The Vegas Golden Knights announced Thursday assistant general manager Kelly McCrimmon has been promoted to general manager, effective Sept. 1 of this year, while current general manager George McPhee will continue in his role as president of hockey of operations.

The team said McPhee will continue to be responsible for all hockey operations decisions and oversee the club's hockey operations team.

"Kelly has been a tremendous addition to our hockey operations group and the entire Vegas Golden Knights organization as a whole," McPhee said in a team release. "His character, leadership, hockey acumen, and player evaluation at both the pro and amateur levels is exceptional. We are confident Kelly will thrive in this new role. We will continue to build a team and a franchise that our fans are proud to support."

McCrimmon was considered a candidate to take the vacant general manager role with the Edmonton Oilers but removed himself from the search.

With McCrimmon now out of the running, TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger reports Mark Hunter, Sean Burke and Keith Gretzky remain as options for the Oilers.  He adds that potentially all three could be a part of the team's management staff next season with two of the candidates being placed into assistant roles. The Oilers fired general manager Peter Chiarelli in January and replaced him with Gretzky on an interim basis.

McCrimmon, 58, has been with the Golden Knights since 2016 after working with the WHL's Brandon Wheat Kings dating back to 1988, serving as owner, general manager and head coach during his time with the team.

"This is a very exciting announcement for our club and Vegas Golden Knights fans around the world," Vegas Golden Knights Chairman and CEO Bill Foley said in a statement. "George and Kelly are a fantastic team. From the mock draft exercises and preparation leading up to the Expansion Draft, building out our coaching staff, and continually improving our team through the draft, trades, signings and free agency, the work they have done over the last three years has been remarkable. Together they have constructed a championship-caliber team in a very short time. This personnel move ensures that our hockey operations group stays intact and positions our organization for long term success."