More PWHL Minnesota Staff Dismissed From "Toxic" and "Unprofessional" Environment

The offseason saga involving PWHL Minnesota took another turn this week after Ken Klee informed more staff hired by former PWHL Minnesota general manager Natalie Darwitz that they would not be returning.

"I've never seen something so toxic and something handled so unprofessionally," said one former PWHL Minnesota staff who requested anonymity.

The former PWHL staff spoke about the third party consultation from Bloom Sports that the league claimed was the basis for Darwitz's dismissal . According to the source, members of the Bloom team vocally acknowledged there was a "common theme" when staff expressed concern over the culture under Ken Klee, not the culture under Darwitz.

"I've never been around a more professional leader than Natalie Darwitz, the way she communicated, the way she spoke to you...I felt like a valued part of that staff," the former staff stated.

PWHL Director of Hockey Operations Jayna Hefford told The Hockey News in early June that the Bloom report was not "glowingly positive," which led to the change in personnel.

"If they were glowingly positive, in addition to the other internal review we did, if they were glowingly positive we wouldn't be here right now," said Hefford.

Hefford did however, express her respect for Darwitz.

"Ton of respect for Natalie," Hefford said. "I've known her for quite some time, played against her and obviously we hired her into this role because of the respect we have for her, and she did an incredible job in building this inaugural season, we understand how much she means to the state of Minnesota and we're obviously disappointed that it's come to this point which has led us to part ways."

Previous reports stated that staff walked in on Klee and captain Kendall Coyne Schofield planning for the PWHL draft prior to the dismissal of Natalie Darwitz, asking why the general manager was not present. According to the newly dismissed staff, there was pre-planning to this move as well. The now dismissed staff state they were contacted recently by other members of the Minnesota hockey community saying that Ken Klee had reached out to them inquiring about hiring them for coaching roles prior to contacting the staff who were set to be let go.

In terms of their own dismissal, no reason was given to the staff members dismissed this week. According to the former staff, Klee told them the organization was "going in a different direction."

"I don't know if Ken Klee is the general manager, I don't know if Ken Klee is the head coach, I've never been part of something more unprofessional," they said.

But it was an environment, as previous reports confirmed , that began long before this offseason. According to the former PWHL Minnesota staff who spoke with The Hockey News, changes started prior to the inaugural season when head coach Charlie Burggraf and Minnesota parted ways, and the league inserted Klee. Klee had applied for the head coach and general manager jobs in Minnesota prior to the season but was unsuccessful.

"When Charlie was let go and Ken came in, it couldn't have been more opposite. Arrogant, smug...from that day forward there started to be a divide in my opinion; divide in the staff, divide in the players, it became a very toxic environment."

Part of that divide was between Klee and Darwitz, where as the former staff explained, "There were times when you could tell Ken and Natalie went above and beyond to not cross paths."

Natalie Darwitz, who was recently announced as a member of the 2024 Hockey Hall of Fame induction class was dismissed by the PWHL only days after the club she built, PWHL Minnesota, won the inaugural Walter Cup as PWHL champions .

Following Darwitz's dismissal, other PWHL Minnesota staff reported they saw the writing on the wall. As Hefford stated, "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."

The former staff believe the fact they supported Darwitz played a role in their dismissal.

According to multiple league and team sources, along with reports from other news outlets, including The Athletic who originally broke the story of Darwitz's firing, and Minnesota's Star Tribune, PWHL Minnesota head coach Ken Klee and captain Kendall Coyne Schofield were central in ousting Darwitz. It was a situation that The Athletic's Michael Russo referred to as the "dysfunction and backstabbing of Natalie Darwitz."

According to Russo, Coyne Schofield, who captained PWHL Minnesota and was a leader in the PWHPA's efforts to form the new league "wields a lot of power with the league..."

"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," he said.

Throughout the year, according to sources within the PWHL Minnesota organization , Coyne Schofield did not participate in team workouts, and soon had the support from other veterans and Klee to conduct their own workouts, rather than team prescribed training with the rest of the roster.

According to former staff members, the power imbalances within PWHL Minnesota were prominent.

"The rumbling from the "lower end girls," were that basically they feel bullied by the veterans and the leadership group, because they're all tight with Ken and they've got Ken's ear," the former staff said. "Ken was telling players to not go on the ice because they were taking reps away from the important players who were actually going to play."

Following the dismissal of Natalie Darwitz, PWHL Minnesota and the league also dealt with the drafting of Britta Curl , and athlete who has voiced open transphobic ideas and had social media activity promoting transphobic and racism. Curl later posted an apology video online .

According to the former staff, they feel the dysfunction within the PWHL and PWHL Minnesota are a reason Minnesota has seen players retiring and leaving stating "it's not because they want to (retire)..."

Darwitz released her own statement on June 9 saying , "I would like to thank the State of Hockey for their support of PWHL Minnesota. As the General Manager of PWHL Minnesota, I gave my heart and soul to provide a first-class experience to the players, staff and fans. My goal was to grow the game of women’s hockey and to show young girls their dream could become a reality."

No league announcement has come regarding the current status of remaining staff in Minnesota, including who is the current general manager or if the search for a new general manager is underway. Similarly, the league has yet to announce the recent dismissal of at least three more members of PWHL Minnesota's staff.

Continue to follow The Hockey News for more developments on this story.

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