3 Quotes and Takeaways from Chris Patrick's presser

Chris Patrick held court with the local media as general manager for the first time on Tuesday. Here's highlights from what he said.

Charlie Lindgren, Washington Capitals Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
Charlie Lindgren, Washington Capitals Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports / Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

The Washington Capitals held court with the local media to introduce their seventh general manager in franchise history. He takes over for Brian MacLellan, who was general manager for the past 10 seasons and helped guide the Caps to their first Stanley Cup championship in 2018 along with multiple Presidents' Trophies. MacLellan isn't going anywhere as he remains in the front office as president of hockey operations, a position he's had since last year.

As the Capitals celebrate their 50th anniversary season, Patrick is 48 and played local hockey in the Capital Beltway Hockey League and the AAA Little Caps. He was even drafted by the Caps back in 1994. In 2008-09 he joined the front office and worked in half a dozen roles including pro scout, director of player personnel, and assistant to general manager. In August of last year he moved up to the role of associate general manager.

The team addressed local reporters over at District E next to Capital One Arena. The following quotes from the presser are via Sammi Silber of The Hockey News:

"He's grown his skill set. I've been a big part of watching him grow and develop.
Brian MacLellanO

Obviously this means the Caps are a family business and this is just another family matter as they look to reconstruct the roster for the final year's of Alex Ovechkin. Everyone seemed to be in good spirits during the presser and seemed on board for the daunting task at hand of competing in a stacked Metropolitan Division.

"We really have a lineage of excellence, and we intend to keep going. Sports teams and NHL teams are becoming more and more complex to manage... (GMBM) runs and has final say on all hockey operations, and then we have Chris do every job in the company and be able to be the general manager and deal with all the other general managers. I feel that the team is in great hands.
Ted Leonsis

To learn the business you have to learn every faucet of it. Couldn't have said it better. And the man of the hour was still smiling at the cameras as he was asked the hard hitting questions.

"I've never had this as an end goal when I first got back into the game. I just wanted to be involved with a team... I've definitely gotten to a point where I feel 100 percent ready to jump into it and get going of taking over."
Chris Patrick

It will be a collaborative effort on every faucet of the organization. The younger Patrick is a graduate of Princeton University and his success with the Bears in back to back Calder Cups is a living testament to the organization.

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