Jessica Campbell Breaks Barriers as NHL's First Full-Time Female Coach

The Seattle Kraken has appointed Jessica Campbell as the NHL's first full-time female coach. Campbell, 32, previously coached the Kraken's minor league franchise and has a history with the Canadian women's national team and German men's national team. She joins head coach Dan Bylsma at the league's newest franchise.

The Seattle Kraken made history on Wednesday with the hiring of assistant coach Jessica Campbell, who will become the first ever full-time female coach behind a National Hockey League (NHL) bench.

Campbell, 32, a former Canadian women's national team star and assistant coach with the Kraken minor league franchise Coachella Valley Firebirds for two seasons, joins new head coach Dan Bylsma at the league's youngest franchise. The groundbreaking signing follows a handful of similar coaching staff appointments in other major North American professional men's sports leagues in recent years, although top coaching jobs remain exclusively male.

"Jessica and I spent the last two years coaching in Coachella Valley," said Bylsma. They took that franchise to the American Hockey League's championship series in two straight seasons. "She has the ability to relate to players about their games and what they bring to a team. She's demonstrated that over the last two seasons."

Campbell's professional hockey resume includes assistant coaching stints with the German men's national team in 2022 and with the Deutsche Eishockey Liga's Nurnberg Ice Tigers.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)