Frank Provenzano was just 25, armed with a fresh MBA from Simon Fraser University,
when he cold-called the Vancouver Canucks in 1994.
The next thing he knew, he was talking to George McPhee, Director of Hockey Operations. Provenzano offered to volunteer for the Canucks, and by January 1995, he was hired on full-time.
Two years later, he became McPhee's assistant general manager in Washington. They marched to the 1998 Finals together, before Provenzano left the Capitals in 2004. From 2006-13, he served as Assistant GM of the Dallas Stars.
Provenzano is now based out of Dallas. He contributes to The Athletic and is a sports consultant.
McPhee, of course, is the GM of the Western Conference-leading Golden Knights. I caught up with Provenzano and asked him to predict if Vegas would go for the big fish at the Trade Deadline, what kind of extensions he'd sign James Neal and David Perron to, how Jonathan Marchessault leaving money on the table sets a Tom Brady-like example for the rest of the Knights, how McPhee has evolved since Washington, and finally, why Jaromir Jagr bombed in DC.
HockeyBuzz: If you're George McPhee, you have a number of defensible paths open to you right now.
Make a huge trade for a perfect fit like an Erik Karlsson but decimate the system? Add around the edges -- maybe a solid middle-six scoring winger -- give up one of the seven 2nd-rounders you have over the next three years? Stand pat, keep Perron and Neal, risking their departures but keeping the core of your team for a run now? Or trade Perron and Neal, especially if you can get a 1st in a deep 2018 Draft?
What do you think that George does?
Frank Provenzano: I think the most likely path for George is -- given where the team is at -- he tries to add around the edges.
If they were sitting even in a lower playoff spot, I think maybe he considers trading Neal and adding a first-round pick. But he harvested quite a few draft picks last summer. It's not like he necessarily needs more draft picks. In fact, there comes a point at which you can have too many draft picks. Sort of clogs up your development system.
He's sitting on house money, no pun intended.
They're looking at it, we're probably the number-one seed in the West. So maybe we add something.
I think he sees what the prices are. But they're probably not going to pay a high price to do it.
So that mid-range scoring winger, mid-range depth. Maybe use some of the mid-range futures they've acquired.
I think that's the most likely path in the next 24 hours.
HB: George did already add Ryan Reaves. But we're talking about more than that?
FP: It's 50-50. If the prices come down. My guess is if George makes a deal, it'll be closer to the Deadline when prices start to come down.
HB: That seems to be what he -- what you guys -- did in Washington. He usually added when he had a competitive team.
FP: This is true. The other piece of this is, the big-time Deadline deals, often are bad ones. The summer, if you just wait -- there's absolutely no pressure on George to do anything -- if you just wait three-and-a-half months, you can make the same deal, but at a much-lower cost.
HB: What kind of deal would you give Neal or Perron this summer if they want to stay? Consider, of course, that Neal is 30 and Perron is 29. Perron is having a career year -- which is a good and a bad thing.
FP: Yeah. (laughs)
To a certain degree, you pay market rate. But there's no reason to pay a premium.
It's probably okay if they even took a step back there next year -- to some degree. It's not going to be seen necessarily as a total disaster if they revert into a second-year team in the league.
So you pay whatever the market is. Off the top of my head, five or six million dollars [per year]. Neither of those players will start with a seven in my opinion.
The term is probably more important than the dollar number. You don't want to get locked into a long-term deal.
Because they've got a little bit of a magic potion this year. The message there is you're cast-offs. There's a "band of brothers" feeling. When you start handing out contracts, the NHL gravity starts to kick in as well.
One of the reasons why they've been so successful is they're not tied down to a lot of term.
HB: This leads into my next question. Why do you think Vegas has succeeded like it has?
FP: It's a combination of factors.
Number one, they have this us against the world mentality. They have a really good coach. They did a good job with the type of players they picked.
You can say it's a "band of brothers," but it's also just a really good hockey team.
I'm sitting here in Dallas, and everyone here in Dallas still refers to when the team first got here and how close everybody was and how they all lived in the same area. It really felt like a team because you're out in this outpost in Texas.
To a certain degree, they've got that same mojo there. We're the first professional sports franchise in Las Vegas. Then you had the tragedy -- they were able to bond with their community. I think that's a real thing there.
You also have players who are playing for their next contract.
It's a confluence of events. Just mix everything together.
HB: Speaking of this "band of brothers" theme, Marchessault recently signed an extension of six years, $30 million. He told me that he matched his AAV with Reilly Smith's because of his respect for Reilly.
That seems remarkable to me, is it?
FP: Yeah, it is.
On the team side, you do preach that. But every player has an agent; they have an agent for a reason. The agent advises the player what his maximum market value could be -- and for good reason because the player has a limited amount of time to earn that maximum value.
So that's indicative of a player really buying into the notion of "team."
You're really buying into it when you're talking about what you're getting paid. That's literally putting your money where your mouth is.
HB: It sends a signal to his teammates too.
FP: Yeah. Why have the New England Patriots been so successful?
Because their best player -- the one constant there has been Tom Brady. They've always been able to give themselves salary flexibility by him [taking less].
When your best player is doing that, how do players down the line-up not do it? It certainly sets a strong example.
HB: Any additional thoughts about George and his work in Vegas?
FP: They've written the blueprint for any subsequent expansion team on how to do it.
The way they harvested assets last summer -- around this time, actually -- they tied up the last Trade Deadline. They effectively tied it up and ran a lot of it through Las Vegas.
And then the Draft -- the assets that they got in their first Draft, unbelievable.
HB: Can you elaborate on tying up last season's Trade Deadline more?
FP: I wasn't in their war room. But my sense is, they knew halfway through the season, teams that had protection problems, cap problems, especially with players who had no-move clauses.
I'm guessing they reached out to those teams and said, Look, we'll do a deal where we won't take Player X and we'll take Player Y instead. But only if that player is still there in June, if you don't make any moves at the Deadline to clear this space.
(HockeyBuzz note: An example of this is the February agreement between McPhee and Pittsburgh's Jim Rutherford that Vegas would take Marc-Andre Fleury, allowing the Penguins to protect Matt Murray. In return, the Golden Knights also received a second-round draft pick for their troubles.)
HB: Moving on, what was it like working with George?
FP: It was awesome! He gave me my first job in Vancouver. I was a stranger, cold-calling him.
Early on, they were one of the first organizations -- I think -- to have someone like me in the front office with a business background, as opposed to a hockey background.
He was always a forward thinker. In a lot of ways, he taught me the ropes.
It was a difficult decision for me to leave Washington. I left at the lockout. I felt for my own career that I had to separate myself from George. In some ways, you come in as the 25-year-old kid. You almost feel like you have to leave the nest. Move away from Dad. (laughs) The family business.
But it was great working for George. We had success in Washington. In our first year there [in 1997-98], we went to the Stanley Cup Finals. Then, we always seemed to have pretty good teams. And when it went really south, we stripped it down, heading into the lockout. Then I left, but they really set themselves up for over a decade of being a really good team.
Maybe George's trick is he gets in there in the first year, he goes to the Finals. Maybe he'll do it again. (laughs)
HB: From the time you left Washington, how do you think he's evolved?
FP: When I started out in the business, there was no salary cap. Negotiations were a lot more win/lose than they are now.
Now, player/asset management isn't so much about fighting tooth and nail at the contract negotiations table -- it's as much now about managing relationships.
I think that's one area where George has evolved.
He was one of the tougher negotiators -- not saying he's not a tough negotiator anymore -- but [now], you have to pay guys market rate in order to keep them.
HB: Bobby Clarke mentioned that George was one of the top 5-6 GMs in league now. Do you agree with that assessment?
FP: Absolutely.
He's got longevity in this position which has become less stable.
First year [in Washington], went to the Finals. A lot of that was work David Poile had put in. But still, went to the Finals.
Decided to tear it down and re-build it into a team -- though they haven't had playoff success -- has been a top team in the league for over a decade.
His body of work -- outside of winning the Stanley Cup -- that's the final hill to climb for him. His body of work is pretty darn good.
HB: Last question. As a hockey history nerd, I've always wondered why Jaromir Jagr didn't work in Washington?
FP: My personal opinion -- he knew he was getting traded out of Pittsburgh -- I think, in his mind, he wanted to go to the New York Rangers. I don't think he ever really wanted to go to Washington. I don't think he ever really accepted going there.
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