Amanda Kessel will take a year away from Team USA to focus on her new role with the Pittsburgh Penguins and preparing for the new PWHL.

Amanda Kessel won't play for Team USA in international competition this year according to a recent report on NHL.com.

Kessel was hired earlier this offseason as a new special assistant to president of hockey operations and general manager with the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins.

According to the article, Kessel "said she's going to take a year off from playing for the U.S. to focus on her new position and to train in preparation for the new women's professional hockey league that's set to debut in January."

"Not knowing all the details and whatnot and having this great opportunity, I'm kind of going to take a step back and kind of see how everything goes and reevaluate," Kessel said.

Kessel scored nine points in seven games for Team USA at the recent World Championships helping her team to gold. She only managed to get into six games in the PWHPA's Secret Dream Gap Tour last season scoring five points with Team Adidas.