“There was a moment where I realized I was coaching NHL players on our team and competing against NHL players,” Campbell told the Kraken website the day she was hired by Coachella Valley. “My words were well received and I was respected. I realized I could do this.”
Campbell began her hockey career as a child, playing with and against boys in her hometown of Rocanville, Saskatchewan, where women’s hockey was not an option for her at the time. She played four seasons as a forward at Cornell University and professionally for Calgary of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League and Malmo of the Swedish Women’s Hockey League. She also skated for Canada, which won the silver medal at the 2015 IIHF World Women’s Championship.
Following her playing career, Campbell began working as a skating and skills coach. That propelled her into a coaching career that took her back to Malmo, Tri-City of the United States Hockey League and Nuremberg of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga in Germany. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she coached a group of NHL veterans in Kelowna, British Columbia, including defenseman Luke Schenn (Nashville Predators), forward Tyson Jost (Buffalo Sabres), forward Mathew Barzal (New York Islanders) and former Predators captain Shea Weber.
“I grew up as a young player dreaming of playing in the NHL because that’s all I knew,” Campbell said. “I never imagined I’d be able to coach at this level. It’s just about putting my head down, doing the work and wherever it takes me, it takes me. Obviously, I’m honored to be on this path and to continue to do the good work that it takes to hopefully reach that goal.”
The Kraken also named Bob Woods as an assistant coach on Wednesday.
“This is an important day for our organization,” Francis said. “We are bringing valuable coaching experience to our staff and we are confident that both Bob and Jessica will make an immediate impact on our team.”
The Kraken (34-35-3) fired Dave Hakstol on April 29. They failed to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs, finishing sixth in the Pacific Division, a season after advancing to the Western Conference Second Round, a seven-game loss to the Dallas Stars.
Bylsma, who will coach in the NHL for the first time since 2016-17 with the Buffalo Sabres, has a 320-190-55 record in 565 NHL games coaching the Penguins and Sabres, guiding Pittsburgh to the Stanley Cup in 2009.
NHL.com freelance correspondent Darren Brown contributed to this report.
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