McPhee, McCrimmon built Golden Knights from ground up to win Stanley Cup

LAS VEGAS -- George McPhee and Kelly McCrimmon each hoisted the Stanley Cup for the first time Tuesday after the Vegas Golden Knights' 9-3 win against the Florida Panthers in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final.

McPhee, the president of hockey operations, and McCrimmon, the general manager, took special satisfaction in building a champion together from the ground up.

"We do things collaboratively, and we try to make good decisions, and it's not about one good decision," McCrimmon said on the ice amid the celebration. "You have to make a series of good decisions to build a solid organization, to build something like what you see here tonight, and I really feel that we did that."

Owner Bill Foley hired McPhee as GM on July 13, 2016, less than a month after the NHL awarded Las Vegas an expansion franchise. McPhee said he wouldn't have believed it had someone told him the team would make the Cup Final in its inaugural season of 2017-18 and win the Cup within six seasons.

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"I just wanted a second chance," said McPhee, who had been fired as GM of the Washington Capitals on April 26, 2014. "I needed a job. Bill Foley gave me the opportunity, and it gave me a lot of confidence, because he's a smart guy.

"He doesn't fool around. We talked a couple times, and he just called me one day and said, 'OK, I'd like to hire you. What are your expectations on compensation?' I said, 'You put a contract on the table you think is fair. I'll sign it.' And that was it."

McPhee hired McCrimmon as assistant GM soon afterward. They built a hockey operations staff and deftly maneuvered in the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft, which had more generous rules than in the past. Not only did they assemble the initial roster, but they made trades to gather extra assets.

The Golden Knights helped Las Vegas heal after a mass shooting on the Strip on Oct. 1, 2017, and shocked the hockey world by making the Cup Final in 2017-18, losing to the Capitals in five games. They made the Stanley Cup Playoffs the following season, blowing a 3-1 series lead and losing in the Western Conference First Round to the San Jose Sharks in seven.

McCrimmon could have left to become a GM elsewhere, but McPhee gave him the GM job in Vegas. The move was announced May 2, 2019, and effective Sept. 1, 2019.

"George is completely selfless, right?" McCrimmon said. "When he said this to me in 2019, I asked him to really think about it, because we had just come off a disappointing first-round series. I wasn't sure if he wasn't emotional because of how it unfolded.

"And he had been thinking about it for a couple of months. He'd talked with some people that he relies on. He talked with his family. And it was what he felt was best for the organization."

McPhee said he believed the Golden Knights had something special as a group, and he didn't want to lose anyone, especially McCrimmon.

"He's just an outstanding person, he's an outstanding executive, and his hockey mind is off the charts," McPhee said. "And he's got a good sense of humor to boot. It was easy for me to step up and let him take over as GM, because I just thought he would do an amazing job, and he has."

The Golden Knights aggressively pursued the Cup, parting with popular players and coaches, bringing in elite talent and key support players, and pushing the limits of the NHL salary cap.

They made the Western Conference Final in 2019-20, losing to the Dallas Stars in five games, and the NHL Semifinals in 2020-21, losing to the Montreal Canadiens in six. They missed the playoffs last season, largely due to injuries. This season, they were on their third coach, Bruce Cassidy, and had only six players remaining from the inaugural run.

"This team had nothing to do with expansion," said McCrimmon, listing players acquired in trades such as captain Mark Stone, No. 1 center Jack Eichel and No. 1 defenseman Alex Pietrangelo. "You can go through the list. This is a team that's been built to get better and better. …

"We didn't jump the fence to get here. We've had good teams here for a while."

Since entering the NHL, the Golden Knights rank fifth in regular-season wins (267), and they're second in playoff wins (54) to the Tampa Bay Lightning (61). Only Tampa Bay (13) has won more playoff rounds than Vegas (11).

"Obviously delighted that we won this year," McPhee said. "I wish we had done it in the first year when this city really needed after Oct. 1. But we stayed with it and kept making the hard decisions, and it was never personal with anyone. It was just about making this team better if we could do that, and it worked."

McPhee had been chasing the Cup as an NHL player and executive since 1983. He lost in the Cup Final as director of hockey operations with the Vancouver Canucks in 1994 and GM of the Capitals in 1998, not just as GM of the Golden Knights in 2018.

"I'm sort of at peace now," McPhee said. "I'm looking forward to just waking up tomorrow morning and saying, 'We won the Stanley Cup last night in Las Vegas.' Pretty darn good."

McCrimmon never played in the NHL, but his name will be engraved on the Cup with his late brother's. Brad McCrimmon won the Cup with the Calgary Flames in 1989 and died in a plane crash while coaching in Russia on Sept. 7, 2011. Their 85-year-old parents, Byron and Faye, live in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

"I talked to my dad this morning," McCrimmon said. "It'll mean a great deal to them. It means a great deal to me. No one would be prouder than Brad McCrimmon of what we've done here. … Definitely think of him on a day like today."