This year’s Stanley Cup champions will have largely been assembled by a member of the Guelph Sports Hall of Fame who helped the city win a national championship.
It’s just not clear yet which person that will be.
Both George McPhee, the general manager of the Vegas Golden Knights, and Brian MacLellan, McPhee’s counterpart with the Washington Capitals, are from Guelph.
Both played all their minor hockey in the Royal City and then moved onto the junior level, helping the Guelph Platers pick up a Centennial Cup in 1978.
McPhee and MacLellan remained teammates in college, although they didn’t see their paths cross much after they both reached the NHL as players. After retiring, they ended up working together in the Capitals’ organization for several years.
When McPhee was fired as that team’s GM in 2014, MacLellan was promoted from his assistant GM role to replace him.
Considered one of the NHL’s more successful GMs during his 17-year stint in Washington, McPhee has received further acclaim this year for his work with the expansion Golden Knights.
Building his team through an expansion draft – during which the NHL’s other 30 teams were able to protect most of their best players – and by making deals with those teams to receive certain players in return for drafting other players, McPhee put together what has been called the most successful expansion team in the history of North American pro sports.
Meanwhile, MacLellan has maintained the strong Capitals squad he inherited from McPhee. Washington has reached at least the second year of the playoffs in every team since MacLellan’s promotion.
The first game of the Stanley Cup final takes place Monday night in Las Vegas.
