Jessica Campbell, NHL’s first woman assistant coach, on the pinch-me moments: ‘I don’t take it lightly’
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By Chris Johnston
Oct 30, 2024
TORONTO — As a rule, most NHL teams don’t permit their assistant coaches to speak with reporters. It’s a practice that has spread like wildfire across the league in recent years as teams seek to control in-house messaging by limiting the number of voices speaking for the organization.
That’s what made this invitation so unusual, and refreshing: The Seattle Kraken, on what was otherwise an off day for players and staff, preemptively asked the media to visit their downtown Toronto hotel Wednesday, a day before facing the Maple Leafs, for an interview opportunity with their newest assistant coach.
Consider it a testament to who Jessica Campbell is and the magnitude of what she accomplished by becoming the first woman to stand behind an NHL bench as an assistant coach earlier this month.
Eventually, the presence of a woman on a coaching staff in the world’s top hockey league will probably be commonplace, as it already is in the NBA, the NFL and MLB. Today, it remains a noteworthy story, especially with the Kraken making their way through big Canadian hockey markets for the first time since she was hired to join Dan Bylsma’s staff in early July.
“I don’t take it lightly the path that I’m on and charting for hopefully others to come down and be part of,” Campbell said. “But I think there’s so much to this schedule, to this job, that I can’t take any moment for granted.
“I really just focus on my work and hope that that success or that impact is a good one and it can only lead to good for others. But it keeps me grounded and it puts a lot of meaning into the work that I do, knowing that I’m part of something a lot bigger than myself, and really, this sport.”
Campbell earned her promotion to the big leagues like any player might, spending two years on Bylsma’s staff with the AHL’s Coachella Valley Firebirds and playing an integral role in helping that team reach consecutive Calder Cup finals. When Bylsma was tabbed to replace the fired Dave Hakstol in the offseason, he asked Campbell to join him in Seattle.
She is now 10 games into her NHL career and still experiencing pinch-me moments. One of those came Tuesday at the Bell Centre in Montreal, where the Kraken roared to an 8-2 win over the Canadiens, the team the daughter of a French teacher from tiny Rocanville, Sask., grew up cheering for.
“It hit me last night,” Campbell said. “I grew up wearing the Habs jersey and on the pond, and then it was my toque and mitts. To be part of that and obviously for the team to have a great night, it was a huge moment, a huge win.”
She’s felt welcomed by her peers during her first month touring the NHL. Minnesota Wild head coach John Hynes made a point of introducing himself before an Oct. 12 game against the Kraken, and Calgary Flames assistant coach Dan Lambert came across the bench to greet her when their teams met on Oct. 19.
“The reception’s been really positive, and honestly, I feel part of that group now,” Campbell said.
Campbell rocketed through the coaching ranks after finishing a playing career that saw her represent Canada at the IIHF Women’s World Hockey Championship. She got a big boost from launching a power skating business in Kelowna, B.C., during the pandemic, because it exposed her to a group of local NHLers in need of a good skate, including Brent Seabrook, Luke Schenn and childhood friend Damon Severson.
Campbell recently told The Athletic’s Hailey Salvian that her work with those athletes “gave me permission to believe in this dream.”
She got on Bylsma’s radar at the 2022 IIHF Men’s World Hockey Championship after stints in Sweden with the Malmö Redhawks and in Germany with the Nürnberg Ice Tigers, where she turned around the power play and caught the attention of the country’s national program. As an assistant with the German team, she was the first woman ever to coach at worlds.
In Seattle, Campbell landed with the NHL’s 32nd team — an organization built from the ground up starting in 2021 with an eye toward inclusion. The Kraken had previously hired women for other key hockey operations positions, including assistant general manager Alexandra Mandrycky, and employed the first openly gay man to work behind an NHL bench in head athletic trainer Justin Rogers.
What separates Campbell from many of her NHL coaching peers is not only her gender but her age. She’s just 32. There are four players on the Kraken roster older than her and a couple of others who are just a couple of months younger.
As a player, Campbell preferred coaches who remained positive while delivering honest assessments, and she’s tried to incorporate that into her own style. Ask anyone who has played for her and they’ll tell you that they’ve never heard her raise her voice. She’s excelled in one-on-one work with players focused on their skating and skills, and in helping teams devise an effective power play — among her main duties with the Kraken. Above all, she’s known for rolling up her sleeves and meeting the players wherever they are.
“I care about their success and their wellbeing, and I just want to get in the trenches and help them, whether that’s pre-practice, during or post-practice, in any way,” Campbell said. “They’ve been great. They’ve been very supportive and executing the game plan.”
Buoyed by a big night in Montreal, where the Kraken pumped home three power-play goals in their blowout victory, Seattle entered play Wednesday with the NHL’s 13th most effective power play at 21.9 percent — an uptick from the 20.7 percent conversion rate the team finished with last season.
It’s still early days for a team that carries a 5-4-1 record into Thursday’s meeting with Toronto.
But it’s been a busy week for Campbell, who also conducted a media availability with reporters in Montreal and appeared on the popular RDS program “Antichambre” alongside Manon Rhéaume, who became the first woman to play in any of the major North American pro sports leagues when she suited up for the Tampa Bay Lightning during the 1992 preseason — the year Campbell was born.
Campbell told Rhéaume that she was part of the reason she grew up believing she’d one day play in the NHL. Now in her own position of prominence behind the Kraken bench, it’s dawned on her that she’s become a shining light of hope for the next generation of hockey-loving girls.
“One moment stands out to me, and I get a little emotional because it’s these moments that hit the most,” Campbell said. “When we were in Dallas (on Oct. 13), there was a little girl and her mom — she was maybe, I don’t know, 8 years old — and she came behind the bench for warmups and had friendship bracelets. She threw ’em over the glass and they went all the way onto the ice. She was just so excited and her mom was shaking with excitement.
“For me, I locked eyes with her in that moment … and really it hit me that I’m looking at her and she can now see what she can become. I never had that.”
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