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05/26 13:58 CDT PWHL expansion upends the job market for coaches and GMs as
Hockey Canada starts search
PWHL expansion upends the job market for coaches and GMs as Hockey Canada
starts search
CALGARY, Alberta (AP) --- Hockey Canada announced Tuesday that general manager
Gina Kingsbury will not return after eight years overseeing the national
women's team, meaning the organization now has to find a new GM along with a
new coach in a job market that has changed dramatically with the growth of the
Professional Women's Hockey League.
Kingsbury is the GM of the PWHL's Toronto Sceptres while former coach Troy Ryan
was recently hired as coach and GM of the PWHL expansion team in San Jose. His
six-year run with Canada ended with Olympic silver in what was the team's
eighth consecutive loss to the archrival U.S.
Hockey Canada's contracts with Kingsbury and Ryan were to expire next month.
"I'm good with the transition. I'm ready for it," Kingsbury said. "It's time
for someone to look at the landscape that has shifted in women's hockey and set
out their own vision on what that could look like for the future."
The PWHL has altered the women's hockey landscape in its first three seasons.
The International Ice Hockey Federation shifted the world championship from
April to November starting this year to avoid conflict with the PWHL season. By
expanding by four teams to a 12-team league next season, the league also has
churned the market for coaches and GMs.
The PWHL expansion team in Hamilton, Ontario, hired former U.S. team captain
Meghan Duggan as GM, former Canadian goaltender Manon Rheaume is Detroit's GM
and former player agent Dominique DiDia is the new GM in Las Vegas.
"We've done quite a bit of analysis, but the sands continue to shift underneath
our feet," Hockey Canada chief executive Katherine Henderson told The Canadian
Press. "I'm thrilled that there's four new (PWHL) teams. I'm also saying now
there's four new competitors for a full-time job. I may want to go after some
of those people. We're going to have to up our game a little bit and say ?come
and work with Hockey Canada.'"
The 2026 Olympics was the first in the PWHL era. Canada's women didn't spend
five to six months together training and playing games as they had for previous
Games.
Ryan and Kingsbury were the first to hold top leadership roles with both a PWHL
team and the Canadian women's team simultaneously. A hybrid of Hockey Canada
staff and NHL general managers and coaches has traditionally led Canada's men
into world championships and Olympic Games.
"We now need to live in a world probably closer to how we put together our
men's senior teams," Henderson said.
Kingsbury said she also believes that model works for the women's team with a
dedicated person at Hockey Canada directing it.
"Someone needs to be at the helm of women's hockey at Hockey Canada from a
high-performance perspective," Kingsbury said. "I do think there is a place for
PWHL GMs to be a part of teams and the Olympic team and world championship
teams and help select players. There's an opportunity for coaches I think
certainly to be from the PWHL."
___
AP women's hockey: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-hockey
