The first woman to coach on an NHL bench is now looking for her next position.
Jessica Campbell, who has spent the last two seasons as an assistant with the Seattle Kraken, will not return to the Kraken next season, the team announced Thursday.
As a team spokesperson told The Daily Mail, Campbell’s contract is expiring and she has expressed an interest in some other coaching roles around the league. That spokesperson stressed that the relationship between the team and Campbell remains ‘positive.’
An NCAA star at Cornell, the 33-year-old Campbell was hired under head coach Dan Bylsma before the 2024-25 season. Campbell and Bylsma previously coached together with the Coachella Valley Firebirds of the American Hockey League.
Bylsma was fired by Kraken general manager Ron Francis last summer, but the team retained Campbell, who has also worked as an assistant coach for the German men’s national team.
Seattle finished seventh in the Pacific Division in 2024-25 and sixth in 2025-26 but failed to reach the playoffs during that span.
Jessica Campbell, who has spent the last two seasons as an assistant with the Seattle Kraken, will not to the Kraken next season, the team announced Thursday
Kraken assistant coach Jessica Campbell talks with Seattle’s Brandon Montour in 2024
A native of NHL star Dave Tippett’s home town of Moosomin, Saskatchewan, Campbell is the youngest of four children, all of whom played hockey. Even her mother Monique played at the University of Saskatchewan.
Campbell also played junior hockey before four successful seasons with Cornell, where she reached the Frozen Four in 2011, and later played in the CWHL for the Calgary Inferno.
‘Jess was a born leader,’ former teammate Jill Saulnier told the Cornell Sun in 2025. ‘She was a force. She was the fastest player, by far, and just a leader the way she carried herself in the gym and on the ice.
‘More importantly, off the ice she was someone you wanted to be around, because you knew if you were around her you were going to be the best version of yourself. That’s how she carried herself all through [her time at] Cornell.’
Campbell has also worked as an assistant coach for the German men’s national team
Later, after starting her coaching career, she worked with NHL players in British Columbia during the COVID-19 pandemic, which helped to raise her profile within the league. And given her track record under Bylsma in the minors, Francis felt comfortable hiring her in July of 2024.
‘The job she’s done is the reason why we hired her,’ Francis told reporters at the time. ‘We didn’t hire her because she was female. We hired her because she was a good coach. She has an interesting background, not only skating but skill development and that’s a big part of what they’ve been able to do at Coachella Valley.’
Campbell remains so well respected in Seattle, ESPN’s Emily Kaplan reported Thursday, the door may even be open for her to return to the Kraken.
For now, though, she’s exploring other options.
