Capitals GM McPhee: New coach likely after draft, NHL experience not necessary

WASHINGTON, DC — Washington Capitals Coach George McPhee will hire his second coach in about eight months when he decides who will be behind the bench for 2012-13.

"It's a thoughtful process," he said. adding that he greatly prefers the process in the offseason than when he fired Bruce Boudreau and hired Dale Hunter in Nov. 2010. "It really is. It's been a real enjoyable process. It's a fun process to doing it in the summer. If you do it midseason, it's a more difficult process and there are fewer people to talk to and time constraints."

It's a month to the day that Hunter stepped down as Capitals coach, after a playoff run that included a first-round victory over the Boston Bruins and a second-round loss to the New York Rangers. It was Hunter's first NHL coaching gig; McPhee said that having been an NHL head coach or associate coach is "not necessary" for his next pick.

The rumored candidates have ranged from people with ties to McPhee's tenure with the Vancouver Canucks — Marc Crawford and Pat Quinn — to coaches that went deep into the 2012 playoffs — AHL Norfolk coach Jon Cooper, Devils assistant coach Adam Oates, Kings assistant coach John Stevens — to an internal choice like assistant coach Dean Evason.

So what is he looking for in a coach? Someone that can build on how Hunter got his players to buy into his system. Although not necessarily his system.

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