Jessica Campbell Leaves Kraken Bench as Contract Expires
jessica campbell will not return to the Seattle Kraken bench next season as her contract expires this summer. The move closes a short but notable chapter for a coach who made NHL history in 2024 and leaves Seattle with another change on a staff that has already gone through major turnover.
Kraken bench turns over again
Campbell became the first woman to hold a full-time, on-the-bench role in NHL history when Seattle promoted her in 2024. That made her departure more than a routine contract decision, because the Kraken are losing a visible presence from a coaching staff they had leaned on while trying to find stability in their early years.
Seattle entered the league in 2021 as an expansion franchise and has made the Stanley Cup playoffs once, in 2023. The club is already on its third head coach after Lane Lambert replaced Dan Bylsma ahead of this past season, and Campbell’s exit adds another layer of change to a team still sorting out its long-term identity.
Campbell’s path through Seattle
Before reaching the NHL bench, Campbell spent two seasons with the Coachella Valley Firebirds, where she ran the power play and worked closely with forwards. The Firebirds reached back-to-back Calder Cup Finals during her time there, and her development work helped build the résumé that carried her to Seattle.
Her influence in the Kraken organization showed up in more than one place. She was instrumental in Tye Kartye’s rise from undrafted player to AHL Rookie of the Year to NHL regular, and she also held one-on-one sessions with Matty Beniers, Shane Wright and Kaapo Kakko. Kakko had a career year after his trade to Seattle in December.
Interest across the league
The Kraken are supporting Campbell as she explores new opportunities across the league, and they have left the door open for her to return to the organization in some capacity. That gives Seattle room to keep a coach who already built ties inside the system, even as her work on the bench comes to an end for now.
Campbell’s rise began well before Seattle. A native of Rocanville, Saskatchewan, she built her coaching résumé through skating and skills development, worked for the Nurnberg Ice Tigers of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga in Germany, and served as an assistant coach for Germany at the 2022 IIHF Men's World Championship, becoming the first woman on the coaching staff of a men's national team at that event.
She also played at Cornell University, where she was a former captain, and later skated in the Canadian Women's Hockey League and for the Canadian national team. For Seattle, the immediate issue is simple: one of the most visible coaches in club history is moving on as the organization keeps trying to settle a staff that has not stayed still for long.
