The Vegas Golden Knights announced that Kelly McCrimmon has been promoted to General Manager. McCrimmon replaces George McPhee who will continue as President of Hockey Operations.
THE BAND IS STAYING TOGETHER! ?
Kelly McCrimmon has been named General Manager of the Golden Knights, effective Sept. 1
George McPhee will continue to be responsible for all VGK hockey ops decisions & the hockey ops staffhttps://t.co/5MuEhQcVUZ
— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) May 2, 2019
Kelly McCrimmon Named Vegas Golden Knights GM
The change is effective September 1st. The Golden Knights released the news roughly one hour after it was reported that McCrimmon was out of the running for the vacant Edmonton Oilers general manager position. Golden Knights chairman and CEO Bill Foley said in a press release:
“This is a very exciting announcement for our club and Vegas Golden Knights fans around the world, George and Kelly are a fantastic team. From the mock draft exercises and preparation leading up to the Expansion Draft, building out our coaching staff, and continually improving our team through the draft, trades, signings and free agency, the work they have done over the last three years has been remarkable. Together they have constructed a championship-calibre team in a very short time. This personnel move ensures that our hockey operations group stays intact and positions our organization for long term success.”
A Life in Hockey
Prior to joining the Golden Knights, McCrimmon spent nearly three decades with the WHL’s Brandon Wheat Kings. McCrimmon cut his teeth in almost every role with the team, including; owner, GM an coach. He joined the Golden Knights in 2016 as an assistant GM. McCrimmon was influential in assembling the highly successful Golden Knights inaugural roster.
Into the Fire
While McPhee still has the title of GM until September 1st, McCrimmon will be in charge of many of the Golden Knights key off-season moves. The Golden Knights have known nothing but success in their two-year history but did taste disappointment this year. Vegas crashed out of the Stanley Cup playoffs in the first round to the rival San Jose Sharks. Adding salt to the wounds, the Golden Knights blew a 3-1 series lead. Now some hard decisions need to be made. Vegas is projected to be over the cap and need to extend some of their key players including William Karlsson. It is poised to be an interesting summer in Sin City. McCrimmon has a lot of work to do to keep Vegas as competitive as they have been.
