Pittsburgh Penguins announce changes to front office including promotion for Jason Spezza

With the 2024-25 hockey season inching ever closer, the Pittsburgh Penguins have announced some big changes. President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Kyle Dubas announced the changes, which comes with a big promotion for former player Jason Spezza.

Spezza had been serving as an assistant GM to Dubas since June of 2023. Spezza retains that role, and has alos been promoted to the General Manager of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the AHL.

In 2022-23, Spezza served as a special advisor to Dubas while Dubas was the GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Spezza resigned from that post when Dubas was fired as Toronto's GM by Brendan Shanahan.

Other changes announced by Dubas include making Amanda Kessel the Manager of Minor League Operations and Assistant General Manager of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins under Spezza. Jonathan Erlichman, formerly of the MLB's Tampa Bay Rays, has been named Vice President of Hockey Research, Development and Strategy. Kevin Elliott has been named Head Athletic Trainer after spending the last three seasons as Manager of Medical Services with Hockey Canada. A full list of the changes can be found here.

Kyle Dubas is hoping his new front office can help the Pittsburgh Penguins make a return to the playoffs after missing the post season two years in a row. It's the first time that happened to Pittsburgh since 2006. At the top of Dubas's list of things to do will be re-signing superstar Sidney Crosby to a new contract. Crosby becomes a free agent at the end of 2024-25 if something new isn't in place before then.