The Washington Capitals announced on Monday that they have made a handful of moves within their front office. The headline move is that current general manager Brian MacLellan has been promoted to president of hockey operations and will also remain the team’s general manager.
Additionally, Chris Patrick, who has overseen the club’s professional scouting staff as assistant general manager, player personnel, has been promoted to associate general manager. His father, Dick Patrick, the team’s longtime president and part-owner, has also been appointed to the position of chairman.
NEWS | The Washington Capitals have promoted Brian MacLellan to president of hockey operations & general manager and Chris Patrick to associate general manager. In addition, the Capitals have appointed Dick Patrick to the position of chairman of the Capitals.#ALLCAPS
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) August 28, 2023
MacLellan was originally named general manager of the team in May of 2014 after his longtime friend George McPhee did not have his contract renewed by the team. McPhee brought MacLellan into the Capitals organization as a scout in 2000 and eventually MacLellan worked his way up the ladder to assistant general manager, player personnel, a position he held until taking the reins from McPhee.
Under MacLellan’s guidance, the Caps have amassed an impressive 409-213-77 record and won the franchise’s first Stanley Cup in 2018. The team made sure to note in their release on the promotion that of the 19 Caps players to take the ice during the Cup-clinching Game Five in Vegas, eight players were either signed, traded for, or drafted by MacLellan. Among those eight players were three of the four players that scored in the game (Jakub Vrana, Devante Smith-Pelly, Lars Eller).
MacLellan will be entering his tenth season as general manager of the Caps during the 2023-24 campaign. He is the fifth-longest tenured manager in the NHL.
Certified hockey guy through and through#ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/zYyyVderGg
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) August 28, 2023
Chris Patrick’s promotion to associate general manager may indicate a plan of succession once MacLellan is done in the GM role. The younger Patrick, who just helped lead the Hershey Bears to a Calder Cup championship, is headed into his 16th season with the team and had stepped into MacLellan’s vacated role as assistant general manager, player personnel before this promotion. The team says Patrick will still hold those responsibilities, but will now also oversee the team’s analytics department, player contract negotiations, hockey operations staff, player personnel, and budget and team scheduling issues.
Patrick has been largely responsible for maintaining the Caps’ ongoing affiliate relationship with the AHL’s Hershey Bears, a relationship that will become even more vital as the NHL team enters a period of transition where developing younger players will be paramount.
According to the Washington Post’s Barry Svrluga, both moves will allow Dick Patrick to quietly slide into a less active role as the franchise’s chairman. Dick Patrick has been part of the Capitals organization since 1982 and as one of Ted Leonsis’s original partners with Monumental Sports & Entertainment, worked closely with the Caps, Washington Wizards, Washington Mystics, and Capital One Arena.
Before Dick Patrick’s arrival, the Capitals had never once made the playoffs. In his 40 seasons with the Caps, they have made it 32 times. He and his son, Chris, became the sixth and seventh members of the Patrick family to win the Stanley Cup in 2018.
Capitals senior writer Mike Vogel writes on Patrick’s new position, “Patrick will serve as a close advisor to both Ted Leonsis and MacLellan, and he will always be available to them to lend his considerable experience and guidance.”
Here’s the team’s full release:
MacLellan Promoted to President of Hockey Operations & General Manager
Capitals also promote Chris Patrick to associate general manager and appoint Dick Patrick to the position of chairman of the Capitals
The Washington Capitals have promoted Brian MacLellan to president of hockey operations & general manager and Chris Patrick to associate general manager. In addition, the Capitals have appointed Dick Patrick to the position of chairman of the Capitals.
The 2023-24 season will mark MacLellan’s 23rd with the organization, 10th as general manager and first as president of hockey operations and general manager. Since appointing MacLellan, 64, as general manager on May 26, 2014, the Caps have compiled a record of 409-213-77 (.640 winning percentage) and have recorded the third-most wins in the NHL in that span.
During MacLellan’s tenure, the Capitals have won a Stanley Cup, two Presidents’ Trophies, and a franchise-record five consecutive Metropolitan Division titles from 2015-16 to 2019-20. With MacLellan at the helm, the Capitals won their first Stanley Cup in 2018. Of the 19 players to take the ice during the Cup-clinching win in Game 5, eight players were either signed, traded for, or drafted by MacLellan, including three of the four players that scored in the game (Jakub Vrana, Devante Smith-Pelly and Lars Eller).
MacLellan, who won a Stanley Cup as a player with the Calgary Flames in 1989, recorded 413 points in 606 games during his 10-year NHL career with Calgary, the Los Angeles Kings, New York Rangers, Minnesota North Stars and Detroit Red Wings. MacLellan also won a silver medal with Team Canada at the 1985 World Championship in Prague. MacLellan graduated with a Bachelor of Science in business administration from Bowling Green State University and earned his Master of Business Administration in finance from the University of St. Thomas in 1995.
Chris Patrick, 47, is entering his 16th season with the team and first as associate general manager. Patrick worked closely with MacLellan regarding all hockey-related matters during his tenure as assistant general manager, player personnel. In his previous role, Patrick also oversaw the club’s professional scouting staff and worked closely with the Hershey Bears, the Capitals AHL affiliate, who captured the 2023 Calder Cup championship. As associate general manager, Patrick will maintain his prior responsibilities as well as oversee the team’s analytics department, player contract negotiations, hockey operations staff, player personnel and budget and team scheduling issues.
Patrick joined the Capitals in 2008-09 in a player development and scouting role, assisting the hockey operations department with scouting drafted players at the collegiate and junior levels. During the 2010-11 season, Patrick was promoted to pro scout, a title he held until 2014-15 when he was promoted to the director of player personnel.
Patrick graduated from Princeton University with a degree in politics and economics in 1998 and earned a Master of Business Administration at the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia in 2006. Patrick grew up playing hockey in the Washington, D.C., area in the Capital Beltway Hockey League and for the Little Caps. He attended and played hockey at the Kent School in Connecticut before playing four seasons at Princeton University, winning the ECAC Championship in 1998. Patrick was selected by the Capitals in the eighth round (197th overall) in the 1994 NHL Draft. He and his father, Dick Patrick, became the sixth and seventh members of the Patrick family to win the Stanley Cup in 2018.
Dick Patrick, 76, has been part of the Capitals organization since 1982 and was one of Ted Leonsis’s original partners when Monumental Sports & Entertainment was formed in June 2010. For the first five years of MSE’s existence, Patrick assumed initial responsibility as Chief Operating Officer and was involved in all facets of operating three professional sports franchises – the Capitals, the NBA’s Washington Wizards and the WNBA’s Washington Mystics – and Capital One Arena. The 2023-24 campaign will mark Patrick’s first season as chairman of the Washington Capitals.
Before Patrick’s arrival, the Capitals had never advanced to postseason play. In his 40 seasons with the club, Washington has qualified for the playoffs 32 times – including the team’s Stanley Cup championship in 2018, the run to the Stanley Cup Final in 1998 and three Presidents’ Trophy-winning teams (2009-10, 2015-16, 2016-17). During the 2010s, the Capitals (465-232-0-90) recorded the most wins of any team and only trailed the Montreal Canadiens of the 1970s (501-160-130-0) and the Boston Bruins of the 1970s (487-190-111-0) as the winningest franchise of any decade. Additionally, with a .648 point percentage, the Capitals only trailed the 1970s Canadiens and Bruins (Montreal: .712; Boston: .689) and the 2000s Detroit Red Wings (.682) in point percentage in a decade.
Born in 1946 in Victoria, B.C., Patrick grew up in the United States. He earned his undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College and a law degree from the Washington College of Law at American University.
