George McPhee

Playing career

Prior to his career in management, McPhee was a prominent college hockey player at Bowling Green State University. There he was the recipient of the 1982 Hobey Baker Award (given to college hockey's top player), was chosen as a First-Team All-Central Collegiate Hockey Association selection in 1982, Second-Team All-CCHA honors in 1979 and 1981 and was the CCHA's Rookie of the Year in 1979. He won the 1983-84 CHL Championship (Adams Cup) as a member of the Tulsa Oilers team coached by Tom Webster. He began his NHL career in the 1983 playoffs for the New York Rangers. In the 1983 playoffs, he and Ray Cote of the Edmonton Oilers became the first players to score three goals in a single postseason prior to playing a regular season NHL game. He had a seven-year career in the NHL with the Rangers and New Jersey Devils.

Management career

In 1992, McPhee landed his first major NHL management position, starting as vice president and director of hockey operations as well as alternate governor for the Vancouver Canucks, assisting then-general manager Pat Quinn. With McPhee, the team made the playoffs four times, won a division championship, and played in the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals, which they lost to the New York Rangers.

Washington Capitals

When McPhee joined the Capitals in 1997, the team was looking to turn around its long storied history of being a regular season juggernaut that folded in the playoffs. Things started off great, as McPhee engineered the club's first trip to the Stanley Cup Finals in his first season. The team played well under the general management of McPhee, achieving seven Southeast Division championships (1999–2000, 2000–01, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11, and 2012–13), eight 40-or-more win seasons (1997–98, 1999–2000, 2000–01, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11, and 2011–12), and a franchise-record 121-point season (2009–10).

On September 25, 1999, McPhee, angry at what he perceived to be dirty play by the Chicago Blackhawks, punched then Blackhawks head coach Lorne Molleken outside the Chicago locker room after their teams' exhibition game. Molleken sustained injuries to his head and in response Blackhawks players and team aides jumped McPhee, leaving him with a torn suit. On October 1, 1999, Gary Bettman, the NHL commissioner, suspended McPhee for a month without pay and fined him $20,000.

Throughout the 2003–04 season, McPhee and Capitals owner Ted Leonsis decided to dump salary and begin a youth movement. In a fire sale, the Capitals traded Sergei Gonchar, Jaromir Jagr, Peter Bondra, Michael Nylander, Mike Grier, Robert Lang, and captain Steve Konowalchuk that season. McPhee began rebuilding the team by selecting Russian phenom Alexander Ovechkin with the first overall pick in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft.

The 2007–08 season would prove hopeful for McPhee, as the Capitals appeared poised to turn the corner in their development. However, after the Capitals started the season with a 6–14–1 record, McPhee fired Hanlon on November 22 and replaced him with Hershey Bears coach Bruce Boudreau. The coaching shake-up worked, and the 2007–08 season would end with an unprecedented comeback and an unexpected Southeast Division championship. McPhee's trade deadline acquisitions of veterans Sergei Fedorov, Matt Cooke, and Cristobal Huet all played large roles in leading the Capitals to their third Southeast Division title.

On April 26, 2014, McPhee was relieved of his duties as the Capitals general manager.

New York Islanders

On September 23, 2015, it was formally announced that McPhee had joined the New York Islanders in the role of an alternate governor, vice president, and special advisor to the general manager, Garth Snow.

Vegas Golden Knights

On July 13, 2016, McPhee left the Islanders organization after he was hired by Bill Foley, owner of the Las Vegas expansion franchise to be the new general manager of the team.