Jessica Campbell’s Next Chapter Starts With the Human Side of Hockey

Jessica Campbell coaches during the Seattle Kraken Development Camp on July 3, 2024, in Seattle, Washington. Photo by Jenn G.

Written by Gina Anton

Jessica Campbell has already made NHL history as the first woman to serve as a full-time NHL assistant coach. Now, she has an opportunity to help shape the next generation of players.

Campbell has emphasized the importance of supporting players’ needs and goals while understanding who they are “on a human level.” That approach is especially fitting for her new role with the New Jersey Devils, where development will be at the center of her work.

The Devils hired Campbell as Manager, Player Development on Sept. 16, giving her responsibility for helping develop the organization’s prospects and young players. She will also serve as a resource for the Utica Comets.

For Campbell, player development can be about much more than what happens during a practice or a game. Young players are navigating new expectations, setbacks, competition and the transition into professional hockey, and understanding the person behind the player can be just as important as improving what happens on the ice.

Campbell brings experience from nearly every level of that process.

Before reaching the NHL, she spent two seasons as an assistant coach with the Coachella Valley Firebirds, helping the team reach the Calder Cup Final in both seasons. She then spent two seasons with the Seattle Kraken after joining the organization in 2022.

Her coaching career has also taken her to Germany’s top professional league, where she worked as an assistant and skills coach with the Nürnberg Ice Tigers, as well as to the international stage as an assistant coach for Germany at the 2022 IIHF World Championship.

Those experiences have given Campbell the chance to work with players at different stages of their careers and understand the challenges that come with each step.

Then came Seattle.

When the Kraken hired Campbell as an assistant coach in July 2024, she became the first woman to serve as a full-time assistant coach behind an NHL bench during the regular season. She spent the next two seasons working at the NHL level before stepping down from her position on April 30, 2026, to explore other opportunities.

That experience now follows her into New Jersey.

Campbell is moving from an NHL bench to a position focused on the players who are still trying to reach it. Her perspective as a former player and coach across multiple levels gives her an understanding of what the transition can demand from an athlete.

A prospect's development is measured in more than goals, assists or where they are selected in the draft. There are expectations, uncertainty, confidence, setbacks and the challenge of adjusting to a new level of hockey.

That is where Campbell’s approach can matter.

If understanding players “on a human level” is part of how Campbell views development, her new position gives her the opportunity to put that philosophy into practice with the Devils’ next group of players.

Campbell already helped open a door in the NHL. Now, she has the opportunity to help young players find their way through it.