Jessica Campbell Joins Kraken, Becomes NHL's 1st Full-Time Female Assistant Coach
July 3, 2024
The Seattle Kraken on Wednesday hired Jessica Campbell as an assistant coach, making her the first woman to be named to a full-time NHL coaching position.
Campbell spent the last two seasons as an assistant coach for the Kraken's AHL affiliate, the Coachella Valley Firebirds.
NHL Coaches' Association @NHLCoachesAssoc🚨Historic hire!🚨 <br><br>Jessica Campbell becomes the first full-time female Assistant Coach in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NHL?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NHL</a> history as she joins Dan Bylsma's <a href="https://twitter.com/SeattleKraken?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SeattleKraken</a> coaching staff.<br><br>👏👏👏 <a href="https://t.co/Mo1F76w0yD">pic.twitter.com/Mo1F76w0yD</a>
She will now rejoin newly hired Kraken head coach Dan Bylsma, whom she worked with during both her seasons with the Firebirds.
Campbell, 32, spent her playing career at Cornell, in the CWHL and representing Team Canada on international ice. She helped her country to a gold medal at the 2014 4 Nations Cup.
Campbell also helped Canada win silver at the 2015 IIHF Women's World Championships and contributed to the Calgary Inferno's trip to the 2016 Clarkson Cup.
After her playing career, Campbell served as a coach in Germany's top pro league with the Nuremberg Ice Tigers.
Campbell became the first woman to be an assistant coach for a men's team at the IIHF Men's Ice Hockey World Championship in May 2022 when she worked behind Team Germany's bench. There she was focused on special teams and player development, per IIHF.com's Andrew Podnieks.
Two months later, she was named the first female assistant coach in AHL history ahead of Coachella Valley's debut season. She helped manage the Firebirds' power play (h/t TheAHL.com's Patrick Williams) as the team went to back-to-back Calder Cup finals in its first two seasons in the league.
Campbell has also played a role in player development, including hosting half-hour skill sessions before Firebirds practices, per Ryan S. Clark of ESPN.
After she worked with undrafted forward Tye Kartye on his skating during his rookie 2022-23 season, Kartye was named the AHL's most outstanding rookie and earned a spot on the Kraken roster for the 2023-24 season, per Williams and The Score's Jolene Latimer.
Bylsma has also credited Campbell for her work developing Kraken prospects Shane Wright and Ryker Evans.
Campbell additionally has NHL coaching experience after working with the New York Rangers' prospect development camp ahead of the 2022-23 season.
The Kraken's power play ranked 17th in the NHL with a 20.7 percent success rate in 2023-24, while the team's overall scoring rate of 2.61 goals per game ranked 29th. Seattle will hope Campbell can begin improving the power play while helping develop young offensive talents like Matty Beniers as the Kraken look to build toward playoff contention this fall.