Montreal Canadiens: Three Women Perfectly Qualified for Habs GM Job
The Montreal Canadiens awful start to the season necessitated some changes being made in the organization.
The first major domino fell when general manager Marc Bergevin and his assistant, Trevor Timmins were fired from their positions last month.
Those positions were not immediately filled, but Jeff Gorton was brought in as the new Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations. Essentially the former general manager of the New York Rangers and Boston Bruins is at the top of the front office pyramid and he will decide who fills in the roles underneath him.
Gorton as well as owner Geoff Molson has cast a wide net in a search for a new general manager. They have not stated the criteria they are looking for in a replacement for Bergevin, but they have dropped a few hints. Gorton mentioned in his press conference that they may look “outside the box” and try to find someone from a different role than himself. He mentioned it could be a former player since he did not play or it could be an agent since he does not have experience in that aspect of the game.
It has also been mentioned, not by the team itself, but by those who cover the team closely, that the Canadiens have at least three women on their radar as potential candidates for the job.
There are not many women filling roles in the front offices of NHL teams, at least not yet, so it did beg the question, “which women have the resume to fill the role as general manager of the Montreal Canadiens going forward?”
Well, there are many that would be more than capable of taking over as Bergevin’s replacement.
Let’s take a look at the three women most likely to be the next general manager of the Montreal Canadiens.
Danielle Goyette
Danielle Goyette had a Hall of Fame playing career, winning two Olympic gold medals and a silver medal as well as eight gold medals at the World Championships for Canada. She was indicted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2017 after scoring 113 goals and 105 assists in 171 career national games.
Since retiring as a player, Goyette was the head coach of the Calgary Dinos women’s team for 14 years, winning a CIS national championship in 2012. She has also been behind the bench as an assistant coach at the 2014 Winter Olympics, a couple of World Championships as well as twice serving as assistant coach at the Women’s Under-18 Hockey Championship.
Goyette is currently one of the few women working in an NHL front office. She was hired last summer to be the Director of Player Development for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The native of St-Nazaire, Quebec works with players on the Maple Leafs as well as their AHL affiliate, the Toronto Marlies. This would give her a deep knowledge of the game at the two highest levels of professional hockey.
You might think a short stint in a front office does not meet the credentials to be a general manager for the Montreal Canadiens. However, with Gorton at the top, he really calls the shots like a traditional general manager. Whoever is hired to be the actual general manager is really working under Gorton, or more likely, in tandem with Gorton as well as others in what should be a vast team of professionals that are trying to build the Montreal Canadiens into a good hockey organization once again.
What the Canadiens need as a general manager is a smart, professional hockey mind. They do also have to speak French. Goyette checks all the important boxes here.
Danièle Sauvageau
Danièle Sauvageau is best known for being the head coach of Canada’s women’s team that finally broke through and beat the United States to win an Olympic gold medal back in 2002 and became the first Canadian team to win an Olympic gold medal in hockey in 50 years.
Before taking on the role as Canada’s head coach, Sauvageau was an assistant coach with the PEI Rocket of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. So, she has already broken plenty of barriers as, to this day, she still remains the only woman to coach in the QMJHL.
The native of Montreal, Sauvageau regularly appeared on Canada’s French broadcast of NHL games on Saturday, night, the first woman to do so so on a regular basis.
In 2008 she was hired to be the general manager of the University of Montreal Carabins and built the team into a national champion by 2013 and repeated that same feat in 2016. If hired by the Montreal Canadiens, she’s pretty much going to have to build the whole thing from scratch but, obviously she has experience doing just that with a hockey organization.
Sauvageau also has a degree in social work and 24 years of experience working for the RCMP as a police officer in some difficult roles. She worked in the narcotics division. If you think being the general manager of the Montreal Canadiens is a stressful role, try arresting armed drug dealers, because Sauvageau would certainly have been involved in some dangerous situations.
Having to trade Carey Price wouldn’t scare someone with this experience.
Sauvageau currently helps run a high performance hockey program for women in Verdun, Quebec called Centre 21.02 which reflects the date she helped guide Canada to that gold medal in 2002.
She also won an award from Hockey Canada for her dedication to the game and advancement of women in the sport.
Emilie Castonguay
If you are concerned with Goyette or Sauvageau’s ability to deal with the minutiae of the general managers job like negotiating contracts or worrying about the fine print on a contract extension, then you’ll be far more comfortable in Emilie Castonguay’s credentials.
Admittedly, it would be a bit of a leap for Goyette or Sauvageau to go from their current roles to general manager of the Montreal Canadiens. With Gorton there to support them, they would be fine at their role, but it would be a different role than Sauvageau has been in and one that Goyette has only been working in for this season.
When anyone out there tells you these women are not qualified, what they really mean is they haven’t spend time negotiating NHL contracts and dealing with NHL general managers in the past.
While that is technically true, the same could be said for any Junior general manager or AHL coach or any man working in college hockey. It is a different world than the NHL, but the qualifications really are just a smart hockey mind who knows the game well. Goyette and Sauvageau would be terrific.
Emilie Castonguay would be even better.
Castonguay does not have the playing career of Goyette or the coaching career of Sauvageau, but she does have experience working in the NHL as a player agent. When Alexis Lafreniere was drafted first overall (by Jeff Gorton and the New York Rangers) Castonguay became the first woman to represent a first overall pick in the NHL Draft.
The native of Montreal has several good young players from Quebec as clients, including Lafreniere, Jakob Pelletier, Pierre-Olivier Joseph and Mathieu Joseph as well as NHL regulars Antoine Roussel (who is way overpaid, good job Emilie!) and Cedric Paquette. Many Habs fans have voiced their displeasure with Paquette’s play but his agent was smart enough to get someone to pay him nearly a million bucks this year.
Castonguay actually interned with former Canadiens general manager Pierre Gauthier after she graduated University. She is a lawyer, earning her law degree from l’University de Montreal as well as an NHLPA certified player agent.
With that background, she would make a terrific general manager. Negotiating contracts, dealing with the minutiae of the CBA, the salary cap gymnastics that need to be done, recruiting free agents like she currently recruits players to represent, and knowing hockey from the grassroots levels where she would recruit players to the NHL level where she represents Lafreniere among others.
She is smart and she knows the game at all levels and is well aware of how NHL front offices work. She would be a perfect candidate for the vacant general manager’s job.
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