Top 3 reasons Brian MacLellan earned his promotion
The Washington Capitals made some big news yesterday. No I’m not talking about the Sonny Milano chia pet. I’m talking about re signing and promoting Brian MacLellan to a well deserved role.
MacLellan has been general manager for the last 10 seasons. Now he’s not only a Capitals general manager, but also President of Hockey Operations.
Team president Dick Patrick is now team chairman while Dick’s son Chris will be associate general manager.
Here are the top 3 reasons GMBM deserved that promotion:
#3 He’s won before
Since the start of the 2014 15 season, MacLellan’s Capitals have compiled a record of 409-213-77 which is good for a .640 winning percentage and the third most wins in the NHL during that stretch.
That all equates to a Stanley Cup, two Presidents’ Trophies, and a franchise record five consecutive Metropolitan Division tittles.
That Stanley Cup came in 2018 and out of the 19 players that took the ice during the Cup clinching win in Game 5, eight of those players were either signed, traded for, or drafted by MacLellan. That includes three of the four players that scored in that magical game (Jakub Vrana, Devante Smith Pelly, and Lars Eller).
He’s also won a Stanley Cup as a player so winning is in his DNA.
#2 He’s the right guy for the Caps to win again
Turnover happens everywhere in sports but give the Capitals credit. Their front office for the most part has been stable. And for good reason. They know how to keep their teams competitive.
A lot of people took the MacLellan re signing for granted. I won’t go as far to say those guys don’t know puck, like my colleagues over on X are saying. But I will say that we have it better than a lot of other teams.
But wanting to win again is going to be easier said than done. Not quite because of GMBM but because of age. When MacLellan relieved George McPhee, his former college teammate at Bowling Green, the Caps had a core of Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom and John Carlson still young.
Now those guys along with MacLellan’s best trade piece, T.J. Oshie, are on the wrong side of 30.
MacLellan told Barry Svrluga of The Washington Post (subscription required):
“It’s a little harder. I still think we’re competitive. Health’s been a big issue for us. We have an aging roster that lately has been struggling to stay healthy. Some of it is chronic and age-related. Some of it is just weird injuries. I don’t think we’re at the level that we were. I think there’s a possibility of still contending. I think we’re getting closer with the young guys we have now.”
#1 The last dance
Now MacLellan is not a saint. He did make some mistakes. One costly one was letting Barry Trotz go instead of coming to an agreement on an extension. But that could’ve also been a Ted Leonsis move. Who knows?
Regardless of who you point your finger at, this fact hasn’t changed: the Caps have not won a playoff series since then.
We don’t know how many more kicks at the can Ovechkin is going to get. But we do know that the clock is ticking, hence the last dance.
MacLellan did the right thing in hiring Spencer Carbery. While he isn’t Trotz, he’s still better than a previous coach that didn’t play the youth. And based on what we’ve heard from GMBM and Carbery himself, it looks like the team is going into the season with an “all in” mentality.
MacLellan talked about his new coaching hire to Svrluga:
“It’s been really good so far. I like the character. I like the enthusiasm. He’s at a good age where he’s all-in. He’s confident. He feels he’s ready. You can feel it from him, that he feels ready. I’m excited to see what he does.”
More. Joe Snively is ready to make Herndon more proud. light
This is going to be a big season coming up. It’s operation get back to the playoffs. It’s operation get Ovechkin as close as possible to 895. No better guy to build the roster around him than GMBM.