NHL takes big strides on women in hockey ops executive roles
Kate Madigan blushed and she could not keep herself from smiling.
When it was time at New Jersey Devils development camp for her to introduce herself with her title, Madigan got the chance to say she was assistant general manager. She is just the sixth woman in the history of the National Hockey League to hold that position and the fifth currently.
“It's something I've worked really hard for,” she told The Associated Press this week. “For me, it's so exciting, and I think it'll stay that way for a while.”
Madigan, Chicago Blackhawks assistant GM Meghan Hunter, Toronto's Hayley Wickenheiser,
and Vancouver's Cammi Granato and Émilie Castonguay are on the leading edge of hockey's concerted effort to diversify team front offices to catch up with other leagues that have already made significant progress in that department. More than 25 years since Angela Gorgone became the first woman in NHL history to hold that position, change is happening quickly at the executive level withmike Grier becoming the first Black GM and nearly 100 women in hockey operations, player development, health or safety roles around the league.
“The pendulum is really swinging to sort of add diversity,” said Granato, a Hockey Hall of Fame player who was named Canucks assistant GM in February. “There's naysayers that say, ‘Oh you're just trying to catch up and you're just adding people to add them,' but they (the hires) are qualified people. But I'm not surprised. I'm excited about it. It's very good that the NHL is taking that sort of mindset and look toward that to open the pool.”
Much like people thought Madigan was crazy when she said in high school she wanted to be a general manager someday — “It's not so crazy anymore,” she points out — Hunter did not know there was a path for her when her playing days were over. She gravitated into coaching women's college hockey because that's all she thought was available to her.
Hunter was a top college player but did not reach the levels of Granato and Wickenheiser, a star for Team Canada. She wasn't a player agent like Castonguay, and she didn't come up through the business world like Madigan.
After rising through the Blackhawks organization since joining the club in 2016, she marvels at the various journeys women have taken to get to this point.
“More females breaking in (through) different angles is amazing: different skillsets that other females can see that they bring to the table,” Hunter said at the NHL draft in Montreal. “Having women in powerful management positions is huge, and it can translate down to young females.”
The draft was a watershed moment for the league, with more women on the floor than ever before. Madigan announced New Jersey's first selection with her father, the Northeastern University athletic director, beaming with pride from the stands.
“She's been a bright young lady with a real strong work ethic, so we're proud of her for her early growth and development,” Jim Madigan said. “She's still only 29 with a long runway in front of her, but people in the Devils organization have not put any barriers up for her and have only been more than anything very helpful in helping her continue to grow in the profession.”
Kate Madigan was promoted the day before the draft by the Devils, who also have longtime U.S. star Meghan Duggan as director of player development. Less than six months earlier, Castonguay got the Canucks AGM job after more than five years as an NHL Players' Association-certified agent.
Castonguay, who most notably represented 2020 top pick Alexis Lafrenière, credited Vancouver president of hockey ops Jim Rutherford for being forwardthinking in adding her and Granato.
“Sometimes it's just one domino that needs to fall, and I think the glass ceiling was broken there,” Castonguay said. “I knew that after that the floodgates would open.”