Vancouver Canucks Make History, Hire First Female AGM Castonguay

Adding new voices, diversifying, giving women a larger role in the game; all elements of a progressive philosophy that the Vancouver Canucks have grasped. President of Hockey Operations Jim Rutherford announced his latest move on Monday morning, bringing in Émilie Castonguay as an assistant general manager.

The move comes just days after Rutherford added 25-year-old Rachel Doerrie to his analytics department.

Castonguay completed her law degree at the University of Montreal in 2012 and brings a background as a certified player agent and expertise in contract negotiations and salary cap management to the mix. With Derek Clancey already hired as a Vancouver Canucks assistant GM focused on scouting, it now comes down to hiring the general manager who will oversee it all, and potentially one more assistant to help him.

I say “him” because in the case of the top management position under Rutherford, hockey men are the final candidates. As we’ve pointed out, Pittsburgh Penguins executive Patrik Allvin is a favourite.

The timing of the announcement comes as no surprise. Rutherford told Vancouver Hockey Now on Saturday to likely expect an AGM announcement before the Vancouver Canucks GM announcement. The latter is expected before February 1st.

As for the Castonguay hire, Rutherford had this to say in the team’s official announcement.

“Émilie has extensive experience, is driven to succeed, and has a strong reputation in hockey for her intelligence and work ethic,” said Rutherford. “She will play a lead role in player contracts and negotiation, managing the collective bargaining agreement, and her voice will be heard in all aspects of hockey operations. She will be a key member of our leadership team and we are pleased to welcome her to Vancouver.”

The image from the Vancouver Canucks official announcement.