Minnesota PWHL Champions Quit GM Natalie Darwitz – Hockey Writers – PWHL News

In shocking circumstances first reported by The Athletic's Hailey Salvian and Michael Russo, PWHL Minnesota general manager Natalie Darwitz is leaving the team. After helping lead his team to its first-ever Walter Cup, it looks like he won't be back to defend it. According to a memo from Salvian and Russo, Darwitz was told he would not be returning as general manager and was offered other jobs in the league (from 'Natalie Darwitz out as GM of PWHL Minnesota, per source: Shocking indeed,' Athletic06/07/2024.)

For someone who helped shape this team, it's hard to believe that a week after they left the interview, they won't be back. PWHL Minnesota must already have plans to do this closer to the draft, and replacing someone with Darwitz's hockey experience will be difficult.

He is part of hockey royalty in Minnesota; when you think of women's hockey, she is one of the first names that comes to mind. He was part of the team that drafted Taylor Heise for the first time, while Heise became the Ilana Kloss MVP winner and suited up well for PWHL Minnesota. He helped build this team piece by piece, including the trade of Susana Tapani to Sophie Jaques, who was important in the postseason and was also part of bringing undrafted goalkeeper Maddie Rooney, who was a hero against PWHL Toronto.

And, according to Salvian and Russo, he was no ordinary general manager; he helped with everything, including “Besides building it from the ground up and setting everything up and signing and signing the players that led us to the tournament, he spent hours and hours doing everything — waking up at 4 in the morning, moving equipment to the rink, hanging dirty things, packing bags, things like that. I mean, things GMs don't do,” said a team source in the article.

He seemed to do a great job in the team, which worked like a family that won and lost together, from their coach to their reserve players. It will be interesting to see how PWHL Minnesota moves forward and who will fill the big skates Darwitz left behind.