Kate Madigan reflects on her path to a big job with the Devils

Jim Madigan and Kate Madigan joined host Stephanie Wood, right, for this episode of the "RinkWise" podcast. (Seamans Media)

The Madigan family has cemented its legacy in hockey.

Jim Madigan is the athletic director at Northeastern University and the school’s former head hockey coach, who led the Huskies to back-to-back-to-back Beanpot titles in 2018, ’19 and ’20 (their first since 1988), two Hockey East titles and three NCAA tournament appearances.

Daughter Kate Madigan, a former track and field star at NU, was recently promoted to Assistant General Manager of the New Jersey Devils.

They joined Stephanie Wood, the new host of the RinkWise podcast, to discuss their journeys, the importance of networking and much, much more.

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Kate, on growing up as the daughter of a hockey coach:

“(I was) always around the rink, 24/7, a lot of Northeastern games. I vividly remember watching players like Leon Hayward and Jimmy Fahey when I was very young, always in Matthews Arena, running to get M&Ms. I just loved being at that rink specifically. And then when my dad was a scout for the Islanders and the Penguins, we would go on scout trips, which I realized was probably a vacation for my mom now, because we were with my dad for the weekend, but we would go to Lake Placid and I would be like, ‘Oh, this is so fun.’ … And so for me, it was just seeing
at the beginning the camaraderie, the team environment that you can have fun at work. And that’s kind of really where the passion started, seeing him during his scouting days and growing up around the rink.”

Jim, on the importance of networking:

“You know, I think you can pick any industry, Stephanie, and it’s extremely important. I’ve spent time in Northeastern in different capacities. I would say networking is the key to your success. You’re not networking for a job. You’re networking to build your your pipeline, your relationships.

“And, you know, in this world and in society, it’s about relationship building, how you treat people. And the stronger your network, the more opportunities are going to be presented to you. And through that networking, you know, Kate has done a great job.”

Kate, on her career path:

“I started in amateur scouting operations just briefly, was there for about a year-and-a-half, and as soon as I was there, we had a little bit of change in our departments. More responsibility became available and (they) needed some assistance in the analytics side.  … So I jumped in there, started working a little bit with the coaches. For me that was just gaining responsibility, exposure, getting comfortable.

“Then I went to the pro scouting operations side, so really dealing for about a year-and-a-half on all the information, working with the scouts, trades, free agency, things of that nature, waiver wires. And then about a year-and-a-half ago I got promoted again to executive director of hockey management and operations. It’s like a 10-words-long title. And that was a little bit of everything.”

The podcast can be streamed at hockeyjournal.com/podcast and on major platforms, such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

“RinkWise” is brought to you by Sacred Heart University, Quincy College and Bando Hockey.

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