Building an NHL franchise is no easy task, just ask George McPhee.
Still, the newly appointed general manager of the Las Vegas franchise is ready to get to work, starting with the bare bones.
The team has 11 months before they can even add a player, but don't think for a second McPhee won't be occupied during that span.
"That 11 months is going to fly by, absolutely fly by because we are going to be so busy putting a staff together and then strategizing and trying to execute on that strategy in the way we're going to scout both the amateurs and the pros," McPhee told Dan Rosen of NHL.com. "It's going to be a lot of work, not to mention everything we have to do in house to get our offices and everything like that set up. But this time is going to fly by. We're not going to feel like we have enough time."
Although it's a daunting project, McPhee is relishing the uniqueness of building an NHL franchise from scratch.
"Other than the initial building of it, which should be fun and is sure I'm something all GMs would like to do when building a team, have an absolutely clean slate, I've just been overwhelmed by the number of people interested," McPhee said.
"Once we get through the expansion draft and the first draft, then it's the same for all GM's it's drafting and developing properly and managing people and managing your team. The other element is it's a brand new market and it's up to us to educate the market, to grow grassroots hockey, to make people aware of the game and really enjoy it and help them understand it."
