The Pittsburgh Penguins have announced a flurry of staff operation additions and promotions.
Most notably, the club has promoted Jason Spezza to general manager of the Penguins’ American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
Spezza will remain in his role as assistant general manager with Pittsburgh. Amanda Kessel has been promoted to assistant general manager of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and will work under Spezza.
The Mississauga native replaces Penguins director of amateur scouting Erik Heasley, who had held the role for parts of the last four seasons. Heasley will remain in his amateur scouting role for the foreseeable future.
Spezza was hired by president of hockey operations and general manager Kyle Dubas last summer and served as assistant GM throughout the 2023-24 regular season.
The 41-year-old worked under Dubas in 2022-23 as a special assistant to the GM with the Toronto Maple Leafs after retiring from his playing career. He had resigned from his role the same day that the Maple Leafs announced that Dubas would not be returning as the GM for the 2023-24 campaign, which led to Toronto hiring Brad Treliving as Dubas’s replacement. Spezza has spent the last five years working with Dubas in some capacity, spending his final three seasons as a player with Toronto while Dubas was GM.
Spezza spent 19 seasons in the NHL over the course of his career, playing 11 years with the Ottawa Senators, five years with the Dallas Stars, and three years with the Maple Leafs. He finished his career with 363 goals, 632 assists, and 995 points in 1,248 regular season games, and 28 goals, 48 assists, and 76 points in 97 playoff games.
