New PWHL General Managers Discuss New Roles, Team-Building Philosophies

With the expansion draft rapidly approaching, the PWHL hosted a virtual press conference featuring Seattle General Manager Meghan Turner, Vancouver General Manager Cara Gardner Morey, and PWHL Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations Jayna Hefford to share some insights on the hiring process and the new general managers' philosophies ahead of the June 9 draft.

Seattle’s Meghan Turner

The availability kicked off with Hefford sharing what made Meghan Turner stand out in the field of over 200 applicants for the Seattle general manager position.

“Meghan, as many of you know, is somebody who comes from within the league,” Hefford said. “But I would start by saying, Meghan is an incredible human being. I haven't met a person that doesn't think incredibly highly of Meghan and everything that she does on the human level. But secondly, adding her hockey knowledge, her ability to lead. She brings a really great background to this, both as a player, but as many of you will hear or have read, her involvement in the Army Reserves is something that we looked very highly upon as her leadership and part of her experience. She comes from a consulting background as well, so multiple different areas that gives her incredible tools to be able to do this job.”

Turner, who was the Boston Fleet's assistant general manager, kicked off her availability by thanking Fleet general manager Danielle Marmer for her guidance over the past two years. She believes her time with the Fleet will be a huge asset to her in several ways as she looks to build Seattle from the ground up.

“I think the thing that comes to mind, first of all, is that I feel like I have a good sense of what it takes to succeed in this league,” Turner said. “I think that's both physically on the ice and mentally, and being able to be adaptable as far as the players concerned. Then organizationally, having the background of having helped Danielle build an organization from scratch. So I have a lot of good lessons learned from that that I can take into this process in terms of building out the team and also building out the staff and the organization and the culture.

So we'll certainly look to emulate what she's done in Boston, in a lot of ways. I think it's going to be instrumental in just how I anchor my thoughts and bring some of those lessons learned to the organization in Seattle. And then I think secondly is working with the business side. It certainly takes a village, and I see it as very integrated. And so I'm really excited to be able to work closely with the business, be out in the community, create those relationships, give the players space to create their relationships and their own kind of personal brands within the community as well. And I think there's a lot of things I can take from the last two years into my new role, so it's hard to put my finger on all of them, but those are a few.”

Speaking of building that village, Turner is in the process of building out her staff, with her priority being a head coach. She’s aiming to try to lock some people down ahead of the expansion draft. As for what she’s looking for in a coach, she values structure and wants to find a good communicator who can keep their finger on the pulse of the team and build trust among the players and staff.

When it comes to players, Turner called roster building "a puzzle" and said she will prioritize building a strong leadership core and find players who will buy into the organizational culture and their roles on the team.

“As I'm building out this roster, obviously looking for a lot of good leaders to establish a good leadership group,” Turner said. “But then also making sure that we're getting people and players to buy into what the organization is all about from a cultural perspective, but [also] to what the role is that they play, and what their strengths are that they can truly bring to the team, and that might look a little bit different than than what they've had in the past.”

While building a strong culture is priority number one, Turner will also be searching for physical, speedy players.

“I'm from Boston, so I am partial to physicality,” Turner said. “I think it's an important part of the game in this league. And I don't mean that in the sense of just being physical, but I mean that in the sense of playing through physicality and being able to make plays with very minimal time…So certainly leaning into the physicality…but [also] speed and playing well off the puck. I think in this league, there's not a lot of time for players to possess the puck often because it's so fast. So, I really want to lean into being able to create a team that has speed and can create speed out of the D zone, through the neutral zone, and create some space with the opposing defense, to be able to play some sustained offense.”

Vancouver’s Cara Gardner Morey

Following Turner’s availability, the page turned to Gardner Morey’s hiring in Vancouver. Hefford highlighted Morey’s success as the head coach of Princeton women’s ice hockey and the type of program she built as a big reason why she rose to the top of the pack for Vancouver’s GM position.

“We're looking for people that can build rosters, that can work through various venue renovations and different things that need to happen, really build strong community relationships, bring a culture and leadership to these teams that sets a really high standard for the foundation of those teams and share best practices,” Hefford said. “Cara has been a successful coach with Princeton for the last 14 years, has built a program there that has competed at the highest level, proven herself to be a great recruiter in terms of some of the players she was able to bring into that program and the success they've had, both there and coming out of that program, and Cara just comes with such a passion and energy for the game and the sport, and can't think of a better person to lead this team in Vancouver.”

Gardner Morey said she leaned on her connections as she considered making the switch from coaching to management, and ultimately decided that it was the right move for her based on her strengths as a coach.

“When I first started thinking about it, I was trying to understand the differences [between being a GM and coaching],” Gardner Morey said. “For me, I've always been very passionate about leadership, and leading coaches even is something that I've always loved doing. Then I made some calls to some of my connections I have within the NHL, I know some GMs, and I started kind of exploring the position. It really made sense for me for the next phase of my career. I'm really passionate about what this league is doingSso for me, it was a natural progression. And I do feel like one of my strengths as as a head coach at Princeton was building teams and creating cultures, and that aligns perfectly with this role. So, I did have to think about it because I'm leaving the coaching realm, but on some level, I think it's going to be nice to be able to watch the games from up top and not necessarily feel the stress of it on the bench in the moment. So it’s something I’m really looking forward to.”

As for her plans for the job itself, Gardner Morey shared her excitement to build a successful team and strong community in Vancouver. She envisions a skilled, physical team that has a competitive culture and will compete for the Walter Cup from day one.

“My vision of a team is one that off the ice is an amazing competitive culture, one that loves to engage with the community and the fans, and really brings everybody together,” Gardner Morey said. “On the ice, I envision a team that plays with speed, has a ton of skill, loves the physicality, and again, is competing right off day one. I am really impressed with the way the expansion draft has been created so that we can have a competitive roster right off the bat. So I think you can expect a very exciting team when you come watch us at the Pacific Coliseum.”

Gardner Morey will lean heavily on lessons learned during her 14 years at Princeton, the most important of which she believes is the need for a strong culture.

“The people around you are what truly matters and what makes everybody the most successful,” Gardner Morey said. “The culture you create is probably the biggest legacy that you can leave…This league is filled with tremendous hockey players and great women and future leaders, so you're going to see a lot of that, and just a really great culture is going to be built around this franchise.”

As for building out the rest of her staff, Gardner Morey is placing a high emphasis on past success at the elite level in her coaching search, then on making sure their values align.

“I think that one with proven winning records would be one of the top of my list,” Gardner Morey said. “And again, coaches that are familiar working with this elite level of hockey player…And again, I will stress culture is really important and making sure that we have similar value systems, and that people are in this game for the right reasons, and that is to promote the sport [and] at the same time bringing that Walter Cup to Vancouver…It's certainly something we don't want to rush because we want to make sure we have the right person at the helm of these players.”

Both GMs will have the chance to start building their teams in just a few days. The original six must submit their initial protected list by June 3 at 12 p.m. ET, and the exclusive signing window for Vancouver and Seattle will take place from June 4 at 9 a.m. ET to June 8 at 5 p.m. ET. The expansion draft is set for June 9 at 8:30 p.m. ET.