“I’m Certainly Not Going To Sit Here And Derail Anything” -George McPhee

Hey Kelly, I can still trade James Neal and say I’m not derailing anything, right? No? Uh oh. (Photo Credit: SinBin.vegas Photographer Brandon Andreasen)

Playoffs in three, Cup in six. That was the plan the day George McPhee was hired, that was the plan during the Expansion Draft, and that was supposed to be the plan throughout the entire first season.

Then the Golden Knights started 8-1, outplayed a few teams on the road including getting a win in Ottawa, and things may need to change.

I will adjust to whatever is going on as the season goes on. If we are in the hunt, we’ll stay in the hunt, I’m certainly not going to sit here and derail anything. –George McPhee to TSN 1050

Since making that comment on October 26th, the Golden Knights have recalled Shea Theodore, waived Griffin Reinhart and Jason Garrison, and have nearly officially cut bait with “problem-child” Vadim Shipachyov. We’ve also seen a bunch of lineup changes including breaking up the first line of James Neal, David Perron, and Cody Eakin.

It’s only been 13 games, but the Golden Knights are playing great hockey and appear to be making moves to try and win now. No one, including George McPhee, expected that to be the case at any point this year.

As you know, in this business you are just trying to get through each day. I certainly have a plan but you try to get through each day and try to win on gamedays. We said from the start that we want to be as good as we can be and be as competitive as we can be and that’s what we are trying to do. -McPhee

They are competitive, that’s for sure. Now we’ll have to wait and see if McPhee holds his word. The good news is, we’re not going to forget “I’m certainly not going to sit here and derail anything.” So when James Neal, David Perron, and Luca Sbisa are sent out for draft picks in a few months, you can be rest assured we’ve got something to ask the Golden Knights GM.

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Oh yeah, and we’re officially changing it from “Playoffs in three, Cup in six” to “Playoffs BY three, Cup BY six.” Why wait?