PWHL San Jose hire Troy Ryan as general manager, head coach

There’s a new era beckoning in the PWHL, with four new teams in San Jose, Las Vegas, Hamilton and Detroit shaking the league up as it expands to 12 clubs for its fourth season. 

While Detroit and Las Vegas named general managers not previously in the PWHL, San Jose has opted to send ripples across the professional women’s hockey landscape by hiring former Toronto Sceptres head coach Troy Ryan as general manager and head coach of PWHL San Jose. 

The shift makes him the first GM and head coach dual position in the league, mirroring a setup most often seen in soccer, where the dual position is most commonly seen known as a “manager,”  but has become less used since analytics, scouting and contract work have become a larger piece of the GM’s work. 

For Ryan, the move stateside gives him the most responsibility of any team staffer in the PWHL and will allow him the flexibility to build the roster as he sees fit for his coaching perspective, rather than working with a GM that may have differing opinions, as he did in Toronto with Hockey Canada and Sceptres GM, Gina Kingsbury. 

Ryan was the Sceptres’ first and only coach since the 2024 PWHL opening game, having led the team to the league’s best regular-season record in the inaugural season and the second-best mark in 2024-25, before missing the playoffs in the 2025-26 season. At the same time, he has served nine years with Canada’s national women’s team, including the past six as head coach, where he has guided the team to three IIHF Women’s World Championship titles in 2021, 2022 and 2024 as well as the Beijing 2022 Olympic gold medal and Milan Cortina 2026 Olympic silver medal. 

The Halifax native stepped down from his Hockey Canada role after the 2026 Olympics, which ended a season in which the United States dominated Canada at the Olympics and in the Rivalry Series. 

“Troy is a consummate professional and culture driver who has excelled in leadership roles both in the PWHL and with Canada’s National Women’s Hockey Team on the international stage,” said Jayna Hefford, PWHL Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations, who oversees the senior operations of every team, with a single ownership group operating each franchise. “Troy has a keen understanding of what it takes to build and lead a high-performing team, and his diverse set of experiences and competitive spirit make him a strong fit to hold the dual role of General Manager and Coach in San Jose.”

A former minor hockey and university hockey coach in Atlantic Canada, Ryan will now turn his focus to primarily roster building, as he looks to construct a hockey operations staff and roster ahead of the 2026-27 season, headlined by the June 17 PWHL Draft in Detroit, home to one of the yet-to-be-named expansion teams. 

“I’m honored and incredibly excited to help build this organization in San Jose,” said Ryan. “Expansion creates a rare opportunity to shape everything with intention from the standards and culture to the people and connection to the community. We want to build a team that plays with purpose, represents The Bay Area with pride, and helps to continue to grow women’s hockey on the West Coast. We know there is a lot of work ahead, and that is exactly what makes this opportunity so special.”  Meanwhile, the Sceptres are on the hunt for a new head coach to lead them back to the Walter Cup playoffs, with Kingsbury still remaining at the helm of the team in the days after rivals Montréal Victoire became the first Canadian team to win the PWHL’s most coveted honor.  “Although transitions like this are never easy, they also create new opportunities for growth and evolution,” the Toronto Sceptres posted in a statement to X. “We are confident in the people, structure, and environment we have built in Toronto and believe strongly in our ability to continue building something special together. “Our search for a new head coach is already underway. We will approach this process with care, intention, and thoroughness. Our priority will be identifying a leader who will be able to earn the trust of our locker room, supports the continued growth and performance of our athletes and organization, and reflects the values.expectations, and vision of our market, including our loyal fans.”