On Monday, August 19th, 2024, it was announced that Amanda Kessel would be named Assistant GM to Jason Spezza regarding operations in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and for the Wheeling Nailers. Kessel spent the 2023-2024 season as the Special Assistant to the GM in Pittsburgh.
Hailing from Madison, Wisconsin, Kessel has a hockey background that is quite decorated. She has three NCAA National Championships with the University of Minnesota. While with Minnesota, she played in 136 games. In those 136 games, she tallied 108 goals with 140 assists.
Kessel played for the USA Women’s Team and won a gold medal in the 2018 Olympics. In the 2012 and 2022 Olympics, she won silver medals. Kessel also participated in the IIHF World Championship and brought home four gold medals. In 2012, Kessel brought home seven awards: NCAA Champion, NCAA First Team All-American, NCAA Top Collegiate Player (Patty Kazmaier Award), NCAA Top Female Collegiate Player Finalist, World Championship Gold Medal, World Championship Most Assists (She had six), World Championship Top 3 Player on Team.
In the 2024 PWHL Draft, she was selected by PWHL Montreal but never signed with the team.
Along with Kessel’s promotion, Pittsburgh made the following changes in personnel:
- Jonathan Erlichman- Former Tampa Bay Ray employee in 2019 became the first data analyst to be in the dugout as an analytics coach. Erlichman was named Vice President of Hockey Research, development, and strategy.
- Kevin Elliot- Head Athletic Trainer
- Lucas Malloy- Manager of Hockey Operations
- Karel Popper- Goalie Coach for Wheeling Nailers
- Chris Roque, Brandon Dennis, and Brian Ihnacak- Amateur Scouts
- Jason Pietrzykowski and Chad Nehring- Pro Scouts
- Jason Spezza- General Manager of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins
- Kain Tisi- Goalie Coach for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins
- Mark Osiecki- Professional and NCAA scout
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