Washington Capitals GM George McPhee went on "The Mike Wise Show With Holden Kushner" Tuesday afternoon to discuss, among other things, the six-year, $27 million contract Brooks Laich just inked to stay with the Caps. McPhee had this to say about the deal:

He's been a very valuable player for us. There's no doubt about that, and, you know, you look at what this team has done the last four years - we've been a heck of a team. We haven't won our cup yet, but we've been a heck of a team. Winning division titles, conference titles, presidents' trophies, and he's been a big part of that, and I'm doing my darndest to keep this team together.

McPhee obviously thinks very highly of Laich. Here's what he said about the forward:

Brooks has certainly got base assets that we really like, in terms of size and speed, but he's worked really hard to become a valuable player. He's become our best penalty killer.

The versatility is there, the integrity's there, the character's there. He's a tremendously fit athlete, so everything that we want is there. He's committed, he wants to be a player, he wants to win.