Power and Influence: What we continue to learn about Natalie Darwitz's dismissal

The continued evolution of the story surrounding Natalie Darwitz's departure from PWHL Minnesota only days after the team she built won the inaugural Walter Cup final continues to go in different directions, with two very different perspectives being provided. Here is everything we know.

The situation in Minnesota continues to develop. Last week, The Athletic first broke the story that PWHL Minnesota general manager Natalie Darwitz had been removed from her position and would not be returning to the team. According another report from The Athletic, Darwitz was given three options at the time, which included taking a role in the PWHL hockey operations department, issuing a joint statement where "she would announce she had achieved everything she wanted in the first year of the franchise and was moving on to a new challenge" or to attend the PWHL Draft appearing as a member of PWHL Minnesota's staff as her contract officially ran until June 30, but with no authority to make picks.

Since then, things have continued on a back and forth where sources from within the team continue to speak on the basis of anonymity, or to provide information on background alone. The league issued their first statement, and PWHL senior vice president of hockey operations Jayna Hefford in conjunction with Mandy Gutmann, the PWHL's vice president of communications and external affairs, began addressing media to provide the league's stance.

The two stories have differed significantly from the beginning. Darwitz herself has been unable to provide details on the situation, and members of PWHL Minnesota including coach Ken Klee and captain Kendall Coyne Schofield who have alleged involvement in the decisions coming out of Minnesota, have been unable or unwilling to provide comment to date.

Here's what we're hearing and seeing on this situation:

Michael Russo of The Athletic was the first to break the story of PWHL Minnesota general manager Natalie Darwitz being relieved of her duties by the league, and some of the reasons behind it. He went on Sunday Sermons with Dan Barreiro this weekend and put the league on blast for their handling of the situation. Russo stated the story itself was delayed in coming out "because the league is beyond incompetent."

"It was really a remarkably eye opening experience and we've heard all sorts of stories about how poorly run this league has been all year, and to their credit they made their first year work, but dealing with them behind the scenes the first two days of this story was hilarious," Russo said on the radio show.

He referred to the story itself as "disfunction and backstabbing of Natalie Darwitz" and clarified that it was a league decision to bring in Klee at the beginning of the season, and that that decision did not go to the general manager, who would typically be in charge of coaching decisions in a league not under single entity operation. Russo also re-affirmed the idea that after Klee's arrival, there was a clear rift between the coach and GM that spanned the season.

"It was very clear all year long that there was some sort of rift or power struggle going on between coach Ken Klee and Natalie Darwitz," Russo said. This aligns with a previous report from Minnesota's Star Tribune stating that Darwitz "clashed with coach Ken Klee, who has the support of several of the team's veterans, including captain Kendall Coyne Schofield."

Russo called it a situation rife for conflict as Klee applied for Darwitz's job and did not get it, and also applied for the head coaching job in Minnesota and did not get that position either. According to Russo, the league placed Klee into the job, removing the choice from Darwitz when the head coach Darwitz had hired initially, Charlie Burggraf, lost his job with the team days before the season.

According to Jess Myers, a writer for The Rink Live who spoke on the Bruce Ciskie Show this week, Klee told them on May 31 he wanted both jobs. "I really hadn't heard anything other than when I didn't get the job. I had interviewed for the GM and the head coach. I wanted it to be kind of a combo."

Now acting as head coach and general manager at the PWHL Draft, that wish has come true.

Russo also spoke on the veteran impact of players in building upon the rift between Klee and Darwitz. Aligning with what sources have told The Hockey News, Russo confirmed it was a small group of veterans behind the scenes that supported Klee, including captain Kendall Coyne Schofield.

"One is clearly Kendall Coyne Schofield...Kendall wields a lot of power with the league...I think a lot of the things she tells Jayna Hefford who runs the league is stuff that just turns into being teflon...." Russo said.

Russo continued saying, "It's just very clear that Kendall had a lot of power this year both inside the league and with the team...inside the organization there were people that told us she called lines on the bench, she just had a lot of power for a player on the team, I don't think it's without the realm of possibility that what we're hearing has a lot of truth to it...I think she definitely had her hands in this."

"They clearly had to pick one between Natalie and Ken and they chose to keep Ken."

One remark Russo also discussed was Coyne Schofield's comments at PWHL Minnesota's celebration at the Xcel Energy Center, a venue Darwitz had helped secure through her relationship with the Minnesota Wild, where Russo pointed out that Coyne Schofield said the organization's success started at the top, but claimed that top was Ken Klee, making no mention of the actual top, Natalie Darwitz.

Russo also stated that the consulting firm brought in recommended that the situation be mediated between Klee and Darwitz, and was not unique to professional sport, but it was decided by the PWHL not to take that route. 

The PWHL held a press conference following the story coming to light, but only invited three outlets - The Associated Press, The Athletic, and Star Tribune - to participate in the media conference with PWHL senior vice president of hockey operations Jayna Hefford. 

Outlets, including The Hockey News have reached out to Ken Klee and Kendall Coyne Schofield for comment, but they remain unable or unwilling to comment. The league itself released a brief statement, and this weekend, Natalie Darwitz broke her own silence on the matter releasing a statement on her departure, but ended the comment stating at this time she is unable to provide additional details.

Media were not aware a call had happened until The Associated Press' John Wawrow quoted Hefford stating the comments had come during "a Zoom interview with select members of the media."

***Editors note: Following the PWHL's media conference with chosen outlets, the league did reach out to The Hockey News and facilitated a call with Hefford.

Still at this point, many players and staff are speaking in support of Natalie Darwitz, claiming their shock, and belief she should still be the general manager of this organization, while the side who allegedly pushed for her dismissal, remains silent.

It is unclear when this decision occurred internally, but Natalie Darwitz did not participate in any PWHL Minnesota press availability during the PWHL playoffs or following PWHL Minnesota's championship. Conversely, general managers from other organizations including runner-up PWHL Boston's Danielle Marmer were present on media conferences following the Walter Cup championship, while others including Mike Hirshfeld and Gina Kingsbury from PWHL Ottawa and Toronto respectively held pre-draft press conferences.

The last comment provided by the PWHL from Darwitz came from an external source when Darwitz appeared on Jeff Marek's show stating “There was never a point this season where I didn’t believe in this group of players...and we played our best hockey at the right time.”

Kendall Coyne Schofield was the leader of this group according to multiple reports and sources within the organization. It's not clear when or where the influence started, or how much influence into decisions this group had, but there were sources who stated the beginning of this story starts with how former head coach Charlie Burggraf was removed from his role days prior to the season. 

Burggraf was officially named head coach of PWHL Minnesota on September 15, 2023. There was a significant period of time between Burggraf taking over the bench and Coyne Schofield joining the team. Coyne Schofield did not begin training with the team until closer to the regular season opening, nor did she participate in the PWHL's preseason that took place in early December in Utica, New York. As Natalie Darwitz said in an interview with The Hockey News in Utica on December 5, "I think any day we can give (Coyne Schofield) postpartum to stay in her routine with her little son at home and just feel good about that, I'm a big believer that if your home life is great, you're going to come to the rink great and vice versa," said Darwitz. "So for us to allow her some extra time I think will go a long way, and I think it already has for her and the team fully understands her why, and what the circumstances are."

It's unknown how Coyne Schofield's return to the roster was, or was not related to Burggraf's departure, but sources stated at the time players did not like Burggraf's coaching and wanted him out.

In terms of the other veterans who backed Ken Klee in the current situation, that group reportedly includes Lee Stecklein, Kelly Pannek, and Nicole Hensley. Coyne Schofield and Stecklein both won gold playing for Ken Klee as members of Team USA in 2015 and 2016. Hensley was USA's third goaltender in 2016 under Klee. It seems the group in support of Darwitz was significantly larger than the group in support of Klee, but according to sources, members of this group provided an ultimatum to choose Klee over Darwitz.  

The league has stated none of these situations are the reason for Darwitz's removal from her role. As Jayna Hefford told The Hockey News, unequivocally denying that any individuals influenced the decision making,  "...the feedback in this market after very thorough and extensive both internal and external reviews was that there wasn't a path forward with the current personnel as a whole in place," and also stated that "...any suggestion that it was because one or two people disagreed, that's simply not the case.”

According to multiple team staff from across the league who completed PWHL surveys this season, there were no questions specifically related to the performance of general managers in reviews they received or participated in, aside from questions on team budgets. 

There is no clear answer here as players, team and league staff, and agents remain vastly divided on what happened and how it happened.

According to multiple sources within PWHL Minnesota, the influence of this group of veteran players alongside coach Ken Klee has been significant. Text messages obtained by The Hockey News suggest members of PWHL Minnesota's player pool were aware Darwitz was about to be fired before the general manager was aware and before news broke of the situation.

To add to this, a source within PWHL Minnesota's organizations claims Ken Klee, Coyne Schofield, and assistant coach Mira Jalosuo have been discussing the draft for weeks. At one point, according to the source, team staff walked in on one of these draft discussions and questioned why the general manager wasn't present.

Another instance, according to members of PWHL Minnesota, occurred during team training sessions and workouts. Early in the season, as this source explained, Coyne Schofield opted to do her own workouts instead of participating in team workouts, and soon got the support of other the veteran members of the team to not follow the program set forth by their team strength and conditioning coach. According to the source, coach Ken Klee backed the veteran group of players when the issue was brought up. The issue was brought to the league, but eventually, the team's trainer "resigned."

The final piece to this puzzle appears to be player concern over how the departure of Natalie Darwitz will impact their future with the team and the league, particularly those who were upset over Darwitz's dismissal.

Multiple players and other sources confirmed that Darwitz had opened discussions and contract negotiations with players. For some those discussions were preliminary, while others had reached financial terms closing in on signing extensions. Since news broke last week, none of those players have been contacted by PWHL Minnesota or the league, leaving players to believe the agreements they were working on no longer exist, and that they may not be welcomed back to the team despite the messaging they received during exit meetings and in initial contract negotiations.

As one source stated, it's a ripple effect that spans far beyond Darwitz, Klee, or players on three-year guaranteed contracts who cannot be released for any reason, and among players will most significantly impact players coming off league minimum salaries and one-year deals.