Jessica Campbell was promoted to Seattle Kraken assistant coach Wednesday, making her the first woman to hold that job full-time with an NHL team.
Campbell spent the past two seasons as an assistant under Dan Bylsma with the Coachella Valley Firebirds, Seattle’s AHL affiliate, and helped them reach the Calder Cup Final in back-to-back years.
She held a number of different responsibilities with the Firebirds — overseeing the forwards and power play, while also doing skills work on the side.
A former high-level national team player in Canada with a background as a world-class skating coach, Campbell has been credited with helping the development of a number of the organization’s young prospects. The most notable among them is forward Tye Kartye, an undrafted free agent who was named the AHL’s rookie of the year while with the Firebirds in 2023 and graduated to a role with the Kraken this past season.
Campbell joins Emily Engel-Natzke — a video coach for the Washington Capitals — as the only women employed as traveling full-time members of NHL coaching staffs. Other women have been employed in temporary or part-time work by NHL teams or as guest coaches and trainers, but Campbell will be the first on the bench full-time.
Campbell previously became the first woman to be a…
