One thing all five women who serve in assistant general manager roles around the NHL have in common is none saw this opportunity available to them earlier in life.

"I never expected to be an assistant general manager in my wildest dreams," Meghan Hunter of the Chicago Blackhawks said. "I didn’t necessarily rule it out, but I just didn’t see a path to get there."

Now, Hunter, New Jersey's Kate Madigan, Vancouver's Émilie Castonguay and Cammi Granato and Toronto's Hayley Wickenheiser have each gotten to this point by taking different paths.