Photo: Dave Sandford
On Wednesday, ESPN’s Pierre LeBrun released a fascinating feature on former Capitals General Manager George McPhee and former Penguins GM Ray Shero, which you must read right here right now because you have nothing else better to do.
So what did we learn today?
- Ovechkin called the former GM to catch up on Tuesday, another sign of what a softie the captain is.
- McPhee received severance pay from the Capitals, which Lebrun says will “cover him for this year.”
- GMGM is getting a fresh start by scouting and speaking with ex-Flyers scout/now Kings boss Dean Lombardi:
“I’m starting to accelerate again by going to a lot of games. I had great discussions with Dean Lombardi about scouting after termination. He said it was clarifying — that he regained perspective of all the leagues, and what he wanted to do with his next team. Sure served him well.”
- McPhee knows what plagued the Caps in their final few seasons:
“I knew at the time what the issue was, and I should have addressed it. I was trying to be patient and hope things would work out. It’s easy in hindsight. But if I say anything else, then I’m pointing fingers, and I don’t want to do that.”
(This may corroborate Brian MacLellan’s comments that the team was hurt when they missed out on free agent defenseman Willie Mitchell. “I mean the Brooks Orpik signing is the type of guy that we’d been coveting for a number of years,” MacLellan said to 106.7 The Fan over the summer. “I think it was 2010, we went hard after Willie Mitchell. He was 33-, 34-years-old at the time, and we lost out to him in the finals. It was down to two teams. And I thought it had a big impact that we did not get him.”)
- McPhee would like to contribute to an NHL team next year:
“The difficulty right now not working is that you feel you have all this knowledge and experience that is going to waste. You’d like to help someone. Certainly if there are opportunities next year, I would like to be involved.”
- GMGM has moved the entire family to Ann Arbor, Michigan:
“My son is playing for the U.S. national development here, the U-17s. So, we decided this would be a great year to keep the family together. Because he was up at Shattuck’s [high school hockey] in Minnesota for two years, and it’s hard when your kid goes away at 14. So this is a year to spend time together. And it’s been great getting to know him again.”
- The best news is that McPhee sounds really happy:
“The quality of life is really good right now. It’s been really fun.”
- LeBrun says that McPhee had “a very good job opportunity this summer.” One wonders if that was for the opening in the NHL’s Department of Player Safety, a position which Stephane Quintal was hired to today.
Miss you, GMGM.
