The Capitals will have a new general manager next season for the first time in a decade. Chris Patrick is being promoted to the role, as well as senior VP of hockey operations, after serving as an assistant GM for the past three seasons, reports Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. He’s replacing Brian MacLellan, who remains with the organization as their president of hockey operations. The Capitals announced the move shortly thereafter.
The GM/POHO setup is becoming increasingly common as teams look to give external and internal up-and-coming options a chance in the GM role. They’ll operate similarly to Patrik Allvin (GM) and Jim Rutherford (POHO) with the Canucks, the former of which finished as a finalist for this year’s Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award.
This was the logical next step after the Capitals added the POHO tag to MacLellan’s title last August, along with giving Patrick a small promotion from assistant to associate GM. Patrick has been with Washington since the 2009-10 season, first joining as a pro scout. He was named their director of minor league operations in 2015-16 and was promoted further as their director of player personnel for the following season. That’s where he remained until the AGM promotion in 2021.
Patrick, 48, has racked up quite the reputation over the past few seasons, with the AHL’s Hershey Bears falling under his purview as AGM. Under Patrick, the Bears – already the most successful franchise in AHL history – have won back-to-back Calder Cups and had 53 wins last season, one short of the team record.
“We are thrilled to announce Chris’ promotion to general manager,” said Caps owner Ted Leonsis. “Chris is a dedicated and hard-working executive who is fully prepared for this next step in his career. His vision, extensive experience, hockey acumen, and player evaluation make him the perfect leader to drive our team forward. We are confident that he will thrive in this new role.”
MacLellan, meanwhile, graduates to a role with slightly less day-to-day responsibility after spending 10 seasons as Washington’s GM. He built the team’s only Stanley Cup-winning roster in 2018 and has been with the Caps for over two decades, first joining as a scout in 2000-01. The 65-year-old will remain with the only NHL front office he’s ever known.
I don’t think this can hurt, but interesting direction NHL front offices are going.
The Capitals seemed to go with a checklist approach for this offseason. So these boxes are checked: a front line center, scoring help on the wings, more speed, 4th line help to replace losses, and more offense from the defense which didn’t produce much offense last year. They also resigned McMichael and dumped Kuemper – both necessary. The only thing I am not seeing is more progression from the 2 time defending Calder Cup champions to the NHL level yet.
On paper, the Caps have potential to be good, as in not a top echelon team but certainly “in the mix” for playoffs. What you can’t see is how all these new parts fit together. Such as: Gretzky to the Blues in 1996 to team up with Hull was great on paper but just didn’t work nearly as well on the ice due to each player’s style.
But I am happy they tried to address it rather than sit on the sidelines and grow another year older and slower.