One part of running an NHL team is trying to identify the right players to acquire to make your team better. In a hard cap environment, the other part is fitting everybody in under the cap ceiling. The Penguins have recently hired someone to help manage the cap part of things.
#pens have hired Vukie Mpofu as director of hockey operations and legal affairs, to oversee contract negotiations and the salary cap, among other things, under Kyle Dubas.
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) June 26, 2023
Mpofu spent the last two seasons with #LAKings in similar role, started in NHL prior with #VGK.
Vukie Mpofu is a former junior player who transitioned to focus on working on the business side of things. This is from an NHL.com article about his role with the Los Angeles Kings
The 26-year-old former right wing is in his second season as manager of hockey operations and legal affairs for the Los Angeles Kings.He's involved in player contract negotiations, manages salary cap and collective bargaining issues, and works with the Kings analytics staff. He also does legal work for Anschutz Entertainment Group, the Kings' parent company, and employment contracts for the Kings and the staff of Ontario, their American Hockey League affiliate.
"The first things you saw when he came into our program was youth and energy," Kings director of player personnel Nelson Emerson said. "He comes in and brings that passion and energy that we wanted from him and thought we'd get out of him. It's been that way since Day One."
When building a front office you definitely need to acquire people to take care of these kinds of tasks. People who have been around Mpofu have been impressed on how he carries himself
From Brent Sutter, his junior coach:
Sutter was surprised but not shocked when Mpofu said during his exit interview after the 2013-14 season that he was retiring as a player and heading to college to pursue a law degree."From a selfish point of view, I was disappointed that he wasn't going to be part of our program moving forward," said Sutter, who remains with Red Deer as owner, president and general manager after stepping down as coach in April. "But I was very, very excited for him personally, that this is a path that he was going to choose to go on, because he was such a smart kid, so respectful, so professional. I just truly believed that he was going to make it one way or another in the business side of the game and he would get to the highest level. And look at him now."
Here was his path after playing:
Mpofu earned a political science degree from the University of Saskatchewan, then attended UCLA law school, lured by its sports and entertainment program.He worked with UCLA Athletics as an NCAA Compliance extern and was president of the university's Sports Law Federation from April 2020 to May 2021.
Mpofu got real-world experience as a legal intern for team sports at Wasserman in Los Angeles, and during internships with the Vegas Golden Knights from April 2020 to January 2021 and Wintersports, Ltd, in Edmonton from May to September in 2019.
Mpofu has put the work in and is building a solid resume to this point. Being with a team like Vegas that has a manic personality with how many moves they make was probably a great experience to see how a busy organization works.
Mpofu should be a pretty big help to Kyle Dubas and the rest of the front office, which is starting to take shape.
Thanks for reading!