Manon Rheaume is adding another first to her list.
The former goalie, who is the first and only woman to play an NHL preseason game, was hired as the first general manager of PWHL Detroit, one of the four expansion teams the women's hockey league announced May 6.
In 1992, Rheaume signed a contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning and made history by playing a game in the preseason. She played another preseason game for the Lightning in 1993. The Beauport, Quebec, native was also the first woman to play in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (Trois-Rivieres Draveurs).
Rheaume helped Canada to a silver medal at the 1998 Nagano Olympics, the first year women's hockey was played at the Winter Games. For the past four seasons, she worked as hockey operations and prospects adviser for the Los Angeles Kings.
Rheaume sat down with NHL.com to talk about her storied career and her new opportunity with the PWHL.
Does it feel serendipitous that you are now working for a professional women's hockey team?
"I would call it almost full circle. I'm thinking about when I grew up, when I was young and never saw a woman playing hockey. Actually, I was not even playing at the rink because girls were not playing and I was just playing with my brother at home. My dad used to make an outdoor ice rink every winter, and they would always dress me up as goalie, shoot pucks at me. But when my brother was playing at the rink, I was just a spectator watching them.
"It just happened to be one day that my dad needed a goalie and none of the boys wanted to play goalie for a tournament. I said to him, 'Why not me?' I remember that first time on the ice, he put a helmet on me before I went into the rink because he didn't want the parents to be upset that a girl would come and play with their boys. And during the practice, they were all excited to see a goalie. After practice, it was too late for them to complain because they were so excited about it.
"That's kind of how I got started. To think now that I'm going to be a GM of a women's professional league when it was not even remotely possible way back in the days, it's absolutely amazing."
To this day you are the only woman to have ever played an NHL game. Does that experience feel surreal and ahead of its time?
"Of course. Growing up as I was playing with the boys, me playing in the NHL was not even a dream because I didn't see any woman playing in the NHL. My idol with NHL players was Daniel Bouchard, who was the Quebec Nordiques goalie, and I was following the Nordiques, but I had never thought I would get this opportunity. I just played hockey because I loved the game. Every year I wanted to play at the highest level, and, like the boys, I would go to the AA training camp and try to make the team and keep moving up the ladder but was not thinking that it would be a possibility for me."
Is there a moment that stands out the most from that experience?
"I think I always can remember the first time I stepped on the ice in training camp because I knew that first impression was so important. We started right away; instead of practice, they divided the entire group in different teams. It was a mini tournament. We played one game against each team that was three games total. It was only a two-period game, and each goalie would play the full period. The first time ever that I stepped on the ice in training camp was a game, not even a practice. The first period, the other goalie was in. I remember we were up 2-1 after the first period. And then I was coming in the second period, and we ended up winning the game 5-1. I did not allow any goal in 14 shots. I was the only goalie in that game to not allow any goal.
"I remember going back to my locker room, because I had my own, and it was one of those locker rooms where … it's with the big mirror and the light all around. I remember taking my helmet off and looking in the mirror and said, 'What just happened?' It was almost like a force inside of me was playing. I knew it was important because right after that game, Phil Esposito knocked on my door and said you have to get ready for a press conference.
"I went to the press conference and that's when someone asked him, 'Are we going to see her in an exhibition game?' and my English was not very good back then, but I heard the question and he said something, 'You never know the way she played today, if the coaches see fit to put her in, you never know, she may play a game.' At that moment I was like, that's something I never thought going to camp, that would be a possibility."
How has the women's game evolved since your experience at the 1998 Olympics?
"It's crazy how much it changed. I think that in 1998 in the Olympics, the speed of the game in today's game, the physicality of the game, the women are so much more physical, they're athletes. We didn't have the means that they have today to train full time and get paid from the national team. Back then, I remember the year of the Olympics was the first time I really lifted weights, even (though) I was playing professional with the men. The training was just different. Today, all those women are Olympic athletes. They train yearlong at a high level. They have way more. The equipment is better. The sticks are better for the shooter. So much has changed in the game. I would say the speed and the physicality and the skills too, because you have way more women playing now. When you pick the best player and you have more players to choose from, obviously the level of play is way higher."
Do you feel a connection with the PWHL players being a hockey trailblazer yourself?
"Absolutely. I think that it's not just a connection. I happened to be the first one to play in the NHL, but I just look at so many other women that's been doing great things. Hayley Wickenheiser that went to play in Europe as a forward against men with body checking, think about that, which was incredible. Kendall Coyne (Schofield) skated at the (NHL) All-Star Game. Charline Labonte when she played major junior. I know I was the first one to go major junior, but she ended up playing more games and she was with the team all year. The first woman to be in the Hockey Hall of Fame this past year (2025), Daniele Sauvageau, in the builder category. I think that every time a woman like this achieves certain stuff it just helps everybody else. It gives young girls that start the sport to dream about becoming Hayley Wickenheiser or whoever else is in front of them."
Is there anything you have learned working for the Los Angeles Kings that you will bring to PWHL Detroit?
"Absolutely. The last four years I learned so much because first of all, I think most importantly, it's the group of people that works at the LA Kings. Just an amazing group of people and you want to go to work every day because of that. They work together as a group, you're not just a team on the ice, but I think all the staff. I got to work with our scouting department and the head scout of the Kings and everybody. I learned so much from them and they saw me as one of their peers and didn't treat me differently.
"What I did working with our prospects, it was really interesting too because they're getting drafted and then they don't know yet what it is to be a pro until they get to their first training camp. Then you talk to them after their first training camp, that's when they realize, oh wow, physically I need to be a lot stronger. I need to be like this because when you're in a corner with (Anze) Kopitar or Drew Doughty, they're way stronger than us. That's when they realize this is a big jump. The way they were communicating those things to me, I was just thinking about that, the importance of preparing our young women that we draft. That it is a big difference when you get to the pro hockey level and the importance of getting ready at that level. I think the biggest piece of it, it's the group of people that you put together to be able to be successful is as important as the players you brought in to be successful."
What are you most looking forward to in your new role as GM for PWHL Detroit?
"Just being part of this new franchise. I think when you have the chance to build something from the ground up, as far as being part of interviewing people for different roles and picking those pieces and going through the list of players to try to build a team that you want to see on the ice. Learning all the new phase of the expansion, which was different than the last expansion draft, just going through the whole process. What is exciting about building a team in the PWHL is the support of the league to every GM, every team to be successful at what you're doing. That support has been incredible from the league, and it helped actually to get in and be able to do your job."
