Four times during his tenure as the Washington Capitals’ general manager, George McPhee has had to make the call to fire a coach. At some point — perhaps in the near future — if the Capitals don’t win a Stanley Cup, will George McPhee receive a similar call?
Making that fateful phone call is never easy.
He had to make the call in 2002 to his friend, Ron Wilson, who became the coach the same day McPhee was hired in 1997.
Less than two years later, McPhee called Bruce Cassidy to come in and clean out his desk.
On Thanksgiving 2007, McPhee called Glen Hanlon, the former goaltender who led the Caps during the dismantling of the team, the subsequent NHL lockout and the baby steps of rebuilding.
Finally, on Monday morning, McPhee made the call again, this time to Bruce Boudreau, the “Slap Shot” central casting coach who turned the team into a Presidents’ Trophy powerhouse and then a Stanley Cup pretender.
You only get to make that call so many times without Lord Stanley somewhere on your resume.
I’m not advocating that McPhee should be on the hot seat. He is one of the smartest and most honorable men I’ve met in professional sports. Heck, I want owner Ted Leonsis to make him the GM of the Wizards as well as the Caps.
But facts are facts, baby, and the air is thin up there for general managers who last as long as McPhee has without a championship to validate the tenure. Only two NHL general managers have had their jobs longer than McPhee — and both have won Stanley Cups.
Lou Lamoriello has been the general manager for the New Jersey Devils since 1987 and has three Stanley Cups to show for it. Jim Rutherford has been the GM of the Hurricanes franchise for 18 years — back to its days as the Hartford Whalers — with one Stanley Cup in 2006.
Darcy Regier was hired as GM of the Buffalo Sabres in 1997, the same year Abe Pollin hired George McPhee. And like McPhee, who reached the Stanley Cup Finals in his first season in Washington, Regier had his best success early. The Sabres reached the Cup finals the following year. But there is no Stanley Cup on his resume, either.
The call came for McPhee’s predecessor, David Poile, after 15 seasons in Washington and no Stanley Cup.
It takes a heck of a general manager to last through two owners, a lockout and 15 seasons on the job without a championship and not get a phone call like the one McPhee made to Boudreau on Monday. McPhee is a heck of a GM. But if new coach Dale Hunter isn’t the championship solution, the odds would seem to be that McPhee will get that call.
Examiner columnist Thom Loverro is the co-host of “The Sports Fix” from noon to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday on ESPN980 and espn980.com. Contact him at [email protected].
