Don't Take My Word For It

It seemed like Jessica Campbell's trajectory was always headed to the bright lights of the NHL, but the Seattle Kraken made it official on Wednesday when they promoted her to Dan Bylsma staff at the NHL level as an assistant coach. Campbell, as you're likely aware, served as one of Bylsma's assistant coaches with the AHL's Coachella Valley Firebirds for the past two seasons where they guided the team to back-to-back Calder Cup Final appearances. This opportunity has been earned after she's shown a history of knowledge and skills in helping multiple teams get better, and I'm pretty certain that having Bylsma and Campbell working behind the bench in Seattle will bring the Kraken success this season and beyond.

Before we even get into talking about Campbell's well-documented resumé, I want to go on the offensive here and tell anyone who is reading this article and scoffing at her hiring to go touch grass. Campbell is a brilliant student of the game who works hard to be the best coach she can be, and she doesn't need nor deserve the sexism and/or misogyny that comes from the dark corners of society.

I have seen more "She didn't play in the NHL" or "she shouldn't be in the locker room" comments over the last few days, and it's infuriating to see this crap. If Scotty Bowman can coach in the NHL without ever having played in the NHL, so can Jessica Campbell. She's earned every opportunity she's been given because she's a damn good coach. Cut the sexist crap and give her a chance to show her abilities. As the players in Coachella Valley found out, she knows her stuff.

Of course, you don't have to listen to me defend her. I'll let the people who worked with her give you a picture of why she was promoted from the AHL ranks to coaching in the NHL.

"She's got a knowledge and an experience and a talent that players can see and understand and they know if they listen, they can get better at what they are doing," Firebirds coach Dan Bylsma said to ESPN's Ryan S. Clark in July 2023. "That was evident right from the start and it came through some of the results that we got."

Clearly, Dan Bylsma believes in her as he hired her to be part of his coaching staff in both Coachella Valley and in Seattle. Some of her detractors may say Bylsma's a little biased since he's hired her twice now, but it's not just him who noticed the good things she was doing down in Palm Springs with the Firebirds.

"[Having conversations with players] happens all the time where players are going through things and slumps," Firebirds director of business and hockey operations Troy Bodie said to ESPN's Clark. "She can talk to them to get them to talk about whatever they are going through. Dan does not ask her to do it. She sniffs it out, goes and finds a player. Whether it is in the locker room or on the ice after practice, she goes and does it and does a great job with it."

Again, some may just write this off as she's a good mental coach and disqualify her because she doesn't know how to play the game physically. Bodie was quick to erase that assumption as well.

"Before practices, she'd have half-hour skill sessions that would have 90 percent participation," said Bodie, a 500-game veteran of the AHL and NHL. "I was shocked because there's usually never that much participation for an optional skills practice."

For a woman who was tasked with running the forward units on the bench and the power-play for the Firebirds, she was getting her players to buy into her teachings. The 2023-24 Firebirds were 14th in the AHL with an 18.4% efficiency on the power-play while the 2022-23 season saw the Firebirds finish 14th as well with a 20.3% efficiency. Yes, they weren't the top numbers in either season, but her power-play units were better than 17 other AHL teams run by men. By my count, that's gotta count for something.

Where you'll see the numbers shine, though, is in the scoring done by the Firebirds which includes a number of the forwards she was coaching. In 2023-24, the Firebirds were the top-scoring AHL team with 252 goals to their credit. No one scored more than the Firebirds did this past season, and that was slightly less than the 257 goals scored in 2022-23 which was the third-highest scoring attack in the AHL that season. It seems pretty clear, based on the numbers alone, that Campbell was getting results for the past two seasons.

Highly-touted draft pick Shane Wright has bought into Campbell's teachings as well, telling reporters that Campbell is a "a smart hockey mind" and how Campbell insisted "just be yourself" when he was struggling at times in 2022-23. By his own account, he really liked her openness to new ideas and dialogue back and forth between her and the players she was coaching.

"We feel comfortable going to her if we have a suggestion for her or if she sees something in our game that maybe we can fix or change - building that chemistry or that relationship is always really important," Wright told Clark.

It's not just the Firebirds who recognized her immense coaching talent, though. Finnish coach Toni Söderholm was hired to coach the German men's team for the 2022 IIHF World Championship, and he hired Campbell as an assistant coach for the tournament. When asked why he hired Campbell, he told Finnish national broadcaster Yleisradio Oy "that Campbell was hired for her hockey knowledge and praised her coaching abilities and 'technical know-how.'"

That technical know-how came from her ability as a player and as a skater, and she turned those skills into teaching opportunities by starting a power-skating business that has attracted the likes of Shea Weber, Joel Edmundson, Damon Severson and Luke Schenn as students. One of her biggest success stories was former Blackhawks defenceman Brent Seabrook who was impressed by her approach and demeanor.

"She took the time to talk to us. It wasn't barking. I could talk to her. She'd follow up with questions. She was learning from us as well. She didn't take any crap from us. She was out there to do a job, and the mentality was, 'Let's do it properly.'

"Whatever level you're at, you want to feel like (your coaches) care," Seabrook says. "She would go the extra mile. She would text me after to see how I was feeling. Is it too much? What do you want to do tomorrow for the skate? Do you think we should go harder? Should we pull back a bit? There was a plan behind every skate. She cared."

That's pretty high praise from a former Stanley Cup winner, so let's do the tally at this point as she's been praised for her coaching skills by NHL coaches, NHL players, international coaches, AHL players, and AHL executives who all have a vested interest in winning. Yet there are still people talking about how her appointment to the Seattle bench is a DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) hiring and a publicity stunt. It seems pretty clear that these people saying this have had their heads in the sand for the last few years as Campbell has made a name for herself as being one of the best young coaches in hockey.

I am very excited to see Jessica Campbell on the bench for the Kraken this season, and my hope is that she and Dan Bylsma find a pile of success in building the Kraken into a Stanley Cup contender. They were a winning team at the AHL level with the Firebirds, and I can't see their winning ways not following them to Seattle.

Jessica Campbell is a helluva coach as proven by her track record, and that should speak volumes on its own. Yes, her hiring in the NHL is historic because she's a woman, but it should almost have been expected based on how good she is at teaching the game. However, based on all the comments from players, coaches, and executives above, you don't have to take my word for it.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!