'It's Great For The Game': Maple Leafs' Hayley Wickenheiser Reacts to Jessica Campbell Becoming the First Full-Time Female Coach Behind an NHL Bench
Wickenheiser credits Campbell's work ethic to help break through the coaching barrier.
History was made on Wednesday when the Seattle Kraken announced that Jessica Campbell would be joining the team's staff as an assistant coach under head coach Dan Bylsma.
With the announcement, Campbell became the first-ever female to hold a full-time coaching position on an NHL bench, being promoted from the same spot she occupied under Bylsma with Seattle's AHL team, the Coachella Valley Firebirds.
"I know she's put in her time in the American League. Obviously has the respect of the staff in Seattle," Maple Leafs AGM of Player Development Hayley Wickenheiser said of Campbell on Wednesday. "And when you have that familiarity, that consistency, she's earned it. It's great for the game."
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Wickenheiser and Campbell were teammates on the Calgary Inferno of the now-defunct Canadian Women's Hockey League in 2015-16.
Wickenheiser is also no stranger to blazing a trail of her own. In addition to becoming a doctor practicing medicine, the Hockey Hall-of-Famer and five-time gold medallist first joined the Leafs front office in 2018 and in 2022 was promoted to the assistant general manager's title.
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Wickenheiser' promotion made her one of several women NHL assistant GMs, joining Emilie Castonguay and Hockey Hall of Famer Cammi Granato of the Vancouver Canucks at the beginning of 2022 Meghan Hunter of the Chicago Blackhawks, Kate Madigan of the New Jersey Devils and Alexandra Mandrycky of the Seattle Kraken.
But Campbell's promotion is likely to a bench is likely the first of more to come for women in the game.
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