- Hockey Canada named Danièle Sauvageau GM of the national women’s team through the 2030 Olympics
- The 2002 Olympic gold medal coach would not rule out coaching Canada herself in November
- Read below for what Sauvageau said about her plan and her future with the Montreal Victoire
Danièle Sauvageau is back with Hockey Canada, and she has not ruled out taking a second job on top of the first.
Hockey Canada named the 64-year-old general manager of the national women’s team on Wednesday, a contract that runs through the 2030 Winter Olympics. The world championship moved from April to November this year, so she has under four months to put a team on the ice, and she was asked whether she would consider coaching it herself.
“That’s a very interesting question,” Sauvageau told The Canadian Press. “I need to say I might be an option I haven’t thought (of) yet. But there’s great coaches across the country.”
Here’s Hockey Canada making it official:
Sauvageau coached and managed the team that won Canada its first Olympic gold in women’s hockey in Salt Lake City in 2002. She takes over from Gina Kingsbury, whose eight-year run as GM ended when her contract was not renewed in June, two months after Canada lost the Olympic final to the United States 2-1 in overtime in Milan.
The PWHL job stays on her plate for now. Sauvageau remains GM of the Montreal Victoire for 2026-27 after building the first Canadian club to win the Walter Cup, then shifts to the national team full time as vice-president of hockey operations.
Denmark hosts the world championship in November, and Sauvageau explained how she plans to get a roster ready that fast.
“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.
Her résumé runs 40 years deep. Gold in 2002, world titles in 1999 and 2001, the first woman to coach in the QMJHL, the founder of the University of Montreal women’s program and of Centre 21.02 in Verdun. Last November she became the first woman inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame as a builder.
Watch her induction speech:
The United States has won seven of the last 10 world titles. Sorting out who coaches Canada in Denmark is the first item on Sauvageau’s desk.
