PWHL announces general managers of its six franchises

A banner week continues for the new Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL), the long-awaited pro circuit merging the talent pools between the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) and Professional Women’s Hockey Player Association (PWHPA). Days after the six participating franchises were revealed for the inaugural season coming in 2024, the PWHL has announced the six GMs of those clubs.

“Securing highly qualified general managers was a priority to help build strong foundations in each of our original six PWHL markets and delivering professional standards for all players,” said Jayna Hefford, PWHL senior vice-president of hockey operations, in a league release Friday morning. “The search process identified a lot of impressive candidates from which we’ve assembled an exceptional group with collective experience across the highest levels of the game both on and off the ice.”

Danielle Marmer has been named GM of the Boston franchise. Marmer comes over from the Boston Bruins, where she worked as a player development and scouting assistant as the first woman to hold an on-ice role with the team. She previously worked as director of player development for Quinnipiac University, which happened to be her alma mater from her playing days, and was an assistant coach at Connecticut College.

Natalie Darwitz takes the reins for the Minnesota franchise. She was a dominant scorer at the University of Minnesota and captained Team USA at the 2010 Olympics, where she won her second silver medal. She has years of coaching experience at the NCAA (Div. III, Div. I) and high-school level.

Daniele Sauvageau has been named GM of the Montreal franchise. She is a legendary leader in the women’s game, having coached Team Canada’s women to their first Olympic gold medal in 2002. Among her many other roles in the game, she was the first woman to coach in the QMJHL and was also GM of the PWHPA’s Montreal region.

Pascal Daoust takes the New York franchise’s GM job. He is best known for serving as GM of the QMJHL’s Val-d’Or Foreurs for the past seven years. He previously worked in the woman’s game as an assistant coach with the University of Montreal, a program founded by Sauvageau.

Michael Hirshfeld has been named Ottawa GM. For the past seven years, he has served as executive director of the NHL Coaches’ Association.

Toronto’s franchise has named Gina Kingsbury GM. Her loaded resume includes serving as GM of the Canadian national women’s team programs since 2018. She led them to Olympic gold in 2022 but also won two Olympic golds with Canada during her illustrious playing career. Most recently, Kingsbury has served as Hockey Canada’s vice-president of hockey operations.

The New GMs will be extremely busy this month. Free agency starts Friday at 1:00 p.m. ET. Teams will have until Sept. 10 to sign three players. The inaugural PWHL draft takes place Sept. 18.