Danièle Sauvageau returns to Canadian women’s hockey team as general manager

CALGARY — Danièle Sauvageau steered Canada to its first Olympic gold medal in women’s hockey in 2002. She’s been tasked with doing it again in 2030.

Hockey Canada unveiled the 64-year-old from Montreal as the next general manager of the national women’s team Wednesday.

She was coach and GM of the Canadian team that claimed gold in Salt Lake City in 2002.

Sauvageau will remain the general manager of the Professional Women’s Hockey League’s Montreal Victoire and fill both roles for the 2026-27 season.

But Hockey Canada said in a statement it expects Sauvageau to be a full-time GM and vice-president of hockey operations of the national team starting next year and for the remaining three years of her contract.

“Tomorrow Day 1, it’s how am I going to set up to be replaced,” she said of the Victoire. “When you want to create legacy, you create legacy by building as well as preparing your exit.”

Sauvageau doesn’t see rejoining Hockey Canada as a return to what’s familiar because the elite women’s hockey landscape is completely different than it was 24 years ago.

“Things are different today, different people, different landscape, especially on the women’s side, and it’s just a matter of what is the next step?” Sauvageau said

“Every project or job — I never really call it a job in women’s hockey because I’ve been involved for 40 years now — is to have an impact, to have an impact based on my strengths and then choose people to work alongside the players.

“They’re part of a big project like this. Make sure we deliver quality because they’re amazing athletes and (among) the best athletes in any sport in the world.”

In 2025, Sauvageau was the first woman inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame as a builder. In addition to Olympic gold in 2002, she coached Canada’s women to world championships in 1999 and 2001.

The former Montreal police officer was the first female coach in the Quebec Maritime Junior Hockey League when she was an assistant with the Montreal Rocket in 1999-2000.

She founded the University of Montreal women’s hockey team and coached the CWHL’s Montreal Canadiennes before that league folded.

Sauvageau also founded Centre 21.02, a high-performance hockey centre for women in Montreal’s Verdun borough.

She’s been the Victoire’s GM for three seasons since the PWHL’s inception. The Victoire became the first Canadian club to win the Walter Cup this year.

The International Ice Hockey Federation’s decision to move the women’s world championship from April to November to avoid a conflict with the PWHL schedule allowed Sauvageau to remain with the Victoire for another season.

Through the draft and free agency, she’s already built a Victoire roster for next season, which starts after the world championship in Denmark.

“Congratulations to Danièle on this well-deserved opportunity,” PWHL executive vice-president of hockey operations Jayna Hefford said Wednesday in a statement.

“Her leadership, vision and commitment have been pivotal in building the Montréal Victoire and establishing a strong foundation for the team. While she’ll certainly be missed in our league, this is a tremendous win for women’s hockey.

“Danièle has always been driven by a desire to grow the game, and we know she’ll have an incredible impact with Hockey Canada. The continued collaboration between our organizations will only strengthen the sport, and we’re excited to support Danièle as she begins this next chapter while completing her final season with the Victoire.”

A world championship in less than four months, however, has Sauvageau facing a flurry of short-term decisions over coaching and team preparation.

“My role will be to put a plan together as quick as possible, to be as accurate as possible, to put resources in the hands of our best players,” she said.

“(I was) brought into the program for vision, for ethics, for decisions … making decisions on what are we going to do now to be ready in 2030.”

Given the tight timeline to November’s world championship, Sauvageau was asked about coaching Canada’s team herself.

“That’s a very interesting question,” she answered. “I need to say I might be an option I haven’t thought (of) yet. But there’s great coaches across the country.”

Sauvageau succeeds Toronto Sceptres general manager Gina Kingsbury, who was Canada’s GM for eight years and whose contract wasn’t renewed in June.

Canada beat the United States for Olympic gold in 2022, but fell 2-1 in overtime to the U.S. in February’s final in Milan, Italy.

The U.S. has won seven of the last 10 world titles and met Canada in all but one of those finals. The college players who were key drivers behind the U.S. winning Olympic gold in Italy indicate the Americans will have a strong team for the next few years.

“We need to develop not only the national team, but the rest of the country,” Sauvageau said.

“Tremendous work has been done over the last years. But now it’s just a matter of, (with) the new landscape, to make sure that we are agile, accurate and on top of supporting the best athletes across the country.”

Sauvageau was chosen by a selection committee that included two players she coached in 2002 — Cassie Campbell-Pascall and Therese Brisson — and national team alumnus Gillian Apps.

Former Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving, Hockey Canada’s chief executive officer Katherine Henderson, vice-president of hockey operations Misha Donskov, senior vice-president of high performance and hockey operations Scott Salmond and Own The Podium’s high-performance adviser Cara Thibault were also on the search committee.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 29, 2026.

Donna Spencer, The Canadian Press