Yahoo Sports From Player to Pioneer: Jessica Campbell lands historic role with Seattle Kraken
The National Hockey League’s (NHL) Seattle Kraken made history last week by hiring Jessica Campbell as an assistant coach. With her appointment, Campbell becomes the first woman to be part of an NHL bench staff.
So, who is Jessica Campbell? What has led to her role with the Kraken? We explore these questions and more after the jump.
A true student of the game
Campbell is no stranger to hockey or coaching. As has much of the coaching ranks in the NHL, she has been an avid hockey player from an early age. An offensive superstar, the Canadian international’s play at the U-18 level caught the eye of several universities throughout Canada and the US. Campbell opted for Cornell University in New York State, where she starred as a forward in her four seasons. Following her successful collegiate career, she joined the Calgary Inferno of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League.
From the ice to the bench
Campbell also skated for Canada’s national team, earning a silver medal with the team at the 2015 IIHF World Championships. Following her playing career, the star from Saskatchewan joined the coaching ranks. Opening her own skill and skating business, JC Powerskating, Campbell realized her passion for coaching athletes at the elite level. From there, she was an assistant coach for the Malmo Redhawks of Sweden’s Svenska Hockeyligan (SHL). She joined Germany’s national team at the IIHF 2022 Championships as an assistant coach. Campbell was then called to Seattle’s American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Coachella Valley Firebirds.
Campbell’s hire as a full-time assistant coach of the Firebirds was the first hire of a woman at this level in the AHL. Working closely with head coach Dan Bylsma, she demonstrated her extensive knowledge of the game and her ability to help improve players. When Bylsma was hired by the Kraken to become their head coach in May of this year, many in the hockey world thought Campbell would join him on the Seattle bench. This past week, she made history when she was announced to her role as assistant coach.
Campbell looks to spark the Kraken offense
As she did at Coachella, Campbell will work with the Kraken forwards on their offensive zone skills and with the team’s power-play units. Well-renowned for her hockey knowledge, Seattle is counting on Campbell to help develop these crucial areas of the team. In the 2023/24 season, Seattle had the fourth-fewest goals scored and missed the playoffs. Campbell’s knowledge and experience will be vital to helping the Kraken climb the ladder and challenge for the playoffs.
Campbell joins other trailblazers
With the hiring of Campbell, the NHL joins the three other “Big 4” sports leagues in the United States to employ women at the assistant coach level. The National Basketball League (NBA) has been at the forefront of women coaches in a men’s league. Legendary player and coach Nancy Lieberman was the first hire of a woman as coach of a men’s professional team. Lieberman rose through the ranks as coach of the Texas Legends in the NBA Development League in 2009. She was hired as an assistant coach of the NBA’s Sacramento Kings in 2015.
Becky Hammon was the first woman hired to coach in the four major professional leagues. The San Antonio Spurs brought her in as a full-time assistant coach in 2014, a role she served until 2021. She remains the only woman to thus far serve as a head coach in the Big 4, stepping in when Spurs coach Greg Popovich was ejected from a game.
Major League Baseball’s (MLB) San Francisco Giants hired Alyssa Nakken as an assistant coach in 2020, making her the first woman to coach in baseball’s top league. Nakken interviewed for the Giants for a managerial role, the first woman to do so in the league.
The National Football League’s (NFL) Arizona Cardinals hired Jen Welter in 2015, the first NFL team to hire a woman to a coaching position. This followed her previously being the first woman to play a non-kicking position on a men’s professional American football team.
History made, and still more to make
Jessica Campbell’s joining of the Kraken coaching staff is a historic moment and an intelligent choice by Seattle. She brings knowledge and experience to an area where the team needs help. Fairly or unfairly, her career will be watched under a microscope. Looking at her resume, one is confident she will bring positive results.
Another glass ceiling has been shattered in women’s involvement in sport, and it will only help the meteoric rise in popularity of women’s sport. This is an exciting time to be a fan of women in sport, and an opportunity to help women’s athletics grow.
Finally, since we are talking about a coach in the NHL, and the author of this article is from Buffalo, we end this piece with two words:
NO GOAL.
