Inexplicable

I have never met Natalie Darwitz, but she sounds like she's very capable of doing almost anything in the hockey world. She is beloved in Minnesota after playing for the Golden Gophers and helping them win championships, she is a knowledgeable coach who helped an NCAA Division-III school reach new heights, and she built a PWHL champion this past season as the general manager. She's also a respected member of Team USA's hockey family thanks to her many years skating for the country, but today she finds herself unemployed after watching her team win the PWHL's inaugural Walter Cup championship. To call this development in women's hockey inexplicable is an major understatement.

Rachel Blount of the Star Tribune wrote today,

"According to league sources, Darwitz's departure comes after she clashed with coach Ken Klee, who has the support of several of the team's veterans, including captain Kendall Coyne Schofield. A source said Klee will be acting GM and will make the team's picks at the PWHL draft Monday at Roy Wilkins Auditorium in St. Paul."

To say I was stunned when I read Miss Blount's article was only the tip of the iceberg of all the thoughts I had, but if that sounce is correct and Darwitz was removed from the GM position due to a clash with former Team USA head coach Ken Klee makes me wonder how independent the six PWHL teams are when it comes to being their own franchises. Obviously, the PWHL owns all the teams, but should the league be interfering with internal team matters and making decisions about personnel?

The hardest part about trying to make sense about this move to dismiss Darwitz is reconciling the decision with how important Darwitz was to the Minnesota franchise. Blount writes,

"Her connections and status in the state's hockey community helped make PWHL Minnesota a success in its inaugural season. Darwitz was instrumental in securing Xcel Energy Center for games and Tria Rink as the team's practice facility. Minnesota was the only PWHL team to play regularly in an NHL rink, and its regular-season average attendance of 7,138 was second to Ottawa's 7,496."

It seems pretty clear that Darwitz had a bigger impact for her team than Danielle Marmer did in Boston or Pascal Daoust in New York. Neither of those franchises saw the insides of an NHL rink with any regularlity, and it showed in their overall attendance figures.

Beyond that deal, however, it seemed Darwitz was doing the little things that everyone appreciated. Blount again writes,

"Darwitz also swung deals with Tria Orthopedic for medical care and was raising money for the team to build dedicated space at Tria Rink. She was hands-on as a GM in a startup league, doing everything from unloading equipment to sweeping floors to signing and trading players."

In short, Darwitz not only did the general manager's job to the best of her ability, she was making deals to make things better for players and staff, she was fundraising to create a permanent space for the team, and she was pitching in wherever anyone was needed. Quite honestly, Natalie Darwitz sounds like she'd be he perfect employee at most businesses where it seems that no detail goes missed by her.

Jayna Hefford, PWHL senior vice president of hockey operations, made it very clear that the work that Darwitz was doing in Minneapolis/St. Paul was vital to the league's overall success, stating, "If she's not leading that team, maybe that doesn't happen. Natalie has great connections and relationships in that market. People there have such appreciation for who she is and what she means to Minnesota hockey. That counts for a lot."

That's why Natalie Darwitz being dismissed by the PWHL is completely inexplicable after all she's reportedly done for the league.

If there was internal friction between Klee and Darwitz, it's hard to justify keeping the coach over the general manager. If there was some sort of internal conflict within the Minnesota team that saw more than one person raise concerns about Darwitz, the argument gets stronger for why she was dismissed, but the league also needs to look out for its best interests when it comes to all the stuff she did shown above. Unless someone starts talking, this situation casts doubt about the transparency of this league and how it operates in the same way that the previous women's leagues kept secrets.

Whenever a highly-respected person is dismissed without an explanation from an industry in which he or she is a leader, there are going to be lots of questions that need answers. If this truly was over a clash with personnel, I get that Natalie Darwitz isn't the face of the Minnesota team, but she is the heartbeat of the operation as she built that team with one goal in mind: win a championship. There's a clear chechmark in that box, so I struggle to understand how she suddenly became expendable from both a team and league standpoint.

It's time for the PWHL to start talking. This inexplicable move will likely sour a few people if it's allowed to fester in the news, and we were told that when the PWHL went live that women's hockey deserved better. It's time to make good on that promise.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!