Devils hire NHL's first female coach Jessica Campbell — SkimNews
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- New Jersey Devils are hiring Jessica Campbell as manager of player development and Bryan McCabe as VP of prospect personnel, per ESPN sources.
- Jessica Campbell became the first woman to serve as a full-time coach behind an NHL bench when Seattle promoted her in 2024, after she helped the AHL's Coachella Valley Firebirds reach back-to-back Calder Cup Finals.
- Campbell, 34, built her path as a power-skating and skills coach, training NHL players privately before coaching professionally in Sweden and Germany.
- Bryan McCabe will also serve as assistant GM for the Devils' AHL affiliate in Utica after 14 years in the Panthers' front office, 1,135 NHL games as a defenseman — including serving as Florida's captain — and a role in the club's back-to-back Stanley Cup championships.
- McCabe is the third former Panthers executive to join Devils GM Sunny Mehta in New Jersey, following assistant GM Braden Birch and director of goaltending Leo Luongo.
Why it matters: The Devils are systematically importing the Panthers' back-to-back Cup-winning front-office blueprint: McCabe becomes the third former Florida executive under new GM Sunny Mehta, who spent six years in Florida before being named Devils GM in April. Campbell's hire simultaneously extends the pipeline opened by Seattle's 2024 promotion, giving the NHL's first female full-time bench coach a landing spot elsewhere — a small but concrete step for gender diversity in league coaching ranks.
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