McGill is a native of Sherwood Park, Alberta. A second-round draft choice of the Chicago Blackhawks in the 1987 NHL Draft, he played a total of 151 career NHL games over a seven-year career with the Blackhawks, Philadelphia Flyers and Edmonton Oilers. His professional playing career also included the American Hockey League and International Hockey League. As a player in the Blackhawks development system, he was a member of the 1990 Turner Cup Champions which was then coached by Darryl Sutter.[citation needed]
As an Edmonton Oiler, McGill was struck in the left eye by a puck and was declared legally blind in that eye. He was forced into early retirement at the age of 26.[1]
McGill coached 350 games in the Western Hockey League, capping it off by steering the Kootenay Ice to the 2001–02 Memorial Cup title, the championship of all Canadian Major Junior hockey.[citation needed]
He guided the Hartford Wolf Pack (New York Rangers AHL affiliate) team to the 2003–04 regular season Eastern Conference title, tying for first place overall with a 44–24–12–2 mark for 102 points. That year, his team fell short of a trip to the Calder Cup Finals, losing in the Eastern Conference Finals to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.[citation needed]
McGill joined the Calgary Flames as an assistant coach in June 2009 after four seasons as the head coach for the Flames AHL primary affiliate team in Quad City and Omaha.[citation needed]
He was named head coach of the WHL's Kootenay Ice on July 4, 2012.[3] On July 28, 2015, he was named head coach of the OHL's Owen Sound Attack. He was awarded the Matt Leyden Trophy as OHL Coach of the Year in April 2017.[4] McGill stepped down as head coach in June 2017 to become an assistant head coach for the NHL expansion team, the Vegas Golden Knights.[5]
^"RECENT EYE INJURIES". The Globe and Mail. March 13, 2000. Retrieved February 12, 2018. Edmonton Oilers defenceman Ryan McGill was struck in the left eye by a puck, was declared legally blind in that eye and retired at 26
