George McPhee’s endgame has always been about making the Golden Knights contenders.

Strategic moves to keep winning.

The veteran general manager has ridden his savvy all the way to the Stanley Cup Final Sebastian Janikowski Jersey Seahawks , a stirring run by the first-year franchise and the first major sports team in Las Vegas. While the expansion draft gets most of the attention in attempts to explain the unusual success, the moves made by McPhee in late February, when the trade deadline came along, have proven just as important.

”I wanted to wait as long as we could to determine what we had as a team,” McPhee recalled. ”At the trade deadline we felt it was a very good team. But it was getting thin, we were getting banged up, guys out of the lineup, we had other guys playing hurt. We wanted to do the very best we could for this team that was playing its guts out, to help it.”

He began moving pawns across the NHL chessboard, starting with the acquisition of forward Tomas Tatar from the Detroit Red Wings in exchange for three draft picks: a first-round pick in 2018, a second-round pick in 2019 and a third-round pick in 2021. Tatar brought with him a contract worth $15.9 million through the 2020-21 season.

While the Golden Knights did send Brendan Leipsic to Vancouver for Philip Holm, perhaps the biggest trade was the one for bruising forward Ryan Reaves from Pittsburgh, a move that included the Golden Knights acquiring 40 percent of Derick Brassard’s contract. Brassard going to Pittsburgh from Ottawa meant the talented center would not be going to Winnipeg – the team Vegas just beat in a rugged Western Conference final.

Many wondered whether the trade would be worth it given Reaves’ notoriety for physical play. But Reaves brought some brawn to the Golden Knights and scored the game-winning goal in Game 5 at Winnipeg.

”We just thought when we get into the games down the stretch and we’re in the playoffs, we can have a guy that can play the game right Kendall Wright Jersey Vikings ,” McPhee said. ”Ryan did a good job of providing the line and getting us good, hard, safe minutes on some nights. Even though they’re not scoring like some of the other lines, they’re one of our better lines because they’re playing the game right. The other team isn’t getting chances, we’re keeping it deep on them and playing physical on them.”

McPhee and coach Gerard Gallant also wanted to make sure the chemistry built over the first five months of the inaugural season wasn’t disrupted. And that meant keeping most of the lineup intact.

That included unrestricted free agents David Perron and James Neal, both of whose names swirled in trade rumors, and at the beginning of the season were perceived as rentals until the deadline. Nobody saw the Golden Knights doing as well they did, so it was conceivable guys like Perron and Neal could’ve been sent to playoff contenders for future draft picks or younger, up-and-coming players by the deadline.

As it turned out, Perron and Neal were already on a playoff contender and on their way to stellar seasons. Perron registered a career-high 66 points in the regular season, while Neal piled up 25 goals, scoring at least 20 in each of his first 10 NHL seasons. The only other current players to do the same: Jaromir Jagr, Patrick Kane, Alex Ovechkin Satchel Paige Jersey , Jonathan Toews and Thomas Vanek.

”We knew that we weren’t moving anybody out,” Gallant said. ”We were happy with our lineup, we were happy with the group of players we got. We talked about adding players to our team, to make our team better and we definitely did that. But there was no thought about moving any of players out at that time. We had a great season, everything was going good and we wanted to make sure we had enough security for a playoff run and that’s what they did.”

The Golden Knights await the winner of the East final between Tampa Bay and Washington, with Game 7 set for Wednesday night. The Stanley Cup Final begins Monday.

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鈥?Philip Rivers and the Los Angeles Chargers finished off another impressive home victory and quickly retreated to their locker room, hoping for good news that never came.The Oakland Raiders trudged back to their locker room and got some dismaying news of their own: coach Jack Del Rio had been fired at the close of a miserable season.Rivers passed for 387 yards and three touchdowns, but the Chargers missed out on a playoff berth despite their 30-10 victory over the Raiders on Sunday.Keenan Allen scored on a 27-yard fumble recovery and a brilliant 6-yard TD catch for the Chargers (9-7), who won six of their final seven games in their relocation season.But the Bolts needed help from losses by two other AFC teams to become the second team in NFL history to make the playoffs after an 0-4 start, and they were eliminated when Tennessee beat Jacksonville 15-10 moments after the final gun in Carson.“You’re a little bit disappointed. Shoot, a lot disappointed,” Rivers said. “You kick yourself that you put yourself in this situation where you needed help, and you know you let some games get away that you never should have. … That’s where it hurts the most, because we’re a pretty hot team that’s going home.”Tyrell Williams caught a 56-yard TD pass and Travis Benjamin caught a 62-yard scoring pass for the Chargers Cheap Patrick Omameh Jersey , who won nine of their final 12 games. They fought fiercely to overcome that rough start, which included two losses decided by missed field goals on the final snap, but the Bolts couldn’t quite do it.“I think this team can become a championship team,” Chargers first-year head coach Anthony Lynn said. “That’s what I believe. I don’t think that, I believe. They showed me that throughout the season. I wish it would have happened a little sooner, but I think we’re trending in the right direction. I think we’re on to something.”Amari Cooper caught an 87-yard touchdown pass from Derek Carr, but the Raiders (6-10) gave their faithful LA fans little else to cheer. Moments after the game ended, owner Mark Davis fired Del Rio, who went 25-23 in three seasons.Davis then put Del Rio in the awkward position of announcing his own firing.“He told me he loved me and appreciated all that I did, but felt like we weren’t going in the right direction,” Del Rio said. “He felt he needed a change, and I told him how much I appreciated the opportunity he gave me. I mean that. Very grateful. My childhood team. But it’s a results business. I understand that.”Carr passed for 243 yards as the Raiders wrapped up their 14th non-winning season in the past 15 years.“It hurts,” Carr said. “This is a bond that you create and that’s a bond that is going to last. It hurts when something (bad) happens to someone you care about. We weren’t good enough for him.”Rivers became the ninth quarterback in NFL history to surpass 50,000 yards passing Authentic Markus Wheaton Jersey , and he tied Fran Tarkenton for sixth place in league history with 342 touchdown passes. The 36-year-old passer left little doubt he’s still on top of his game with a series of fine long passes, shredding the Raiders’ beleaguered secondary.After a scoreless first quarter, Allen finished a 99-yard drive for the Chargers by being in the right place when running back Melvin Gordon fumbled for the first time all season. The ball popped in the air and straight to Allen, who took it in for the sixth TD of his Pro Bowl season.The Raiders answered with a beautiful, long strike down the middle from Carr to Cooper, who took it in untouched.Williams scored untouched on another long strike down the middle of the Raiders’ defense later in the quarter. Allen then capped the half with an exceptional foot-drag TD grab on a pinpoint fade pass from Rivers.Gordon rushed for 93 yards for the Chargers, who finished the scoring in the third quarter when Benjamin went in untouched on another long throw by Rivers.RAIDER NATIONThe Chargers swept their season series with their fiercest rivals and earned their fifth straight win at StubHub Center despite a crowd cheering loudly for the Raiders, who played in Los Angeles County for the first time since moving back to Oakland after the 1994 season.Those fans had little to celebrate as the Chargers beat down the Raiders, and a handful of silver-and-black fans threw bottles at the Chargers’ defense while it celebrated a fourth-quarter turnover in the end zone.KEENAN’S HISTORYAllen finished with nine catches for 133 yards in the latest spectacular game in his Pro Bowl season. He broke LaDainian Tomlinson’s single-season Chargers record on his 101st catch of the season in the fourth quarter.GET THAT MONEYMarshawn Lynch finished strong in his first season with his hometown team, getting 101 yards rushing and earning a $600,000 bonus for surpassing 800 yards on the season. He also surpassed 10,000 yards rushing for his career with an 11-yard gain late in the fourth quarter.INJURIESRaiders: S Karl Joseph injured his hamstring in the first half. … DL Eddie Vanderdoes had to be helped off the field in the fourth quarter.Chargers: Backup S Adrian Phillips missed his first game of the season after injuring his ankle last week..