A few days back, David Elfin of the Washington Times got to interview Capitals owner Ted Leonsis, and made sure he asked a question about my favorite topic -- namely, how does Caps GM George McPhee manage to keep his job?
TWT: You inherited George McPhee. He has fired two hand-picked coaches and hasn't won a playoff series in six years. Why isn't his job in jeopardy?TL: The same people saying George should be fired said we should fire Ron Wilson two years ago. We did, and now his team [San Jose], which went through the same kind of rebuilding last year, is pushing Colorado out West.
During George's first two years after we bought the team, we had one of the top two or three ratios of wins per payroll. Then came the trade for Jagr. That was pivotal. We changed our style of play and our philosophy.
Peter wasn't happy, but we kept him with a new contract. We gave Olie a long-term contract. We brought in Lang [Jagr's former Penguins teammate was signed as a free agent in 2002] to make Jaromir feel more comfortable.
I am going to say the loss with Yeats in goal could well have been the all-time low water mark for the Cappies… And that is saying a whole damn lot… Accordingly, I offer this stanza from W.B. Yeats:
Come away human child
To the water and the wild
With a fairy hand in hand
For the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand