Panthers' Brett Peterson becomes 1st Black GM of U.S. national team

USA Hockey named Florida Panthers assistant general manager Brett Peterson the GM of its senior men's national team Thursday.

He's the team's first-ever Black general manager, according to NHL.com's William Douglas.

Peterson will oversee the assembly of the American squad that will play at the World Championship hosted by Czechia in May 2024.

"It's a great honor, and I'm excited to get a group of fantastic individuals together and see what we can do," Peterson told Douglas.

"I'm very happy that our game and our sport continues to evolve and grow where there can be 'firsts' and 'seconds' and 'thirds,'" he continued. "I think it just speaks to what USA Hockey has done creating opportunities for so many different people to play the game, myself included, and then to continue to fall in love with it and continue to want to chase our dreams to the highest level."

Peterson became the first Black assistant GM in NHL history when the Panthers hired him in November 2020. He'd been a player agent since 2009 and was vice president of hockey for Wasserman Media Group before joining Florida.

He played five seasons as a defenseman in the AHL, ECHL, and IHL after playing four with Boston College.

The U.S. Men's National Team Advisory Group will assist Peterson. It's led by USA Hockey assistant executive director of hockey operations John Vanbiesbrouck and features 10 NHL GMs, including Kevyn Adams (Buffalo Sabres), Craig Conroy (Calgary Flames), Lou Lamoriello (New York Islanders), and Chris Drury (New York Rangers).

The Americans finished fourth at the Worlds this past spring.