Foley talks to six candidates for business operations chief

With his hockey operations staff up and running, owner Bill Foley now turns his attention toward building a business, marketing and sales staff for his Las Vegas NHL expansion team.

Foley interviewed six candidates for the president of business operations position and said he is close to selecting that person. Foley enlisted the help of Turnkey Search, a New Jersey-based company that helps pair companies searching for sports executives. However, he would not reveal the identities of the six finalists.

“We’re very close,” Foley said last week from California. “They’re all highly qualified and they all come from a hockey background. I’m hoping we will have an announcement as early as next week.”

Four more pro scouts — Jim McKenzie, Vaclav Nedomansky, Mike Foligno and Vince Williams — were hired last week.

McKenzie, 46, played 15 NHL seasons as a forward while Foligno, 57, played 16 NHL seasons as a forward and Nedomansky, 72, is best known for being the first player from an Iron Curtain country to defect to the West when he left Czechoslovakia in 1974 to join the Toronto Toros of the World Hockey Association. Nedomansky, a center, played four years in the WHA and six in the NHL. Williams, 40, a career minor league defenseman, had been coaching in the ECHL with Trenton and Orlando.

The team has 27 employees on its hockey operations staff.

TEAM MEETING

Earlier this month, the team held an organizational meeting at the team’s temporary offices in Summerlin to go over strategies and map out a course for what areas to start scouting players, both amateur and professional. Foley sat in on the meeting run by general manager George McPhee and he came away impressed with the quality of the hires.

“What I love about these guys is the diversity of their hockey experience,” Foley said. “George didn’t just hire all his friends from the Washington Capitals. He ‘s got guys from the Florida Panthers, New Jersey Devils, Montreal (Canadiens) and it’s a nice blend of ages.

“The overall knowledge in the room was incredible and George deserves all the credit. In less than two months, he’s put a great staff together and it’s exactly the way I would want it.”

McPhee said assistant GM Kelly McCrimmon deserves a lot of the credit for putting together the staff.

“It was special to walk around the room and see so many impressive names,” McPhee said. “Kelly did yeoman’s work and he was huge in identifying and helping me with the hires.”

McPhee said the meetings were important because it was a chance for everyone to be together and share the message he and Foley have for the culture of the organization.

“We wanted them to know what we are and what we stand for,” McPhee said. “The rest of the time was nutsand-bolts stuff, like assignments and schedules, things like that.”

STAYING HOME

The NHL’s Board of Governors meets Friday in New York City. But Foley will not be attending. Why? Simple. He wasn’t invited. Foley is still making the payments on the $500 million to join the NHL and until payment is made in full, which is expected next spring, he doesn’t have his seat at the table.

The final payment is due in April. Which means Foley will likely miss the BOG meeting in Florida in mid-December as well. However, it is not known if the league will allow McPhee to attend the all-important general manager meetings in March in Boca Raton, Florida.

MOCK DRAFT

Las Vegas will hold its first of what will be many mock drafts the weekend of Oct. 8-9 at the team’s Summerlin office. McPhee and several members of his staff will participate in the trial run.

The team has already begun speculating which players will be available for the NHL expansion draft, scheduled for June 20, 2017. Each of the 30 current teams will be able to protect 11 players from their 23-man active rosters.

“It’s our first chance to go through the process and see what the rules are,” McPhee said. “We’ll be doing several (mock drafts) over the course of the season and getting feedback from the NHL so we’re ready in June.”

UNLV (11-1) suffered its first loss of the 2016 season to No. 9 Brigham Young (11-1) in the championship match of the BYU/UVU Challenge held at Smith Fieldhouse in Provo, Utah. With the defeat, the Rebels’ program-best, 12-match win streak came to an end.

BYU won the match between former Mountain West foes by set scores of 25-19, 25-17, 25-21.

Earlier in the day, the Rebels defeated California State University, Northridge 25-19, 25-23, 25-20.

MEN’S GOLF: No. 25 UNLV shot a second-round 7-over-par 287 on Saturday and moved up six spots in the standings into a tie for seventh place at the OFCC/Fighting Illini Invitational, which is being played at Olympia Fields Country Club (par 70, 7,353 yards).

The tough season-opening tournament features 12 of the nation’s top 32-ranked teams (by Golfweek) in a 15-team event.

The Rebels have been led by sophomore Harry Hall, who is tied for eighth at 1-over 141 after a second-round even-par 70.

CROSS COUNTRY: At Riverside, Calif., UNLV finished 14th overall at the UCR Invitational. The Rebels accumulated 333 points in the 6k race at the Ag/Ops Course.

UNLV’s top finisher was Spencer Moore who finished 37th in a time of 21:19.9. Sara Williams was the next Rebel to cross the line at a time of 22:03.4.

MEN’S SOCCER: At Las Vegas, Jaime Miralles and Jesse Garcia scored second-half goals for Oregon State (4-2-1) in its victory over UNLV (2-5-0). The Beavers outshot the Rebels 9-8.

Veteran lightweight Michael Johnson snapped a two-fight losing streak with a first-round knockout of Dustin Poirier in the main event of UFC Fight Night 94 in Hidalgo, Texas, on Saturday night.

Johnson needed just 1:35 to finish Poirier after landing a right hand followed by a left as he fell to the mat. Also on the card, Derek Brunson needed just 1:41 to record his fourth-straight first-round knockout victory after dropping Uriah Hall with a left hook.

Marian Gaborik, Leon Draisaitl and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare scored, Jaroslav Halak made 35 saves and Team Europe upset the United States 3-0 at Toronto in a stunning opening game at the World Cup of Hockey.

The U.S. outshot Europe 35-17, went 0 for 4 on the power play and had a goal disallowed.

South Korean In Gee Chun remains firmly on course for the second major of her career — and a possible golfing record — after posting a superb 6-under 65 in the third round of the Evian Championship in France.

Holding a four-shot lead over countrywoman Sung Hyun Park, Chun is at 19-under overall.

PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS: At Pebble Beach, Calif., Kevin Sutherland birdied four of his last six holes at Pebble Beach for a 4-under 68 and the second-round lead in the PGA Tour Champions’ Nature Valley First Tee Open.

The 52-year-old Sutherland had an 8-under 135 total for a one-stroke lead over Paul Broadhurst, the Englishman who won the Senior British Open at Carnoustie in July.

Green Bay says Sam Shields won’t play against the Minnesota Vikings after the cornerback was evaluated for a concussion this week.

The Packers initially listed Shields as doubtful on the injury report before ruling him out. He missed practice this week while going through the NFL’s concussion protocol.