“When I saw (the prospect’s game) on the schedule, I thought it’d be nice,” he said.

“I typically go to the prospect games, but it happens to be in Guelph, that’s really nice because then I get to see some people I know.”

For McPhee, coming back to Guelph was a valuable opportunity, saying that “everyone’s hometown has a special place in their heart.”

“I could have lived there forever, but my career path took me different places,” he said.

“I love that town and many of the people that I know there, and I wish I could go and spend a couple weeks there sometimes, but you just don’t get those opportunities.”

For McPhee, that road first took him to Ohio’s Bowling Green State University, before making his NHL debut in 1983 for the New York Rangers. Also later playing for the New Jersey Devils, McPhee would play in the NHL until 1989.

A few short years later, in 1992, McPhee was back in the NHL, this time as the vice-president and director of hockey operations for the Vancouver Canucks. With McPhee on board, the team would make the playoffs four times, including a trip to the Stanley Cup finals in 1994. The Canucks, however, would go on to lose to the team where McPhee got his start in the NHL, the New York Rangers.

McPhee’s longest stint with a team was with the Washington Capitals, joining the team in 1997. With McPhee as general manager, the team made it to the Stanley Cup finals for the first (and so far only) time, losing to the Detroit Red Wings.

It was also with McPhee at the helm that the Capitals would draft the team’s current captain and top star, Alexander Ovechkin, in 2004.

By 2014, however, McPhee was let go by the Capitals.

Following a short stint as an alternate governor and special adviser to the general manager of the New York Islanders, McPhee was named the first ever general manager of the Vegas Golden Knights in the summer of 2016.

The following year, McPhee helped create the team which would go on to become the most competitive in the NHL.

“We did the best we could with the draft and there was a sense of calm right before training camp because we had done all that we could,” he said.

“Then it was up to our organization, our players, our coach, our management to make the team a team, and it has played like a team. We just hope they can continue to play that way.”

The next challenge for the team will be the upcoming trade deadline on Feb. 26. A team in the Golden Knights’ position would typically be looking to stock up on players, hoping to make a deep run in the playoffs.

McPhee says that it is too early at this point to say what direction the Golden Knights will be heading.

“I’ll have a better idea three or four days ahead of the trade deadline, and we’ll have to make some decisions at that time as to what we want to do,” he said.

“It’s premature to do that now.”

For McPhee, the most important thing now is for the team to keep winning.

“Our focus everyday is to figure out what we have to do to win the next game and continue improving,” he said.

“That’s the challenge in all businesses and certainly in sports — it’s a constant and endless series of tests that you have to pass. If you keep passing the tests, your team should be good and you’ll have a job. If you’re not passing the tests, you won’t have a job.”



