Not only will the NHL movers and shakers be attending, but the cool hardware will be there too!

Notes are pattering around that most of the major awards will be on display in the Hard Rock prior to the awards ceremony scheduled for 22 June!

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/StanleyCup.jpg

These are supposed to be headlined by the Stanley Cup, but also other major awards such as the Hart Trophy (Most Valuable Player), Norris Trophy (Best Defenseman) and the Mark Messier Leadership Award.

SInce word has it that the official announcement that Las Vegas is receiving the next NHL franchise, it will be a cool place to dream of future glory.

Now all we need is a name and a logo for our still-not-official team to make this complete.

Hockey once was Thunderous in the desert

A great column from Ron Kantowski of the Review-Journal reminds us about the "Cowboy Goalie" Clint Malarchuk.

Clint is a character and played for the old Las Vegas Thunder in the old International Hockey League.

But remembering those old days Clint talks about when ice hockey in the 1990s was the in sport: Tuesday games typically had 5,000-6,000 fans a night, with more than 10,000 fans on weekends. This for a minor league hockey team playing in a facility unsuited for hockey.

You can read the complete article here.

NHL Hockey in the Las Vegas desert. Really? A host of "experts" have pooh-poohed the idea.

Yet here we are. Rumors are swirling and the word on the street are that the NHL council of high muckity mucks will okay the Las Vegas franchise so long as Bill Foley and his fellow hustlers the Maloof brothers will pony up a $500 million franchise fee for the rights.

Uff da!

Outsiders don't get it... in Las Vegas, a million here, a  million there and before long you might start talking about some real money!

MGM and friends just finished dishing out $375 million to build the T-Mobile Arena. MGM also just announced they will be spending $450 million to turn the 20-year-old Monte Carlo into the Park MGM.

The next hottest thing in the desert - the NHL - looks to be on the way!