Penguins promote Amanda Kessel: What does it mean for her playing career in the PWHL?

Three-time Olympian Amanda Kessel has been promoted to manager of minor league operations and assistant general manager of the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, the Pittsburgh Penguins announced Monday.

Kessel, 32, spent the 2023-24 season as a special assistant to Penguins general manager and president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas. In her new role, she will assist Jason Spezza, who was promoted to assistant general manager, with all matters involving Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, and she will oversee the Penguins’ minor league affiliate in the ECHL.

“Amanda’s promotion is a reflection of the exceptional work that she’s done with us over the past year-plus as she continues to grow and develop professionally,” Dubas told The Athletic on Monday.

It’s a significant step for Kessel, who is following in the footsteps of other elite women’s hockey players — such as Canadian legend Hayley Wickenheiser and former Team USA captains Meghan Duggan and Cammi Granato — now working in NHL front offices. The promotion, however, also raises the question of whether Kessel’s playing career is done.

Congratulations to Amanda Kessel on her induction into the 〽 Club Hall of Fame Class of 2024!

📰: https://t.co/9P2HuWT0Wn pic.twitter.com/Nplu0g1lhz

— Minnesota Women’s Hockey (@GopherWHockey) August 19, 2024

Despite reports that she will not play in the PWHL, neither Kessel, the league, nor the Montreal franchise that owns her rights have made any official comment on her plans for the upcoming season. Dubas also said “any decision regarding (Kessel) playing pro hockey will come from her, and we are supportive of whatever decision she makes.”

When Kessel joined the Penguins in April 2022 as a participant in the organization’s executive management program, she left the door open to continue her playing career. A year later, she won a gold medal at the 2023 women’s world championships while playing a top-line role for Team USA. After that, she took the year off from international competition and sat out the inaugural PWHL season while working full-time with the Penguins.

Earlier this year, Kessel declared for the 2024 PWHL Draft — which all prospective players, regardless of age and experience, were required to do — and was one of the top 10 available players, as ranked by The Athletic. Still, her return to play was not guaranteed, given her promising front-office path and the lack of flexibility regarding roster selection heading into year two.

Ahead of the inaugural PWHL season, it was possible for players of Kessel’s caliber to dictate where they played. Before the 2023 draft, 18 top players — three per team — were able to sign with their preferred destination. Players were also able to apply for a “compassionate circumstance waiver,” which allowed them to only be drafted to the team of their choice due to personal circumstances.

Neither of those options were available to Kessel heading into the 2024 draft. That meant a player as decorated as Kessel — with four world championship titles, an Olympic gold medal, three NCAA championships and a Patty Kazmaier Award — would be drafted and required to report to whatever team selected her in order to play in the PWHL.

There’s also the matter of salary. Ahead of Year 1, high-profile players were signing three-year guaranteed contracts worth as much as six figures. Those kinds of offers — given salary cap constraints — were either impossible or unrealistic for players entering the PWHL in its second year.

On draft day, as Kessel dropped out of the first few rounds, it appeared that Kessel might go undrafted and get to choose where she would play in 2024-25 via free agency. But, in the seventh and final round, Montreal GM Danièle Sauvageau made a splash, taking Kessel 41st overall.

Since the pick was made, there have been reports and speculation that Kessel was only interested in playing for the Boston franchise. And while it’s easy to assume that Boston — with U.S. teammates Hilary Knight and Megan Keller, and her sister-in-law, Courtney Kessel, as the coach — would be Kessel’s preferred destination, she never told the team that Boston was her only acceptable landing spot, GM Danielle Marmer told The Athletic.

Montreal owns the rights to sign Kessel for the next two years.

Josh Yohe contributed to this story.

(Photo: Elsa / Getty Images)