Canucks hire Cammi Granato as Assistant General Manager

The Vancouver Canucks are continuing to build their front office and they made another smart and progressive hire.

On Thursday morning, the club announced that they have hired Cammi Granato as Assistant General Manager.

Granato’s hiring was first reported by Sportsnet Insider Elliotte Friedman on Wednesday evening.

The Canucks now have three Assistant GMs in their front office with Derek Clancey, Emilie Castonguay and now Granato. Granato is the third female hire by the Canucks after Rachel Doerrie was hired for their analytics department and Castonguay was hired as Assistant GM. Granato becomes the third woman to hold the title of Assistant GM after Angela Gorgone (Assistant GM for the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in the 1996-97 season.) and Castonguay.

Granato is one of the greatest women’s hockey players ever and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2010. That year, she and Angela James were the first women inducted into the hall. Granato is also one of two women on the Hockey Hall of Fame’s selection committee along with Cassie Campbell-Pascal.

Granato is the American women’s team’s all-time leading scorer with 186 goals and 157 assists for 343 points. She was the captain of the US team that won gold at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano and she also won silver at the 2002 games in Salt Lake City. Granato has won one gold and nine silver medals at the Women’s World Championship and has participated in seven 4 Nations Cups winning two golds and five silvers.

She also played hockey for Concordia University in Montreal, and there she won the Sally Kemp Award for the Concordia University female athlete of the year in 1995. Granato also played for the (now defunct) NWSL’s Vancouver Griffins from 2001 to 2003. She also hosts the On The Bus with Cammi and AJ Podcast with former teammate and ESPN analyst A. J. Mleczko.

The 50-year-old joins the Canucks from the Seattle Kraken. In Seattle, she was the first female professional scout in NHL history.

“Cammi is a tremendous leader and has earned the respect of the hockey world,” said Canucks President of Hockey Operations Jim Rutherford in the official announcement. “She has a great mind for the game and experience and influence at all levels. In her role, Cammi will oversee our player development department and our amateur and pro scouting department. Cammi’s input will also be included in all areas of hockey operations as we leverage the diverse opinions and experience of our new leadership group to build a winning team. I appreciate the cooperation and the help that Ron Francis and the Seattle Kraken have provided to us during the process.”

“I am honoured to join the Vancouver Canucks and the hockey operations leadership group that Jim Rutherford and his team have assembled,” said Granato in the announcement. “It’s a dream to have an opportunity like this in the city that I call home, and with an exciting young team with championship aspirations. I also want to thank Ron Francis and the entire Seattle Kraken organization. It was extremely special to help build their team and to be part of their inaugural NHL season. Ron supported me throughout my time in Seattle and continued to support me when Vancouver approached me with this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

Granato spoke to the media on Thursday morning.

“It’s a really big day to have two women in management on one team, just goes to show Jim’s Rutherford vision to diversify different voices, different experiences and draw them together,” said Granato. “One of the first things Jim talked about is how collaborative we will be, how all voices will be heard and I really love that idea, that we can all work together.”

”I always defined myself as a hockey player growing up,” added Granato. “It was other people that defined me as a girl trying to play a man’s game.”

She also spoke about how it is huge that there are two women on the Canucks management team and how the Canucks were hiring qualified women in their front office.

“Looking at two women on a management team it’s a big deal,” said Granato per Thomas Drance of The Athletic. “You can now look at positions that people are qualified for, and not just think of it as a man’s role.”

The captain of the American team that won gold in 1998 spoke about her leadership skills.

“I’ve always prided myself on personal skills, having good relationships with my teammates,” said Granato per Daniel Wagner of Vancouver is Awesome.“I think I’m pretty good at analyzing people and what their needs are.”

She is also the wife of former NHLer and current TSN analyst Ray Ferraro. They have been married since 2004 and both live in Vancouver.

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