A Winning Habit
Fansided

Montreal Canadiens: Three Women Perfectly Qualified for Habs GM Job

By Ken MacMillan

TORONTO, ON - NOVEMBER 10: Hockey Hall of Fame Danielle Goyette (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON - NOVEMBER 10: Hockey Hall of Fame Danielle Goyette (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
3 of 4
Next
PLYMOUTH, MI – APRIL 06: Head coach Danile Sauvageau (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
PLYMOUTH, MI – APRIL 06: Head coach Danile Sauvageau (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /

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.

Home/Editorials