Despite her age, Danielle Marmer is using wealth of experience to create a strong PWHL Boston team
There’s one thing PWHL Boston GM Danielle Marmer has on her resume that no one else does.
She has worked for an NHL team.
It might sound crazy, but the 29-year-old has done a lot since she retired from playing in 2017 after four years at Quinnipiac. From coaching at the NCAA D-III level, to serving as Director of Player Development for her alma mater, it all led to an opportunity to being hired by the Boston Bruins.
Marmer served as Player Development and Scouting Assistant during the 2022-23 season – one year after working with the team’s Diversity and Inclusion Scouting Mentorship Program – becoming the first female scout in franchise history. She learned tricks of the trade from the B’s director of amateur scouting, Ryan Neadeau, and GM Don Sweeny. All of that experience set her up perfectly to become a GM herself.
“Everything I learned, I learned from those guys,” Marmer explained. “Don Sweeney allowed me to sit-in draft meetings, trade deadline meetings, and really allowed me in the boardroom for a lot of big discussions and roster building conversations. I found that I enjoyed that piece of it, and was drawn toward it.”
However, when the PWHL was announced, Marmer was unsure what the new league had to offer. She wondered how different it would be from past women’s pro leagues – the CWHL, NWHL, PWHPA. However, going through the interview process, she realized this would be something special.
“It wasn’t until I got a call [to be interviewed]…and through the interview process that I realized this league is different.”
Despite being the youngest GM in the league, Marmer has approached the job with a badge of honor, but also knows that she has to let it be known that she can lead a successful organization.
“I will say I have a little ‘something to prove,’ but not in this way like I have to do all these crazy moves…just to prove that I can do it. I have a little imposter syndrome that I think everyone else has at some point. It keeps me motivated. People shouldn’t be discredited because of their age. I want to make sure that I do a really good job so the league feels confident in hiring anybody, and not just people of a certain age. I want to do my job very well, because these players deserve it, my staff deserves it.”
While Marmer faced challenges on her way to building a team from the ground up, swaying players to Boston was not one of them. She admits that moving to a hockey hotbed market like New England intrigued many.
“I would say I maybe had an easier time. I felt really good about the free agents that we got (Hilary Knight, Megan Keller, Aerin Frankel). I didn’t I feel like I had to do much convincing, I think people recognize that Boston is a desirable market to be in. Boston’s had women’s hockey, it’s already proven to have an appetite, and everyone’s played hockey in Boston at some point of their career.”
Despite drafting solid talent like Alina Müller, Jamie Lee Rattray and Hannah Brandt, Marmer says there were plenty of unknowns heading into game one.
“Even with all of the research we did, the homework we did, how we felt about how the draft went, there were going to be some surprises. Even when we thought we were balancing the talent, and the position and identity, we were going to show up and play and we were going to be missing something.”
That led to Marmer becoming a part of history. On Feb. 11, Boston was involved in the first trade in PWHL history, sending rookie defender Sophie Jaques to Minnesota for Susanna Tapani and Abby Cook. Marmer admits the move was to address a desire for more offense.
“We were surprised that we didn’t put the puck in the net as much as we anticipated with the group we drafted. We recognized early on that we needed to score more goals to win a championship. It’s my job to ensure I’m putting my team in a position to do that.”
Marmer also pointed out that Jaques had issues finding her footing in her first year of pro hockey.
“Normally, when you draft a player like Sophie, you put her [in the minors] for a year…and let her adapt to being a pro. We struggled to put her in positions to be successful. Where she’s good at is running a power play…getting to play offense, and we had a hard time putting her in those situations, because she was still adjusting to the pace of this game and defending well. It felt like we were misusing her.”
One player that has garnered some criticism for her lack of production is captain Hilary Knight. The 34-year-old has scored just three goals and two assists in 13 games. However, Marmer is not concerned about the reigning IIHF Female Player of the Year, citing that she brings a lot more to the table than offense.
“You’d love for a player like her to put the puck in the net on a more consistent basis, I do expect that production from her, but I’ve been impressed in how she’s adapted her game to make sure she’s impacting the game. I’ve been impressed with her leadership in the room, despite being frustrated with where she’s at on the scoresheet. I know it’s going to come for her, and we believe in her.”
Boston (4-2-2-5) currently finds itself fourth in the league standings, holding the last playoff spot just past the halfway mark of the season, just two points ahead of fifth-place New York. Despite having suffered some tough losses thus far, Marmer is confident in her team moving forward.
“I’m optimistic about our group. We’ve weathered some storms, and I’ve been really proud of how our group has handled things. We went four games without a win, almost not winning for a whole month. It’s really easy to turn on each other, and we didn’t do that. I think that speaks to the resilience and the character in the players that we have.”
All in all, Marmer loves the opportunity to work with Boston and be part of the game’s growth. She expects the PWHL to continue to grow in the year’s to come.
“This league, the reception from the fans and the buzz, is beyond our wildest expectations. Honored to be a part of a league that’s providing the resources and the platform for these players to be true professionals. Can’t thank the fans enough, and the people who have been interested in this, because they’re what will drive this league.”