NHL's First Female Coach Has All Of North America On Edge For Pretty Obvious Reason
While Floridians – myself included – spent the day Tuesday battening down the hatches for Hurricane Milton, the rest of America, and I assume our friends in Canada, were feverishly googling who in the world the newest Seattle Kraken assistant coach was.
Jessica Campbell, for those still searching (or who used Bing).
Campbell became the first NHL female coach in history Tuesday when she took her spot on Seattle's bench (do they call it that in hockey?), and buddy, she grabbed the internet's attention in a way I haven't seen in quite some time.
Not since Master's Girl burst onto the scene a few years back, or when JJ McCarthy's girlfriend made her ESPN debut in 2022 with JJ's dad, have I seen an outcry like this.
Strap in:
Jessica Campbell is a star
I could go on and on – and on, and on, and ON – the comments are an absolute minefield. Most talk about how great the Kraken are for hiring Campbell. A ton are about how hot she is – as you just saw.
Some, of course, are angry that they hired her at all and call Jess here a DEI hire.
I hate DEI hires, by the way. The most racist things in this country, if we're being honest. I've been a boss before for a woke company, and had to make a hire or two. Believe me, the whole DEI thing is real. It's disgusting.
Anyway, this ain't that. Outkick's crack hockey guy, Matt Reigle, tell me Jessica here was part of Kracken coach Dan Bylsma's staff with the AHL's Coachella Valley Firebirds.
That club, by the way, made something called the Calder Cup Final TWICE in it's first two years of existence, only to lose to the Hershey Bears both times.
PS: the Hershey Bears! God, I love lower level hockey and baseball. Some elite names down there.
Anyway, when Dan was hired by Seattle over the offseason, he brought Jessica with him. Tuesday night, she made history, both on the ice and on the internet. She aint' a DEI hire. She's the real deal, boys and girls.
Welcome to the show, Jess. Glad to have you aboard.