In Hainsight: PWHL Minnesota Signings Media Availability

At 4:00 PM PWHL Minnesota general manager Natalie Darwitz met the media with her three signings: Kendall Coyne Schofield, Kelly Pannek and Lee Stecklein.

There’s breaking news in Minnesota, dontcha know?!

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These players are going to be our bread and butter🧈
📰 https://t.co/Dd9ExbQ9Wn pic.twitter.com/yjUr1V5y53

— PWHL Minnesota (@PWHL_Minnesota) September 6, 2023

Darwitz was clearly very pleased with her three signings, and she was clear on the kind of team she wanted to put on the ice: “I love offense, we’ll be a fun team to watch”. The GM wants to ice a team which will be fast and skillful, the kind of team opponents hate to play. She also says that she wants her players to have offensive freedom which is why she’s so glad she’s got Stecklein to anchor the team’s blue line.”

Furthermore, she also thought it was important to build a team identity which Minnesotans can identify with. Having signed two Minnesota natives and the Team USA captain who has played in the state before, she can say mission accomplished. Interestingly, Darwitz’s team has got the first pick at the upcoming draft and there will be a talented young forward ailing from Minnesota available in Taylor Heise.

I couldn’t help but ask Darwitz if she’ll be able to resist the temptation to make Heise the first pick overall considering her team doesn’t have a goaltender yet and that after that initial pick, the team won’t speak for a while as it’s a snake draft and her reply didn’t disappoint: “I know who our first pick is going to be and I’m excited about it, I hope she’s excited about it to. We’ll be sitting on our hands for a while after that pick, so we need to be careful, but we’ll eventually pick a good goaltender. She stopped short of confirming Heise will be the first pick, but it seems obvious that will be the case.”

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Kendall Coyne Schofield received numerous questions during the presser, and it was interesting to hear how she felt about free agency. Having just had a baby, she was nervous and worried that people might wonder if she’d be able to perform at the same level on the ice, but there was none of that from Darwitz which was great.

As she was part of the delegation of players who negotiated the collective bargaining agreement, she also spoke about that long process which took a long time but was as cordial and cooperative as could be. While the players didn’t get everything they wanted in this groundbreaking CBA, the majority of their demands were met. Now, it’s time to leave this behind and focus on everything they did get and make the most of it.

Pannek was the first player to sign with the team and Durwitz called that move a no-brainer. Her new teammate Stecklein describes her as one of the smartest players on the ice with a very high hockey IQ, she’s not afraid to chat and work things out which makes her a great teammate. The fact that Pannek and Stecklein played together for a couple of seasons in the NCAA probably helped to create the complicity which was obvious during this presser. Schofield also praised her as a person, adding that she was already looking for a place to live for her.

As for Stecklein, Pannek said they were lucky to have her on their team as she’s so hard to play against. She’s a calm and steady presence on the blue line who communicates a lot on the ice. Over the years, she’s also improved offensively and while she’s tall, she’s still very shifty.

Darwitz acknowledged the fact that so far, Canadian teams are sticking to Canadian players and American teams are sticking to American players but stated that in the draft, anyone could end up anywhere. If this tendency is replicated at the draft though and the league ends up having a bit of a Canada vs. USA rivalry, it won’t be a bad thing since this is one of the best rivalry in the world.

After spending an hour with the team’s three building blocks and their GM, it looks like they will be a great team to watch with very solid leadership and great camaraderie. I don’t know if the league’s games will be televised, but the PWHL Minnesota team will be one of the teams I’ll be most interested in watching.