3 reasons why McPhee is safe bet to build competitive team in Vegas

The NHL's Las Vegas expansion franchise is in good hands.

Hiring George McPhee as the first general manager in the history of the yet-to-be named team, owner Bill Foley added an employee with over two decades of front-office experience.

Related: Las Vegas franchise names George McPhee GM

McPhee began his career as an executive with the Vancouver Canucks, serving as vice president and director of hockey operations from 1992-97. He was then hired as GM of the Washington Capitals - a post he held from 1997-2014 - and, most recently, acted as a special adviser to New York Islanders GM Garth Snow.

Here are three reasons why McPhee is a safe bet to build a competitive roster in Sin City.

Building the Capitals

Fired by the Capitals two years ago, the 2016 Presidents' Trophy winners were largely built by McPhee, beginning with a massive fire sale during the 2003-04 season.

In the years to follow, McPhee called the following names at the NHL Draft, all of whom remain significant contributors to a Washington roster with legitimate Stanley Cup hopes in the next year or two:

• Alex Ovechkin - first overall, 2004
• Nicklas Backstrom - fourth overall, 2006
• Karl Alzner - fifth overall, 2007
• John Carlson - 27th overall, 2008
• Braden Holtby - 93rd overall, 2008
• Marcus Johansson - 24th overall, 2009
• Evgeny Kuznetsov - 26th overall, 2010

A group of talent any GM would be happy to build around.

Trade record goes deeper than Erat

McPhee will likely never live down the decision to trade an up-and-coming star in Filip Forsberg for veteran goal-scorer Martin Erat back in 2013, and rightfully so - it was an awful deal from Washington's perspective.

Having said that, the decision to select Forsberg with the 11th pick in 2012 speaks to the decent track record at the draft table mentioned above.

More to the point, McPhee was able to come out on the other end of a lopsided deal or two.

McPhee also traded Semyon Varlamov to Colorado for a first- and second-round pick in 2012, with the latter being used to select Forsberg. The deal may look questionable now, but at the time, it looked like a steal for the Capitals, especially with other capable goalies in the system.

Over the course of 17 years, any GM will have a series of hits and misses on the trade market.

Don't let Erat erase the positives on McPhee's resume.

Unfinished business

During McPhee's tenure with the Capitals, the club won seven Southeast Division titles, recorded eight seasons of 40-plus wins, and won the Presidents' Trophy in 2009-10, a year in which they set their record for most points in a season (121).

And dating back to his Canucks' days, McPhee was part of the brain trust that led the team to a Smythe Division title in 1992-93 and advanced to the Stanley Cup Final in 1994 (a seven-game loss to the New York Rangers.)

McPhee has had a hand in a healthy measure of success as an executive in the NHL, but without the coup de grace of winning a Cup to show for it.

Hockey's greatest prize is something he's still clearly gunning for.

"Our mission here is clear: we're going to build an organization and a team that people in Nevada and Las Vegas are going to be proud of," McPhee said at a press conference in Las Vegas Wednesday. "We're going to do it quickly and we're aiming at the Stanley Cup."

Success out of the gate is rare for expansion franchises, but McPhee is expected to have a wealth of talent to choose from come the expansion draft, with the task of working within the salary cap and the team's budget ahead of him.

Whether McPhee can indeed build a winning team in Las Vegas remains to be seen, but his track record with the Capitals coupled with his desire to push through his inability to take a team all the way puts the odds in the franchise's favor.