Penguins Hire New Vice President of Player Personnel
The Pittsburgh Penguins are adding to their executive team. President of Hockey Operations Kyle Dubas announced that his staff is expanding with the hiring of Wes Clark. Clark will hold the role of Vice President of Player Personnel.
His responsibilities will focus on the scouting and player development departments. In the team's announcement on their X account, they shared more details of Clark's hiring.
"Clark will oversee the club's amateur, professional and college/European free agent scouting departments and will report directly to Kyle Dubas," the organization said.
The relationship between Clark and Dubas goes way back and contributed to his hiring in Pittsburgh. Before joining the Penguins organization, Clark worked with the Toronto Maple Leafs for the last six seasons. He and Dubas were co-workers with the Leafs before Dubas' firing. Most recently, Clark held the positions of Director of Player Personnel and Director of Amateur Scouting.
Prior to his time with the Maple Leafs, Clark worked as an amateur scout with the Florida Panthers, his first NHL job. Before making the leap to the NHL, he worked with Kyle Dubas again as the Director of Player Personnel for the Soo Greyhounds of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL).
This move is the latest by the organization to improve their scouting teams. Last season, the Penguins promoted Andy Saucier to the head of their pro scouting department and hired Trent Mann as a player development and scouting advisor. The introduction of Wes Clark is another step forward, as they search for ways to keep the team relevant in the waning years of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.