Report: New York Rangers hire Angela Ruggiero as hockey operations advisor

Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports

The New York Rangers have hired former United States national women’s hockey team defenseman Angela Ruggiero as a hockey operations adviser, the New York Post‘s Mollie Walker reported Thursday.

Ruggiero, 43, represented the United States at the Winter Olympics in 1998, 2002, 2006, and 2010, helping the national women’s hockey team win gold in Nagano, silver in Salt Lake City and Vancouver, and bronze in Turin.

The five-foot-nine defender also played at 10 World Championships, winning four gold medals and six silvers, and has been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame (2015), the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame (2015), and the IIHF Hall of Fame (2017).

According to Walker, Ruggiero trained with Rangers president and general manager Chris Drury during their respective playing careers. The two have remained in touch and were both inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame as part of the same class.

After retiring in 2011, Ruggiero co-founded Sports Innovation Lab, a technology-driven market research firm. She has also served on the International Olympic Committee executive board and was the chief strategy officer for the successful Los Angeles 2024 Olympic bid.

Beyond her international experience, Ruggiero also spent four seasons on the Harvard University women’s team (including two as captain) and went on to play with the Minnesota Whitecaps and Boston Blades. She also appeared in one game with the Tulsa Oilers of the now-defunct Central Hockey League.

Ruggiero is the latest notable figure to join the Rangers amidst a whirlwind summer for the team. The Rangers will enter the 2023–24 season with an all-new coaching staff led by Peter Laviolette, who replaced Gerard Gallant as head coach in June.

Michael Peca, Phil Housley, and Dan Muse will serve as assistant coaches on Laviolette’s staff. On the ice, the Rangers lost Patrick Kane, Vladimir Tarasenko, Niko Mikkola, and Jaroslav Halak, but brought in Blake Wheeler, Tyler Pitlick, Erik Gustafsson, and Jonathan Quick.