Just when it seemed like it was going to be quiet until the end of the offseason for PWHL Minnesota, they announced the hiring of a new general manager on Tuesday morning, Sept 3rd, right after the long weekend. After firing Natalie Darwitz barely a week after they won the Walter Cup, it was obvious they’d have to address the position sooner or later.
Melissa Caruso was all over the headlines as the new general manager for PWHL Minnesota. She will have big shoes to fill, as Darwitz was loved by Minnesotans and helped build a team that brought home a Championship after making it into the postseason at the last possible second.
In this article, we’ll examine Caruso’s background, why she’s fit for the job, and she can be successful. We’ll start with her background and move on from there.
Caruso Hails From Minnesota
Like Darwitz, Caruso is a Minnesota native with a hockey background. She’s spent the last 15 years of her career with the American Hockey League. However, before those days, she ventured outside the great state of hockey for her college journey, which unfolded in Massachusetts. She attended Springfield College and earned a Bachelor’s degree in Sports and Fitness Administration/Management.
After graduating from Springfield College, she joined the AHL and worked up the ladder over the past 15 years. She started as a Coordinator in Team Business Services and then moved up to Executive Assistant to the President of the AHL. She didn’t stop there; she continued moving up, as she was promoted to Vice President of Hockey Administration two years later.
She spent three years in that position before jumping to a new position as Vice President of Hockey Operations/Governance. That was her final position before being offered the general manager spot for PWHL Minnesota. With all of these different positions in the hockey world, it’ll be interesting to see how she adjusts to this new job in a different yet new league.
Caruso has the Skills
Some may wonder why PWHL Minnesota picked Caruso to take Darwitz’s spot. After seeing her resume, it’s clear they made a good choice. While Darwitz was the ultimate pick for Minnesota fans, and it’ll take time for the diehard fans to move on, Caruso and her background will eventually work their way into Minnesota fans’ hearts. She has extensive experience that makes her fit for this position.
She knows the game’s inner workings on the business and playing sides, which makes for a strong general manager. They need to understand everything about the game, not just one side or the other. She knew contracts, schedules, player registries, and many other things that most general managers don’t know before taking the job.
While the majority of her knowledge comes from a different league, it’ll make it that much easier for her to adjust to the PWHL. She knows what it takes to keep a league going, and thus the same can be said about keeping a team going. She is taking over a team that has had its fair share of drama the past few months, but hopefully, with her hire, they’ll be able to start in the right direction.
Caruso can Succeed
As stated before, Caruso is getting a team that went from its highest highs to its lowest lows in the past few months, and she will face a lot of criticism as she settles into her new position. While she wasn’t able to help build this team since she wasn’t named to the job until months after this year’s draft, she’ll have to learn the team that’s there, see what its current needs are to be a winning team again and try to replicate their success.
PWHL Minnesota has announced Melissa Caruso as General Manager.
— PWHL Minnesota (@PWHL_Minnesota) September 3, 2024
Caruso joins Minnesota from the AHL, where she spent 15 years.
📰 https://t.co/CXdS2GdSQV pic.twitter.com/IuuH2Ukczh
Several players have either retired or moved on to other teams, so she won’t have the exact same players to work with. However, she is starting with the same goaltending tandem, so she has that to her advantage. Finding strong goaltenders who work well together is a difficult task, but she doesn’t have to worry about it this season.
She’ll also have the same core offensive leadership in Kendall Coyne-Schofield, Taylor Heise, Grace Zumwinkle, Michela Cava, and Liz Schepers. Plus strong defenders in Lee Stecklein, Sophie Jaques, and Kelly Pannek. So, she has plenty of good things going her way that will hopefully outshine the bad.
Related: PWHL Minnesota Report Cards 2023-24: Brittyn Fleming
It also appears she’ll have the same head coach in Ken Klee, who helped the team through its many ups and downs throughout the season, including its seven-game skid heading into the postseason. Then, when they made it into the postseason, they went down two games to none against PWHL Toronto and had to stave off elimination three times to come back and win to move on to the second round, where they went on to win it all. Hopefully, Caruso is exactly what this team needs, and they can be the first team to win the Walter Cup back-to-back.
