When the professional women's hockey players association held a game between the U.S. and Canadian women's national team players in Pittsburgh last month, forward Amanda Kessel said that the city "holds a special place in my heart."
"It's a great sports city, hockey city," she said. "Pittsburgh really, really took to (her brother) Phil, and I know it's a really special place to him. I just got to experience that firsthand how passionate these fans are and how fun the games are. You don't get to come to many even NHL arenas and get that atmosphere, and for us to feel that same atmosphere. This was my first game here and hopefully we will be welcome back."
A month later, the Penguins are welcoming Amanda Kessel back to join the team's front office.
The Penguins announced on Wednesday that Kessel is the inaugural member of the team's executive management program, which provides a one-year opportunity to work alongside executives within the Penguins partnership, marketing, communication, broadcast and hockey operations departments, rotating within the different departments. The program will focus on providing opportunities to women and minority athletes, with the goal of giving them experience needed to one day join a team's front office full-time.
"The Penguins have always taken the lead in innovation and this is an example of us looking ahead as an organization to drive diversity and inclusion in the National Hockey League," Penguins president and CEO David Morehouse said in a statement. "Our new executive management program gives unprecedented access to women and minorities to attain permanent, front-office executive positions in hockey and other professional sports."
Kessel, 30, called Morehouse "key" to making this program happen on Wednesday, saying that over the years, she and Morehouse have had a number of conversations about her potentially coming to work for him and the Penguins one day.
Morehouse sees qualities in Kessel that makes him believe that she will be a good fit for this kind of role.
"Amanda has the experience, drive, and education to be a fantastic front-office executive in professional sports," Morehouse said. "We are honored to welcome her to Pittsburgh."
Kessel's on-ice resume is substantial. She won Olympic gold with Team USA in 2018, and silver in 2014 and 2022. She's won three gold medals and two silver medals in the World Championship, as well as a gold medal at the World Junior level. She won three NCAA championships with the University of Minnesota and was twice a top-10 finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award as the top player in women's college hockey, winning the award in her junior season. She played two professional seasons in the NWHL with the Metropolitan Riveters, and was captain and MVP of the All-Star Game in the 2016-17 season.
Since 2019 Kessel has been a member of the PWHPA, an organization dedicated to advocating for the promotion of professional women's ice hockey, which plays games across North America, including the game in Pittsburgh last month.
Just because Kessel is joining the Penguins' front office with this program doesn't mean she's hanging up her skates.
"I knew someday my playing career would come to an end," she said. "That isn't now. I'm still training and leaving everything open. But it's really important for me to have a career post-hockey. I've always known that I wanted to stay in the game, but I wasn't quite passionate about coaching."
The ultimate goal? To be a general manager. There are currently two women serving as assistant general managers in the NHL -- Emilie Castonguay and Cammi Granato, both with Vancouver -- but a woman has yet to become a team's head general manager.
Kessel sees this opportunity with the Penguins as a step toward that goal. But with the position providing her with experience in a number of different departments, she's also not ruling out moving toward one of those areas either.
"(General manager) would be an ultimate dream, and this program gives me the opportunity to find my way," she said. "You know, maybe there's something else that I end up liking or somewhere that I'm needed, or something that I'm better at. So I think this is the perfect opportunity to explore all of my passions."
Mike Sullivan called the program "terrific," and spoke of the potential for this to perhaps inspire similar programs for women across the NHL.
"It wasn't too long ago where in women's hockey, the pinnacle of the sport would be the national team with the Olympic team," Sullivan said. "That might have been where the opportunities lie. This is an area where that's going to provide a great opportunity for female athletes, female hockey players, to continue to participate in their passion ... "It's a great opportunity to continue to grow women's hockey and their respective participation in the sport moving forward."
