Female GM on the horizon for NHL franchise, league executive predicts

By Bryan Horwath

Saturday, Feb. 5, 2022 | 2 a.m.

It’s only a matter of time until there’s a female general manager in the National Hockey League.

And if you ask Kim Davis, the NHL senior executive vice president who focuses on the league’s social impact, growth initiatives and legislative affairs, it could happen in the next five years.

“Over the past 18 months, our clubs have hired five women in key roles in hockey operations, including women in scouting roles,” she said Thursday during a “Women Leaders in Pro Sports” discussion at UNLV. “It’s not a pipe dream, it’s happening.”

The NHL took a step in that direction late last month when the Vancouver Canucks hired sports agent Emilie Castonguay as the team’s assistant general manager.

Castonguay, 38, became only the second female in NHL history to hold the assistant general manager title, following Angela Gorgone, who worked for the Anaheim franchise in the 1990s.

The hiring follows a trend in other sports where pioneering women are getting a chance at jobs long only held by men.

In baseball, Rachel Balkovec will manage one of the minor league affiliates for the New York Yankees. Danielle Goyette, Toronto Maple Leafs director of player development, made history Thursday night when she joined the Newfoundland Growlers as an assistant coach. The team is Toronto’s affiliate in the ECHL, and Goyette became the first woman coach on the bench in league history.

In football, the Minnesota Vikings interviewed Philadelphia Eagles executive Catherine Raiche for their previously open general manager position, though they eventually settled on a male candidate for the job.

It was believed to be the first time a woman had ever been interviewed for a general manager job, though Susan Tose Spencer was hired in Philadelphia as an interim general manager by her father, former Eagles owner Leonard Tose, in the 1980s.

Vegas Golden Knights President Kerry Bubolz agreed with Davis, pointing to the hiring of Castonguay and the fact that three NHL teams, Montreal, Chicago and Philadelphia, have women in team president roles — or similar jobs — in their business organizations.

“(Castonguay) is the number two hockey person in a Canadian market, which is a big deal,” Bubolz said. “There’s now a pipeline, so it’s only a matter of time until we have a female GM. Things are changing at a rapid pace. Organizations are looking for the best talent. They’re not taking a different perspective because somebody is a woman or a woman of color.”

Along with Davis, the panel included NHL chief marketing officer Heidi Browning, a former Pandora executive, and Maria Dennis, an attorney with the NHL Players’ Association who spends much of her time on player health and safety issues. They are in town for the NHL all-star week festivities, which includes the skills competition and game at noon today at T-Mobile Arena. Also this weekend, the NFL’s version of its all-star game, the Pro Bowl, kicks off Sunday at Allegiant Stadium.

“Representation really does count,” said Davis, who joined the NHL in 2017. “I look at the board room that Heidi and I are now in with (NHL) Commissioner (Gary) Bettman. That the two of us are there, at the intersection of gender and race, makes such a different in the kinds of conversations that we’ve had. That matters. That’s how change happens.”

Davis said she had been impressed by how young adults in recent years have made their expectations about diversity issues known.

“Our Generation Z, and younger generations, demand that we be a values-based and purpose-driven brand,” Davis said. “We can no longer think about sport as just this great thing that consumers consume. We’re also a workplace, and that workplace has to stand for something. We want people to not only play in our game, but work in our game and advertise in our game.”