Foley and special adviser Murray Craven interviewed seven candidates initially before narrowing the field down to three finalists who met with them at Foley's home in Montana. Something stood out about McPhee, the former Washington Capitals GM, early in the process.
"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," Foley said. "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 had a similar experience on his end of a telephone conversation with Foley while dropping his son, Graham, a 2016 Edmonton Oilers draft pick, off for summer classes at Boston College.
"[Foley] 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. "I was really inspired by Bill and told my son that that's the kind of guy I want to work for."
McPhee spent 17 seasons as GM of the Capitals, but his contract was not renewed after they went 38-30-14 and failed to qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2013-14. During his tenure, the Capitals won the Southeast Division seven times and the Presidents' Trophy in 2009-10, qualified for the postseason 10 times, and reached the Stanley Cup Final for the first time, in 1998.
"But all the individual awards and all those titles sort of miss the point," McPhee said. "What you really want to do is win the Stanley Cup. That's the feeling you want to experience. That's what you want to build here."