Snapshots: Duggan, Walsh, DiDomenico
New Jersey Devils director of player development Meghan Duggan has been hired as general manager of PWHL Hamilton, one of the new expansion teams joining the highest level of professional women’s hockey. The hire means Duggan will leave the Devils organization after a half-decade in her player development role. Hailey Salvian of The Athletic notes that Duggan has had some association with the PWHL during her time in New Jersey, serving as special consultant to the hockey operations staff and as a member of the league’s player safety committee.
As a player, Duggan was a highly-decorated captain of the U.S. National Team. Her career in hockey operations began on the coaching staff of Clarkson University’s women’s hockey program in 2014-15, and she coached there for two seasons while also playing in the now-defunct CWHL and NWHL, precursor leagues to the PWHL. In 2021, she was hired by the Devils as director of player development. It seems likely that the Devils, led by a new GM in Sunny Mehta, will look to fill Duggan’s former role at some point this summer.
Other notes from around the hockey world:
- Former Devils minor-league defenseman Reilly Walsh has signed a one-year contract extension with KHL club Barys Astana. The 27-year-old blueliner was a third-round pick of the Devils at the 2017 draft. A near point-per-game defenseman while he played college hockey at Harvard, Walsh developed into a quality offensive top-four defenseman at the AHL level. He crossed the 40-point plateau twice and had a total of 159 points in 304 career AHL games. Walsh scored 32 points in 70 games for the Ontario Reign in 2024-25, but with over 260 games at the professional level, he was no longer considered a “development player” by the AHL’s development rule, a factor that has prompted many quality AHL players to take contracts overseas. He signed with Astana and played very well there in 2025-26, scoring 16 goals and 46 points, tied for the team lead in scoring with Mike Vecchione, a fellow AHL veteran who left the North American pro ranks last summer.
- Chris DiDomenico, a former Ottawa Senators forward, has decided to leave the Swiss National League after eight seasons as a top player there. DiDomenico has signed with the SHL’s IF Björklöven, per a team announcement. The 37-year-old forward played in 24 games for the Senators in 2017-18, having been signed by the team after two seasons as a quality top-six forward in the Swiss top division. Two members of the Senators’ coaching staff at the time, head coach Guy Boucher (SC Bern) and associate coach Marc Crawford (ZSC Lions), had coached against DiDomenico prior to arriving in Ottawa. DiDomenico was not the only forward the Senators signed out of Switzerland at that time, though he was not as successful in the NHL as fellow signing Tom Pyatt. DiDomenico returned to Switzerland in 2018 and has been a star forward there for the last eight years. Now, he’ll look to bring those qualities to Sweden.
Latest On Pittsburgh Penguins Front Office Search
The Pittsburgh Penguins are in for a busy offseason, replacing key front-office fixtures after missing the playoffs for the first time in almost two decades. In addition to yesterday’s reporting on the Pittsburgh Penguins’ intention to hire two separate people for the roles of general manager and president of hockey operations, The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun expanded in detail today on the current status of Pittsburgh’s search to fill their vacant roles.
LeBrun relayed previously corroborated reports from league sources that the Penguins have conducted initial Zoom interviews with potential candidates for the general manager role, with this number set at around a dozen. From this group, Pittsburgh has begun the process of narrowing down individuals for in-person second-round interviews for the job.
LeBrun has now confirmed seven individuals who were part of that complement of about 12. Among them is Los Angeles Kings senior advisor Marc Bergevin, Carolina Hurricanes assistant general manager Eric Tulsky, St. Louis Blues VP of hockey operations Peter Chiarelli, Buffalo Sabres associate general manager Jason Karmanos, and three members of the New Jersey Devils organization: senior vice president and assistant general manager Dan MacKinnon, assistant general manager Kate Madigan, and director of player development Meghan Duggan. There are two other likely candidates that LeBrun could not confirm, Tampa Bay Lightning assistant general manager Mathieu Darche and Seattle Kraken assistant general manager Jason Botterill, who previously held the same role with Pittsburgh.
Some candidates from the first round of interviews were informed today that they are no longer being considered for the positions, LeBrun said.
Also in line with previous reporting, LeBrun mentioned the Penguins expressed interest in including Brad Treliving, the former general manager of the Calgary Flames, in their first round of interviews. However, the Flames denied permission, given Treliving’s expiring contract with the team legally expires on June 30.
As for a president of hockey operations, LeBrun also linked the Penguins to former Arizona Coyotes general manager John Chayka. Chayka held his post with the Coyotes from May 2016 to July 2020, when he abruptly resigned before the start of the delayed Stanley Cup Playoffs. The NHL later suspended Chayka from working in the league for the entire 2021 calendar year after he pursued other league opportunities while still under contract with Arizona. It also later came to light that, under Chayka, the Coyotes had held an illegal private scouting combine for eligible draft prospects in direct violation of league rules, resulting in multiple pick forfeitures for Arizona.
Surprisingly, the reason for the uncertainty about Chayka’s potential involvement with the Penguins isn’t due to his concerning NHL history – rather, LeBrun reports Chayka could have additional NHL opportunities available to him outside of Pittsburgh.
New Jersey Devils Hire Angus Mugford, Promote Meghan Duggan
Barely a year after first hiring her, the New Jersey Devils are giving Meghan Duggan a promotion. Duggan will be made director of player development, moving up in the department she joined in 2021. The team has also announced the hiring of Dr. Angus Mugford as senior vice president, player development and performance.
Duggan, 34, is one of the most decorated players in U.S. hockey history, having won eight World Championship medals (seven gold) and three Olympic medals (one gold), along with three NCAA championships and a Patty Kazmaier Award as the nation’s top player. She wore the “C” as captain of Team USA for years, including her final appearance at the 2018 Games.
She joined the Devils last year in a manager role within the player development department and has obviously done well enough to now deserve a promotion. At the time of her hiring, Hayley Wickenhesier was sitting as the highest ranked woman in an NHL front office with her role as senior director of player development with the Toronto Maple Leafs. That has since changed dramatically, with the appointment of Cammi Granato and Emilie Castonguay as assistant general managers with the Vancouver Canucks.
Duggan was just entering the national team program as Granato exited her playing days but Wickenheiser was a regular opponent at international events. They now continue to set the path forward for women in NHL front offices, this new promotion just another step along the way.
Mugford, meanwhile, is coming over from the baseball world, where he spent the last seven years with the Toronto Blue Jays. As the leader of the team’s high performance department, he overhauled the Blue Jays’ player development and integrated a sports science department. As part of a lengthy statement about the hire, Devils’ general manager Tom Fitzgerald explained:
Angus has an outstanding background in culture, care and development and has all the attributes required to build a model that will help our players get the best out of themselves and direct them to their next level.
Emily Kaplan of ESPN broke the news of Duggan’s promotion.
New Jersey Devils Hire Meghan Duggan
The New Jersey Devils have added an Olympic captain to the front office. Meghan Duggan, who announced her retirement as a player in October, has been hired by the Devils to a new role called Manager, Player Development in the team’s Hockey Operations Department. General Manager Tom Fitzgerald released a statement on the hire:
We are incredibly excited to announce that Meghan has joined our Player Development Department. As our group has evolved over the past few years to include as much about off-ice as on-ice for development, we believe Meghan will be perfect for this position. Her successful track record as a teammate, leader, captain and driver of initiatives will be resources to all players in our organization. We look forward to her utilizing her perspective of the game, attention to detail and creative thinking to help our players reach their potential.
Duggan, 33, is one of the most decorated women in U.S. hockey history, with eight World Championship and three Olympic medals. She served as captain for each of the past two Olympic Games and has been in a leadership role for almost her entire hockey career. During her four-year span at the University of Wisconsin, she took home three NCAA titles and won the Patty Kazmaier Award as the best collegiate player in the country during the 2010-11 season.
There is very little that Duggan failed to accomplish during her playing days, and she will now help the Devils development team push forward the next wave of young players. Her appointment follows the news of Hayley Wickenheiser‘s recent promotion in Toronto, which elevated her to the highest position a woman has ever held in an NHL front office.