NHL
Who is Jessica Campbell? The woman making history in the NHL
The 32-year-old Canadian became the first female assistant coach in National Hockey League history - the last in the country to be an exclusively male domain.
Another landmark for women in sport was reached on Tuesday - Jessica Campbell became the first woman to serve as an assistant coach in an NHL game, the only one of the four major American leagues in which the invisible barrier was still in force.
The 32-year-old Canadian debuted on the Seattle Kraken’s coaching staff in the first game of the new season, against the Saint Louis Blues - a moment which she celebrated despite the team’s 3-2 defeat. “I definitely understand that the magnitude and the importance of this moment is really important for our game. Now I am part of something bigger than myself,” she proudly told reporters afterwards.
Jessica Campbell following on from her impressive playing career
Like many of those who preceded her in similar roles in other sports, Campbell has not been gifted anything during her career. As a player, she boasts an outstanding resume in the Canadian league and with at international level. And as a coach she accumulated experience with Germany’s men’s national team during the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in 2022 and then with the Coachella Valley Firebirds, the Kraken’s development team.
She was on the rise until Dan Bylsma, the head coach, noticed her. And now she has opened a door through which she hopes others will pass in the future: “I am conscious that the young people who will be playing their first hockey game tomorrow will know that there can be a female coach on the bench. It’s something very special to me. I’m going to try to honor what it is,” she said.
Spotlight on Campbell during her NHL coaching debut
With her new responsibilities came scrutiny. The cameras were on her throughout the game. Her duties now include coordinating the forwards with Dave Lowry and the power play with Bob Woods, and she was seen in a very active role.
“I’ve watched her evolution as a coach. Her first year at Coachella Valley was also my first year. She was more timid then, trying to figure out how everything worked. Now she has a more assertive style, and she’s very smart and she really understands Dan, which allows them to be very cohesive in their game plan and strategy and execute what they have in mind for us,” the team’s goalkeeper Joey Daccord said.
“We’re all proud to be a part of this. It just sucks that we didn’t get the win for her,” added Vince Dunn, compatriot and now Campbell’s pupil.
She was also recognized by the crowd when she was introduced at Climate Pledge Arena, and couldn’t help but crack a small smile for the camera. There to support her were her parents, Monique (spotted wearing a Kraken jersey) and Gary, her uncles, Leo Parkel, her first minor league coach, and the Bulawkas, the family that gave her her first opportunity as their children’s skating coach.
“I’ve seen her work very, very hard. She’s put a lot of time and energy into understanding this game. It’s been very exciting, and I really respect her work ethic,” said her understandably proud mother, Monique.
Becky Hammon, a trailblazer in the NBA
The path Campbell is now following was set a decade ago by Becky Hammon. With the San Antonio Spurs, the women’s version of one of the teams where she forged a legendary career as a six-time All-Star, she became the first woman to serve as a full-time assistant coach (she became head coach for a few minutes after Gregg Popovich was ejected from a game in 2020) in the NBA, something that Nancy Liebermann then Jenny Boucek later did.
In the NFL, the first to take on that role was Kathryn Smith, who in 2016 joined the Buffalo Bills’ special teams quality control staff, a position she left with the firing of Rex Ryan the following season.
In the MLB, an opening first appeared in 2001, when Kim Ng signed as assistant general manager of the Dodgers, the first of her kind. Already in 2020, Ng became the first woman to assume the role of general manager in a franchise, the Miami Marlins. That same year, Alyssa Naken was hired by the San Francisco Giants as an assistant coach, marking a new milestone. The final frontier until Jessica Campbell appeared.