The new Professional Women\u2019s Hockey League (PWHL) expansion team in Detroit has picked one of the pioneers in women\u2019s hockey to serve as the team\u2019s first general manager.<\/p>\n
Manon Rheaume accepted the Detroit job after spending the last four seasons working in the hockey operations office for the Los Angeles Kings organization.<\/p>\n
\u201cManon is a pioneer whose impact on the game extends far beyond the ice,\u201d said Jayna Hefford, PWHL Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations. \u201cShe brings an unmatched hockey resume, a championship mindset. (She) has a lifelong commitment to growing the women\u2019s game. Her experience at every level of hockey, combined with her leadership and vision, makes her the perfect person to lead PWHL Detroit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Detroit will join the league in 2026-27, along with the new teams in Las Vegas and Hamilton, Ontario. Manon\u2019s team will also play in Little Caesars Arena.<\/p>\n
Played in NHL Preseason Games<\/p>\n
Rheaume, 54 is best known as the first woman to sign an NHL contract to play a preseason game for the Tampa Bay Lightning. She played one period in goal for the Lightning against the St. Lous Blues in 1992. She gave up two goals on nine shots. Rheaume also appeared in another preseason game against the Boston Bruins in 1993.<\/p>\n
After those NHL tryouts, she played 24 men\u2019s minor league games. She posted a combined 5-0-1 record in the ECHL in 1993-94. She split her time playing with the Knoxville Cherokees and the Nashville Knights. <\/p>\n
Rheaume also owns a gold medal earned with Canada at the World Championships. She also owns a silver medal from playing with Canada at the 1998 Olympics in Nagano, Japan.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m incredibly honored and excited to join the PWHL and help build something special in Detroit,\u201d\u00a0Rh\u00e9aume said. \u201cThis city has such a deep hockey tradition. The passion for hockey here is truly special. The growth of women\u2019s hockey has been incredible to watch. I\u2019m\u00a0grateful for the opportunity to help shape the future of the sport alongside the PWHL. I\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0wait to get started and build a team that Detroit fans will be proud of.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her resume also includes 11 seasons working with the Little Caesars AAA Hockey Team in Detroit.<\/p>\n
Rheaume\u2019s first job will be to hire a coach and staff. She will do that while preparing for the PHWL Draft that will be held at Detroit\u2019s Fox Theater on June 17.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The new Professional Women\u2019s Hockey League (PWHL) expansion team in Detroit has picked one of the pioneers in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":575752,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[377],"tags":[93,5,11117,20237,1767],"class_list":["post-575751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hockey","tag-detroit-red-wings","tag-hockey","tag-little-caesars","tag-manon-rheaume","tag-pwhl"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116580160890890183","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=575751"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575751\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/575752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=575751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=575751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=575751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}