Guelph native George McPhee has been named as the first general manager of the new National Hockey League franchise in Las Vegas.
McPhee, 58, was introduced at a press conference Wednesday.
McPhee, a member of the Guelph Sports Hall of Fame, played his minor hockey in Guelph and then played two seasons with the Guelph Holody Platers in the late 1970s, Centennial Cup in 1978.
He then played four years of NCAA hockey at Bowling Green University.
He went on to play six seasons in the National Hockey League, mostly with the New York Rangers..
He previously spent 17 seasons as general manager of the Washington Capitals.
Las Vegas is scheduled to begin play in the 2017-18 season.
"I just felt like we had a relationship almost from the first telephone conversation that I knew that I felt confident that we could both be honest and forthright with each other and always transparent, and that's really important," Las Vegas owner Bill Foley said at the press conference..
"We all want to win and he is going to win for us, but I like to have people that I really get along with and that I can communicate with. We had great candidates. They were all good. I just felt there was a little something extra with George."
McPhee said he was “hooked” after talking with Foley.
"He started talking about everything that Las Vegas has to offer and all the great things they've done, and about eight minutes into it I was hooked," McPhee said.
