By Cami Kepke via Western Hockey League

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Former Red Deer Rebels forward Vukie Mpofu’s impressive rise through NHL front offices has landed him an office in Music City.

The Nashville Predators President of Hockey Operations/General Manager Chris MacFarland announced Tuesday that Vukie Mpofu has been hired as Assistant General Manager.

“We are very pleased that Vukie has elected to join the Predators hockey operations staff as Assistant General Manager,” MacFarland said in a press release. “He is one of the great young minds in the game today, and we are confident he’ll be a great fit with the rest of our management team as we look to build a winning franchise in Nashville.”

Mpofu’s duties will touch all aspects of hockey operations, spanning from professional and amateur scouting and contract negotiations to salary cap and collective bargaining agreement compliance and player acquisition strategy and roster and personnel decisions.

“My wife and I are thrilled to join the Predators organization, and I want to thank Chris MacFarland for his trust and belief in me,” Mpofu said. “The Predators are a world-class franchise with a promising future, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to help shape the next chapter here in Nashville.”

The Saskatoon, Sask. product has spent the last three seasons as the Director of Hockey Operations and Legal Affairs with the Pittsburgh Penguins and previously served as the Manager of Hockey Operations and Legal Affairs for the Los Angeles Kings.

Mpofu, 30, played parts of two seasons with the Red Deer Rebels and picked up 15 points (9G-6A) in 69 regular-season games before heading to the University of Saskatchewan to obtain a political science degree.

“Red Deer was a great opportunity for me to mature and learn a lot about pro-style hockey,” Mpofu said in an interview with WHL.ca about his time with the Rebels. “Playing for Brent Sutter, who had extensive experience playing and coaching in the NHL and getting to go there and play for him, I think he taught us a lot about accountability and self-evaluation and discipline and work ethic. Those are the sorts of things that I’ve kept with me.”

He was later accepted to UCLA, where he completed a unique sports and entertainment law program that got his foot in the door of the NHL as an intern with the Vegas Golden Knights.

Sutter even put in a good word for Mpofu with the Los Angeles Kings and then-General Manager and current Predators Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations Rob Blake.

“I told Blakey he’d be awesome,” Sutter recalled. “Very smart young man. Back when he was at that age when him and I sat and talked, you just knew this was going to happen at some point for him.

He was always game. He wore his heart on his sleeve, but he did that in everything he did. He cared very deeply about his teammates. He cared very deeply about wins and losses."