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Gretzky has high praise for ‘workaholic general manager’ McPhee

Las Vegas NHL Team Owner Bill Foley Announces General Manager

LAS VEGAS, NV - JULY 13: George McPhee speaks after being introduced as the general manager of the Las Vegas NHL franchise during a news conference at T-Mobile Arena on July 13, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

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Well, it appears George McPhee has a fan in Wayne Gretzky.

The Great One spoke glowingly of the Vegas Golden Knights general manager in an interview with the NHL Network, per the Las Vegas Review Journal.

“Then you have to have a workaholic general manager, and I think George McPhee’s record speaks for itself,” said Gretzky.

“What he’s done in the past and how hard he works and how dedicated he is to making his teams the best teams that they can be.”

McPhee was hired as the Golden Knights’ GM about 13 months ago and, as you can imagine, he has been very busy ever since, building a front office and hockey operations department, selecting a roster of players via the expansion draft, and making a number of deals with different managers throughout the league while stockpiling young prospects and draft picks.

Vegas right now has 12 selections in the 2019 NHL Draft, per CapFriendly. That includes six picks combined through the second and third rounds, where they may be able to increase their chances at landing an NHL player.

With Nate Schmidt signed to his two-year contract, the Golden Knights have 11 defensemen under contract. That surplus really took shape at the expansion draft and McPhee was able to make deals involving Marc Methot, David Schlemko and Trevor van Riemsdyk as a result.

More deals involving that position could be on the way. McPhee expressed earlier this summer, however, that with 11 blue liners, he believed that was a “manageable number” to work with.