What does a GM actually do in college hockey? Andrew Brewer is about to find out

EDMONTON, Alberta – Andrew Brewer has yet to see a game at Yost Ice Arena. 

That’ll change on October 2, when Michigan opens its 2026-27 season at home against Bowling Green. 

“I’m excited. I’ve been lucky enough, and my kids have been lucky enough to see hockey in a bunch of different markets,” Brewer said. “But college hockey is a whole different experience. I’ve been trying to explain to my kids the passion and the hatred that comes with it, college hockey. But I’m gonna kind of get to live it with them firsthand when the season starts.”

While it’ll be a crash course into the gameday atmosphere at Yost, Brewer has already dug deep into helping shape the future of Michigan’s program as the new general manager, a move that was announced last week. 

Brewer brings close to two decades of experience to Michigan, having worked on five different NHL staffs, most recently as an assistant with the Anaheim Ducks, and with Hockey Canada, where he was part of the staff that won Olympic, World Championship, and World Cup of Hockey gold medals. 

That résumé, and Brewer’s experience working with both player development and roster management, popped for Michigan coach Brandon Naurato when he hired the first GM in program history. 

Now, the GM title has become more common in college hockey, but it’s still a relatively new position. 

For the layman, or this curious reporter, what does it actually mean?

“My job is really to help execute coach Naurato’s vision for the hockey program,” Brewer said. “When it comes to our roster management, when it comes to our long-term planning, when it comes to donor engagement, NHL player engagement, player development. Do everything to kind of make his life easier and allow him to actually coach as much as possible.”

As an example, in season, Brewer will be more responsible for cultivating and growing relationships in season. Potentially connecting with a recruit or hosting a visit on a Thursday so Naurato and his staff can focus more on the game coming Friday night. 

It’s important to note that the head coach is still in charge. Naurato still makes the final calls, but Brewer’s job will be similar to its NHL equivalency, helping build and project a long-term roster with goals of winning a championship. 

Perhaps the best way to explain it is to look at what Brewer’s life looks like in early August. This past week, he was both a speaker at The Coaches Site live and also attending the Hlinka Gretzky Cup in Edmonton. 

In Edmonton, Brewer connected with incoming Michigan defenseman Landon DuPont and his family, made introductions to other potential Michigan recruits at the tournament, while also working on long-term development plans for both players and the program. 

It’s an additional enhancement on one of the key pitches Michigan has made historically under Naurato to recruits. Each player has their own personal development plan. It’s typically laid out to the recruit during the process, and as Jack Ivankovic told me last season, “it’s a road map to what will make you and Michigan better.”

And at the end of the day, in a college hockey world which is heavily evolving with new eligibility rules and name, image, and likeness budgets, top programs are going to invest more in management roles, as Michigan has now. 

“It’s pretty exciting. We (Naurato and Brewer) get to create our own roadmap of how we want to proceed, how we attack everything to try and win now and in the future,” Brewer said. “From how our NIL is aligned, to how we communicate with drafted players and their teams, how we are going to prove we can continue to develop players for the next step and win at the same time. Michigan has already been great at that, and I’m excited about being part of the next step for it.”