A Chat With George McPhee

George McPhee's expansion Vegas Golden Knights flirt with first place in the Pacific Division on a nightly basis a quarter into the NHL season. It's not supposed to be this way. Ask just about anyone who wrote a season preview on the NHL.
Vegas is an expansion team. The roster should be filled with holes and it should be old with once big-name players fading more with the dawning of every game.

Except that's not McPhee's model. Yes, the rules were more in his favor and having just one team join the NHL last summer also worked to his benefit. But the approach was new and unique. The execution was creative and disciplined. It was collaborative and painstaking. It was brilliant.

The result is a team which plays together and plays for one another. They make a bit on high end talent but they are something to behold. Leadership comes from every corner of the dressing room. Scoring is spread out and head coach Gerard Gallant uses all his players. Ice-time distribution is among the most even in the NHL. If a player is dressed - he gets used. Vegas is the only team in the league where the separation from the top used forward to the seventh on that list is less than two minutes. Reilly Smith leads the forwards with an average ice-time of 18:14 per game. Erik Haula is seventh and he clocks in at 16:18 per game.

Same goes for the blue line. Vegas is the only team in the NHL that hasn't dressed a D regularly and used him for less than 18 minutes per game. Nate Schmidt leads the group at 22:08 per game and sitting at sixth is Colin Miller at 18:07.
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The result is a team which is amongst the least penalized in the NHL. Fatigue isn't an enemy. It's an after-thought. It also allows the group to work at one of the highest work rates in the NHL. Vegas can grind with the best of them and a big part of that equation is the usage employed by Gallant.

The statistic is well known around the NHL. Since 2000, 78 percent of the teams in the playoff picture on Thanksgiving remain there. In today's NHL, the three-point game makes it hard to make up ground. So if a team is out on Thanksgiving, it's tough to get back in. McPhee will wake up today with his team firmly in the playoffs.

The 59-year-old McPhee sat down with vegasgoldenknights.com and talked about his team after 20 games into its inaugural season.
VGK.com: What are you thankful for?
GM: We have lots to be thankful for. I have a couple of friends who've had some real battles with cancer this year and one is in the clear and the other is getting there. This wonderful family I have and this great opportunity to work for the Vegas Golden Knights.
VGK.com: What does being in the playoff picture at this stage mean to the process:
GM: Well it doesn't change anything. We wanted to be really competitive and we want to be a playoff team. We're going to do everything we can to remain a playoff team. There are some truths to those statistics. We certainly like where we are right now, but we'd also like to continue to improve.
VGK.com: Vegas has used five goalies. The record for a season is seven shared by three NHL teams.
GM: We don't have seven goalies. It's unlike anything that I've ever experienced or seen around the league. I've always thought that Dave Prior is one of the very best goalie coaches in the business and he certainly demonstrated that this year. He's always been an interesting guy and a fun guy to work with. I'm delighted that he and Gerard Gallant get along so well and work so well together. Dave believes in the people who work for us and we certainly do as well. We wanted to give the guys in our organization an opportunity to play. We weren't going to go out and give away draft picks or make another deal and bring someone in from the outside. You go with what you have and they've played very well for us.

VGK.com: Gerard and the players haven't used the goalie carousel as an excuse after losses.
GM: We're just, as an organization, we're not going to allow for excuses. There's no excuses that we're ever going to come up with. Gerard has done a terrific job of having this team ready to play every night. If our team is playing the game that we can play, we're going to protect the goaltenders and we're going to have a chance to win. Doesn't matter who's in net, if you're not protecting them it's hard to win. Gerard has done a terrific job in the way we play and how hard these guys play every night. The goaltenders have been there for us.
William Karlsson](https://www.nhl.com/goldenknights/news/catching-up-with-william-karlsson/c-293216344)
VGK.com: There were lots of coaches to choose from but Gallant was the choice. Are you pleased?
GM: Couldn't be happier. He is everything we had hoped for. This was the kind of coach that we wanted to lead this organization. To come in with lots of experience, to come in with a plan and a sense of calm. His comportment on the bench sort of demonstrates that. He's calm, he's fair to the players and they play hard for him. He's demanding in the right ways and I don't think the players are afraid of him. I think the better way to describe it is they don't ever want to let him down. He's just what we wanted. He knows what he's doing and the players have certainly responded well to him.
VGK.com: The players say Gallant respects them which fosters respect from them to him. He has a way with players. They don't want to let him down.
GM: Everyone deserves respect. Everyone in our organization deserves respect. That starts from the top, but it works from the bottom up. Gerard is just a terrific human being who happens to understand this game very, very well. The combination of his instincts, his respect for people, his demeanor, his personality has been perfect for this hockey club.
VGK.com: Lots of people expect you to sell off players in order to accrue draft picks. Is that still the case?
GM: We certainly have a plan, but in this business it changes every day. I don't know what will take place over the next three or four months. What we do know is that we're here to compete every day. We're going to practice hard and we're going to play hard. We'll see what it takes and what develops four months from now remains to be seen. We're here to compete and win hockey games.
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VGK.com: This franchise has created opportunity from the top down.
GM: When everyone has this opportunity, it creates this incredibly positive atmosphere. We've learned this by talking to previous GMs who have gone through this. What was important to us was to really create the right culture here. It's not a cliché. We had to do it right here and we are proud of what we're creating in terms of culture. We believe that is what's been a big part in helping us win. When it comes to the players in term of the culture, it's about talking about this team as a team and not talking about individuals. We have so many guys that have met and exceeded our expectations. These are the unknown surprises that Doug Risebrough talked about. That was one of our takeaways from him. Don't get big names, because big names may not be around in a few years. Get guys that people may have never heard of right now at the expansion draft, but they sure know who they are now. So we've got some guys that have been exceptional. We've got a team that has been very, very good. That's our emphasis and I wouldn't feel right talking about individuals, because there's so many that have done well.

VGK.com: Are you having more fun coming to the rink every game than you expected as a result of how competitive the team is?
GM: We didn't know. We did our very best and put this team together. In the very first game we were completely outplayed. Flower had a terrific game for us and kept us in long enough to win a game. We got some momentum and we've started to gel. But we still go day-to-day in this business. I don't know what's going to happen any particular night. I don't know if we're going to win 5-1 or lose 5-1. It's nice coming to the rink knowing that you've got a team that's going to compete and you have a chance to win.

VGK.com: How much fun is watching the games with Bill Foley?
GM: Well it's interesting to get his perspective and it's a great opportunity to try and educate him as quickly as we can on how this business works and how these games work and what goes on in a game. I was real impressed with Garth Snow on Long Island. He sat with Charles Wang there and they had a great relationship and work really well together. I never thought I'd do that, but a couple of games in I wasn't enjoying sitting up top. It was too far away for me to get a sense of some of the things I need to know in the game. So, Bill invited Kelly and I to come down and sit with him. It's been a really great experience so far to be able to share our knowledge and understand from my perspective of what owners go through. It's hard. They feel the pressure too when they go to the rink. When the building is full, you want to deliver. The game is intense and you're going to go through some adversity at different times of the game. It can wear you out. It's been an education so far for both of us.