KNIGHTS PAY THE PRICE
Vegas officially part of NHL
George McPhee admits he was a bit rusty.
The last time he traded anyone was three years ago when, as general manager of the Washington Capitals, he essentially swapped seventh-round picks with the Nashville Predators. A week later, he was fired.
That might explain why the Vegas Golden Knights GM was cautious — if not quiet — at this year’s NHL trade deadline. Of course, it didn’t help that by the time the final expansion cheque cleared on March 1, officially making Vegas the NHL’s 31st franchise beginning next season, there was less than an hour remaining before the 3 p.m. deadline. And while the team was technically open for business during that time, the Golden Knights were limited in that they couldn’t actually acquire any players until after the season ended.
As McPhee said, “The deadline wasn’t our deadline.”
Indeed, most of the phone calls McPhee received on March 1 were fellow GMs congratulating him and Vegas on joining the league. The Golden Knights, who made their final expansion payment one month ahead of schedule (“We had lawyers here trying to move heaven and Earth to get all the paperwork done,” McPhee said), were finally part of the league.
That’s important, McPhee said. It means that at this week’s general managers’ meetings in Boca Raton, Fla., there will be one extra seat at the table.
“It was a big moment for us,” McPhee said of officially becoming a franchise. “It was one of those really neat surprises in life where your reality was bigger than the expectation. Later in the afternoon, we made a toast and had some champagne.
“Personally, I was just happy to get back into the fold again and find out what’s happening in the league and where things might be going,” McPhee said. “I think it’s important to Vegas that (owner) Bill Foley’s paid $5 million to the league and is now in the league and has to be represented at the table.”
Even if McPhee doesn’t have a strong opinion on the bye week, offside rule or some of the other topics being discussed at the GM meetings, it should be a fruitful trip. The expansion draft on June 21 looms large over the other 30 teams.
“We were talking to clubs in general terms and trying to set the table for expansion trying to see if we could learn anything from clubs, and they were trying to find out what they could learn from us,’’ McPhee said. “Some people hold things close to the chest and some are more straightforward, so it depends on who you’re talking to.
“I would be fine to go down there and not have to talk about it at all.”
McPhee and his staff held a mock expansion draft back in September to get an idea of what the process is like and what players might be out there. It took hours to complete, he said. He and his team conducted the exercise three more times since, with players moving up or down the depth chart not only based on their performance but whether he believes a team might protect them.
“They are time-consuming and intense,” McPhee said. “But it serves a lot of purposes, in particular with the rules. We get more comfortable with each other because we’re a new staff and we feel like a staff that’s been together a while now because we’ve met so many times.
“You get more precision on the players. Our scouts have seen them a lot now and we’re getting better ways of rating them — better rankings. We’re pretty comfortable with where we are. We’re prepared to do it today if we had to, but we’ll keep working because things continue to change. With each cut, players are moved around.”
Now that the trade deadline has passed, McPhee should have a better idea of what players will be exposed. That should open up even more trade possibilities, which is why Vegas was in no rush to make a deal at the deadline.
“We thought it was in our best interest to get as close to expansion as we can to find out what the universe looks like as to who’s exposed and who isn’t before we start making final decisions,” McPhee said. “We don’t want to make a deal early and then find out you could have got more out of that club or something else came along with another club that was better.”
The Golden Knights are being similarly patient when it comes to the search for a new coach, with nothing expected until after the season.
“There’s always poker played in these things … but we also recognize that we will be better off in the long run if we took our time to find our guy that can really develop our club and lead us to a championship,” McPhee said. “That’s asking a lot, but we want to take our time to find that perfect person.”
We thought it was in our best interest to get as close to expansion as we can to find out what the universe looks like as to who’s exposed and who isn’t.