We all know the reputation Caps general manager George McPhee had as a player: Even at 5-foot-9, 170 pounds he was more than willing to drop the gloves. Scrappy doesn’t begin to describe the man. But behind his ultra-cool demeanor with the media – soft spoken, logical, like an NHL version of Dr. Spock – lies a manager who isn’t all that far from the player he once was. Most of McPhee’s post-deadline quotes have been dissected by now. But it was his thoughts on the issue of team chemistry that struck me. Obviously, that’s one of the few risks of bringing in four new players – or three if we don’t count Milan Jurcina – to a lineup that has been astoundingly stable in recent years. Doling out ice time – as coach Bruce Boudreau admitted today – will be a problem.
“Bruce and I talked and the question was we can move some people out, but do we really want to do that,?” McPhee said. “We have the cap space to keep everybody. And I think most of the players would agree that this is a great situation to be in on a good team that’s deep. Let’s stay here. So we’re going to keep everybody and obviously did this with playoffs in mind.”
Can I translate?: You [disgruntled, angry player] could be in Edmonton or Carolina right now – or what I like to call, NHL Siberia – playing out the string with a group of sullen players just counting the days until the regular season ends and they can go fishing. I did you a favor. Do keep quiet.”
That’s how I imagined the internal monologue anyway. McPhee set a tone right away that whining about ice time is irrelevant. It will be an issue because these guys are some of the most competitive people on earth and they want to play. But it also seems to me like a pretty shrewd move by McPhee. A team that can clinch the No. 1 seed in its conference just by playing .500 hockey over the final 20 games, a team that leads its division by an ungodly amount of points and may clinch that by next week really doesn’t have a whole lot to play for. Now, everyone on the third and fourth lines does have something to play for. Their jobs. There are legitimate replacements on hand. There won’t be many true practices the rest of the season because of the compressed schedule. But the ones Boudreau does hold will be full on battle royales. So is chemistry an issue? Already, Matt Bradley, David Steckel and John Erskine have been scratched for tonight’s game with Tampa Bay. I can’t imagine any of them are thrilled. They won’t be the only ones dealing with it.
“For some people it might be [a problem],” McPhee said. “But we could have moved them to some teams that weren’t in the playoffs. And there will be injuries and there will be guys that may not be playing the way they can so you move things around. But I certainly like our team and our depth and our versatility.”
Again, translation: Be happy you’re still here. Brian Pothier isn’t. Everyone will get a chance to fight for a playoff role and we’ll need the depth anyway.”
McPhee certainly doesn’t mess around in these circumstances. In the last three years alone he traded for a new goalie at the deadline – Cristobal Huet – and relegated franchise icon Olie Kolzig to the bench. That created months of drama and hard feelings. But it was also a move McPhee’s front office deemed necessary. Sentiment has no place in a Stanley Cup chase. We saw it again this year when he traded his own team captain. That’s beyond a rarity in the NHL. Chris Clark, thanks for your time. But we needed to get better and balance the lineup. Just business. It takes a certain amount of mental toughness to make those moves because if they fail your fanbase wants to know why you tossed aside a favored player. But McPhee the manager – like McPhee the player – isn’t afraid.
