Not conflicted at all that George is Caps GM BUT it sure would be nice if he was in Blueshirt Management. He wore the jersey well back in the day. Never forget him taking on Dave Brown (5'8" vs 6'5") at MSG during Playoffs 1986.
He was one of my favorite Rangers. IMO one of the best pound for pound fighters ever. I remember thinking the Rangers were getting a scorer when they signed him out of Bowling Green as McPhee had just won the Hobey Baker Award. Even though he never became a top line player, he did find his niche as one tough SOB.
His fights against Hospodar and Tocchet will always stand out for me. The Hospodar fight was great because Eddie was trying to get Beck off the ice and George stepped in and kicked his butt. And you're right, he wasn't big at all.
We've had a few threads about him over the years; he wore the Rangers jersey with a lot of pride, scored some clutch goals, and fought a lot of guys bigger than him. He pounded Tochett in 86. In an era when the Rangers always seemed to have pretty good or only decent teams that could never get over that final hump, he was one of the brighter spots.
Also, he played in an era when many guys offseason workouts consisted of beer drinking, golf, and fishing. What did he do? He went to Law School. That's pretty crazy.
While he would be great in Rangers Management, we're very fortunate to have guys like Jeff Gorton who hopefully takes over for Sather, Gordie Clark, Anders Hedberg, etc.
remember him breaking his hand on nevin markwarts face, also remember watchin rangers on ch 9 and one time as it was going to commercial hearing barry beck telling someone on the other team get the f out of my face or ill have george kick your ass. my brother and i laughed our ***** off
For his size (and I've seen all his fights), I'd say PJ Stock and Stan Jonathan are the only guys tougher pound for pound.
You're forgetting Rick Rypien. And Tie Domi was not much bigger--just stockier.
George never really got beyond a 4th liner. He was an excellent fighter but that ability turned into a major detriment to other parts of his game as he was always injuring his hands. Funny--that that is what he was known for--when you consider he was the Hobey Baker winner his final year at Bowling Green.
I don't care how much he weighed, you don't get any tougher pound for pound than Joey Kocur. That said, George McPhee was one of my favorite Rangers when I was little...probably because he was one of my father's favorite Rangers.
Would like to see McPhee in Ranger management when Sather finally hangs up the cigar in about 50 years...
My first hockey memory revolves around George McPhee. My dad took me to my first hockey game back in 87, it was unfortunately a Devils game (tix were free, it was Friday night), and ironically against the Caps if I'm not mistaken..anyway, my dad was a HUGE George McPhee and as luck would have it. George scored about 5 minutes into the game, the whole place is going wild, and my dad is screaming "WAY TO GO GEORGE!!" and I say to him, "Dad, I thought you were a Rangers fan?" and he says, "I am, but I LOVE George McPhee!". Thus began my hockey obsession.
Last edited by TonyTheGr8: 05-02-2012 at 09:10 AM.
