Canucks new hire Emilie Castonguay shares prophetic story about her deceased sister

This just in, the Vancouver Canucks have hired player agent Émilie Castonguay as assistant GM, making her the first female assistant GM in Canucks history and, I believe, the first female assistant GM in NHL history.

Check it out:

Castonguay became the first NHLPA Certified agent in 2016 and has/had a client list that features 2020 1st overall pick Alexis Lafreniere and former Canucks forward Antoine Roussel. It's expected, given her background, that she'll work on the numbers side of the business negotiating contracts for the team under President Jim Rutherford and whomever Rutherford eventually hires as team GM.

"Émilie has extensive experience, is driven to succeed, and has a strong reputation in hockey for her intelligence and work ethic," said Rutherford in a prepared statement. "She will play a lead role in player contracts and negotiation, managing the collective bargaining agreement, and her voice will be heard in all aspects of hockey operations. She will be a key member of our leadership team and we are pleased to welcome her to Vancouver."

"It is an honour to join the Vancouver Canucks and I am grateful to Jim and the Aquilini family for the opportunity," said Castonguay. "The Canucks have a passionate fanbase and an exciting young team with a bright future. I can't wait to help build a winning organization that continues to grow and challenges for championship."

What's even more incredible is that Castonguay's sister predicted her own hiring by the Canucks over ten years ago as she was struggling to stay alive. 

I mean... how incredible is that?

While Castonguay isn't quite yet the team's GM, she's well on her way. But... she has some work to do.

Despite currently being outside the playoff race looking in, the Canucks are one of the top spending teams in the NHL mostly due to some poor decisions from former GM Jim Benning. All of that is to say that Castonguay will have her work cut out for her in rebuilding the Canucks' salary structure. 

In one of his final moves as GM Benning did manage to clear out high priced under performers like Roussel, Loui Eriksson and Jay Beagle, but the team still has Tyler Myers ($6 million), Oliver Ekman-Larsson ($7.25 million), Tanner Pearson ($3.25 million), Travis Hamonic ($3 million), Josh Dickinson ($2.65 million), Tucker Poolman ($2.5 million) all on the payroll with term. Ouch...

Add in the fact that Brock Boeser, J.T. Miller and captain Bo Horvat are all set to become unrestricted free agents in the next year or two and Castonguay has her work cut out for her.