Before finding the right players, a new franchise has to find the right people to make decisions. Every team has a large contingent in charge of hockey operations, and building a front office from the ground up is no small task. That’s the first challenge for Seattle before the puck drops on the yet-to-be-named team’s inaugural season in 2021, one that is already being tackled quite differently from the other 31 teams.



It’s no secret that a tour through every front office in hockey will lead to one very obvious observation, one that mirrors the players on the ice: those with a seat at the table are almost exclusively white men. There’s a reason it’s called the “old boys club.” Like many other industries, male professional sports leagues tend to have entrenched, systemic barriers that limit those who don’t look the same as everyone else already in the room from having a voice near the top.



Seattle is aiming to change that...