Jessica Campbell makes history at the Seattle Kraken game against St. Louis. The 32-year-old is the first female coach in the NHL. Her steep rise also took her through the DEL and the German national team. Campbell comments on her debut in a refreshingly calm manner.
After 107 years, the National Hockey League (NHL) experienced a premiere. On the opening night of the new season, a woman stood behind a dugout for the first time in the league’s long history. Jessica Campbell, 32, played her first game as an assistant coach for the Seattle Kraken, making her the first female coach ever in the NHL.
The former Canadian international stood in the team box in a white pants suit and gave the players instructions during timeouts. For Campbell, who is now firmly linked to the history of the NHL, the start of the season went as usual. “It’s like riding a bike,” the trainer told sports channel ESPN after the first third. “I’ve been doing this for a while now, but the emotions, the excitement and the energy that comes with the start of a new season are still palpable.”
Campbell was named an assistant by Seattle’s new head coach Dan Bylsma in July. The duo had previously coached a Kraken farm team, the Coachella Valley Firebirds, in the American Hockey League (AHL) together. There, too, she was the first female coach in league history.
Campbell trained in the DEL
In an interview with NHL.com over the summer, Campbell recounted the moment she found out about her promotion to the NHL. “Immediately after I found out in a conversation with our general manager Ron Francis, I went back to the hotel and called my mom in tears,” said the ice hockey coach. “At first she thought something bad had happened. At the end we all cried together for joy. I was overwhelmed by all the feelings.”
Campbell also has a connection to Germany. In the 2021/22 season she worked as the first assistant coach in the German Ice Hockey League (DEL); The Nuremberg Ice Tigers hired her as a skills and skating coach, making her the first female coach in DEL history. At the 2022 World Cup, she was an assistant coach to then national coach Toni Söderholm for the German national team.
However, Campbell’s debut in the NHL was not successful. Despite 22 saves from national goalkeeper Philipp Grubauer and a two-goal lead, the Kraken lost the opening game 2-3 against the St. Louis Blues.
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