The 2024 NHL season is here, and when the Seattle Kraken take the ice, there will be a new face on the bench — assistant coach Jessica Campell.
Campbell is a first-year coach for Seattle and the first woman to be an assistant or associate coach in NHL history. The Kraken hired Campbell in July after she spent the past two seasons as an assistant coach for the team’s AHL affiliate, the Coachella Valley Firebirds, gaining experience with Seatte’s new head coach, Dan Bylsma.
Campbell has a rich background in hockey, including a career that spanned college, the Canadian Women’s Hockey League and even Canada’s women’s national team, where she earned a silver medal at the 2015 world championship. She also spent time as a skating coach in the Swedish Hockey League and Germany with the Nürnberg Ice Tigers, and, in 2022, she was the first woman to serve as an assistant coach on the German national team for the men’s world championships.
"I believed I could do it….with that inner belief, whatever it is, in sport, in life, you can create whatever you believe in.”
Discover the journey of new #SeaKraken assistant coach, Jessica Campbell built on hard work, commitment & compassion → https://t.co/x1hAET7kNG pic.twitter.com/fBSrPeMzJC
— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) July 4, 2024
