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The PWHL has hired longtime AHL executive Melissa Caruso as the new general manager of its Minnesota franchise, the league announced on Tuesday afternoon.
The decision comes nearly three months after the dismissal of Natalie Darwitz — who led Minnesota to the first-ever Walter Cup Championship and will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in November — following a review that found “there wasn’t a path forward with the current personnel in place.”
PWHL Minnesota has announced Melissa Caruso as General Manager.
Caruso joins Minnesota from the AHL, where she spent 15 years.
📰 https://t.co/CXdS2GdSQV pic.twitter.com/IuuH2Ukczh
— PWHL Minnesota (@PWHL_Minnesota) September 3, 2024
According to PWHL senior vice president of hockey operations Jayna Hefford, Caruso stood out as the ideal candidate for the position. Caruso — a resident of St. Paul, Minn. — spent 15 years with the American Hockey League, including the last six as the vice president of hockey operations and governance. In her most recent role, she oversaw the off-ice aspects of the league’s day-to-day operations including: building the league’s annual schedule; managing the league’s central player registry; handling by-laws, regulations, and player eligibility; and working closely with the Board of Governors.
“Her strong background in operations and governance, combined with her extensive hockey knowledge and leadership experience, make her a great fit for the role,” Hefford said in a press release. “Melissa’s passion for the game, along with her ties to the local community, positions her perfectly to lead the team both on and off the ice.”
“It’s an exciting time for women’s sports, and I thank leadership for trusting me with the opportunity to lead PWHL Minnesota during these crucial formative years for the league,” Caruso said in the press release. “I can’t wait to get started on the journey to defend the Walter Cup in Season Two.”
The Athletic first reported on June 7 that Darwitz was leaving the Minnesota organization just eight days after the team won the league championship and four days before Minnesota was set to host the 2024 PWHL Draft and first-ever PWHL Awards. A day later, the PWHL officially announced that the league and Minnesota parted ways with Darwitz “effective immediately,” after a review of the team’s operations.
At the time, Hefford did not go into specifics of the review or what was uncovered in Minnesota, beyond “that a change needed to be made.”
“For organizations to be successful, operations need to run relatively smoothly. The high standards of this league need to exist. And as a leader, often those things fall on you. There’s a lot of things we looked at. Over the course of these reviews and the work we did throughout the season, it just became very clear from different parties that this wasn’t going to be able to move forward as it stood.”
Head coach Ken Klee had taken on the duties as general manager in the interim, making the team’s player selections at the draft and signing players to new contracts for the 2024-25 season. Klee had already re-signed a trio of Walter Cup champion forwards in Michela Cava, Liz Schepers and Denisa Křížová, and draftees Britta Curl, Klára Hymlárová and Claire Thompson. Forwards Brooke McQuigge, Dominique Petrie and Katy Knoll, as well as defender Mae Batherson remain unsigned heading into training camp.
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(Photo: Nick Wosika / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
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Courtesy : https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5742095/2024/09/03/pwhl-minnesota-general-manager-melissa-caruso/