Danièle Sauvageau will be the general manager of the franchise which will establish itself in Montreal in the new Professional Women’s Hockey League, La Presse was able to confirm. His appointment will be made official this Friday morning.
The candidacy of this pioneer seemed, from the start of the hiring process a few weeks ago, a no-brainer. Head coach of the team that won gold at the Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002, she has been a wise woman in Canadian women’s hockey for two decades. She had also participated in the round of interviews to become DG of the Canadian during the winter of 2022, a position which was finally awarded to Kent Hughes.
Ms. Sauvageau is also the founder of the 21.02 High Performance Center, which provides ice time and resources throughout the year to several national team players such as Marie-Philip Poulin and Ann-Renée Desbiens, between others. The Montreal Professional Women’s Hockey League (LPHF, or PWHL) team can be expected to train at the Center, located in the Verdun auditorium. Given her new duties, Ms. Sauvageau would leave her position as manager of Center 21.02.
The one who has had a long career with the Montreal Police Service is also general manager of the Carabins women’s team at the University of Montreal, in addition to being an associate professor in the management department of HEC Montreal. . She also works as a television analyst in various international events.
The LPHF’s frameworks were clarified earlier this week with the unveiling of the six markets that will host teams: Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Boston, New York and St. Paul, Minnesota. Its birth was made possible by the takeover and dissolution, at the end of June, of the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF), in which the Montreal Force evolved.
For now, the names of the clubs and the arenas that will host them are not known. The names of the principal administrators of the franchises were also kept under seal. The mystery was such that a few hours before the opening of the free agent market, scheduled for this Friday morning, an agent contacted by La Presse said that he did not know at all who to contact to inquire about the interest of clubs with regard to its customers.
Sportsnet reporter Jeff Marek, however, reported late Thursday night on X (formerly Twitter) that Gina Kingsbury would become general manager in Toronto, like Michael Hirschfeld in Ottawa, Natalie Darwitz in Minnesota and Danielle Marmer in Boston. Marek also associates the name Sauvageau with Montreal.
The hiring of coaches should follow in the coming weeks.
The new circuit’s inaugural season kicks off next January and will provide the teams with a schedule of 24 games each. From the following campaign, they will play 32.
Players wishing to join the league still have a few days to indicate their intentions. A draft will take place on September 18, but until then, the free agent market, which opens this Friday morning, will allow each team to offer contracts to three players. It is expected that the Poulins, Desbiens, Hilary Knight and Sarah Nurse will quickly find takers.
