Jessica Campbell mulled for spot on Kraken staff
-
Ryan S. Clark, NHL reporter
SEATTLE — New Seattle Kraken coach Dan Bylsma said during his introductory news conference Tuesday that Coachella Valley Firebirds assistant Jessica Campbell’s name is in the discussion for a similar role at the NHL level.
Bylsma, who previously coached the Pittsburgh Penguins and Buffalo Sabres, was head coach of the Firebirds for the past two seasons. Campbell, the first woman behind the bench as a full-time coach in AHL history, played a key role in the team reaching the Calder Cup final last season and advancing to the Western Conference finals this season.
The 53-year-old Bylsma said he has talked with Kraken general manager Ron Francis about the possibility of bringing in another coach who could complement Bylsma along with current assistants Jay Leach and Dave Lowry. Campbell, along with fellow Coachella Valley assistant Stu Bickel, have been part of those discussions.
If the Kraken hire Campbell, she will become the first woman behind an NHL bench as either a head coach or assistant coach.
“Jessica has been part of that conversation; Stu Bickel has been part of that conversation,” Bylsma said. “What they’ve done the last two years with developing players down there — Tye Kartye and Ryker Evans — is evidence of that. They are part of the conversation about going forward with the staff here.”
The need to find another assistant stems from the Kraken parting ways with head coach Dave Hakstol after three seasons. Hakstol, who guided the Kraken to the playoffs in 2022-23, was dismissed after the team finished 17 points out of the final wild-card spot this season. The day the Kraken announced his firing, they also said assistant Paul McFarland, who oversaw the team’s forwards and power-play unit, was let go.
The Kraken went from having the NHL’s second-best shooting percentage and tying for the fourth-most goals per game in 2022-23 to finishing fourth-worst in shooting percentage and goals per game in 2023-24.
Campbell, who oversees the Firebirds’ forwards and power-play units, oversaw an attack that scored 257 goals in her first season. That ranked third in the AHL, while the power-play unit was 14th. This season, the Firebirds led the league with 252 goals while their power-play unit finished 14th.
“The job she’s done now, there’s a reason why we hired her,” Francis said. “We didn’t hire her because she’s female. We hired her because we thought she’s a good coach. She has an interesting background not only with skating, but skill development. That’s been a big part of what they’ve been able to do with Coachella Valley. She runs the power play, works with the forwards, and works with everybody on helping improve their skating, their skill development and, as Dan said, both her and Stu Bickel have been a big part of their success down there.”
Campbell was hired in July 2022 by the Kraken to serve as a Firebirds assistant. Previously, she worked as an assistant and a skills coach for the Nurnberg Ice Tigers of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga in Germany. She was also an assistant for Germany at the 2022 IIHF Men’s World Championship, where she became the first woman on the coaching staff of a men’s national team.
Bylsma told ESPN that he plans to speak with Lowry and Leach soon. He also said he talked with Bickel and Campbell about their career aspirations before he was hired by the Kraken, while noting that has spoken with other coaches as well about next season.
“It’s critical for the players, the individuals and for the team to have communication and establish relationships,” Bylsma said. “Having trust and building that trust, that’s critical for a coaching staff as well. We have relationships, Stu and Jessica. We’ve established those relationships. I know where they’re good as coaches and what they do. They’re familiar with me and what I say and how I act. We have those relationships, and every coach needs that. That’s a good thing for them and it would be a good thing for our players to see a coaching staff that has those positive relationships.”
-
Adam Rittenberg
BOULDER, Colo. — Colorado coach Deion Sanders said he feels “healthy and vibrant” after returning to the field for preseason practices after undergoing surgery to remove his bladder after a cancerous tumor was found.
Sanders, 57, said he has been walking at least a mile around campus following Colorado’s practices, which began last week. He was away from the team for the late spring and early summer following the surgery in May. Dr. Janet Kukreja, director of urological oncology at University of Colorado Cancer Center, said July 30 that Sanders, who lost about 25 pounds during his recovery, is “cured of cancer.”
“I’m healthy, I’m vibrant, I’m my old self,” Sanders said. “I’m loving life right now. I’m trying my best to live to the fullest, considering what transpired.”
Sanders credited Colorado’s assistant coaches and support staff for overseeing the program during his absence. The Pro Football Hall of Famer enters his third season as Buffaloes coach this fall.
“They’ve given me tremendous comfort,” Sanders said. “I never had to call 100 times and check on the house, because I felt like the house is going to be OK. That’s why you try your best to hire correct, so you don’t have to check on the house night and day. They did a good job, especially strength and conditioning.”
Colorado improved from four to nine wins in Sanders’ second season, but the team loses Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter, the No. 2 pick in April’s NFL draft, as well as record-setting quarterback Shedeur Sanders, the son of Deion Sanders. The Buffaloes have an influx of new players, including quarterbacks Kaidon Salter and Julian “Ju Ju” Lewis, who are competing for the starting job, as well as new staff members such as Pro Football Hall of Fame running back Marshall Faulk, who is coaching the Buffaloes’ running backs.
Despite the changes and his own health challenges, Deion Sanders expects Colorado to continue ascending. The Buffaloes open the season Aug. 29 when they host Georgia Tech.
“The next phase is we’re going to win differently, but we’re going to win,” Sanders said. “I don’t know if it’s going to be the Hail Mary’s at the end of the game, but it’s going to be hell during the game, because we want to be physical and we want to run the heck out of the football.”
Sanders said it will feel “a little weird, a little strange” to not be coaching Shedeur when the quarterback starts his first NFL preseason game for the Cleveland Browns on Friday night at Carolina. Deion Sanders said he and Shedeur had spoken several times Friday morning. Despite being projected as a top quarterback in the draft, Shedeur Sanders fell to the fifth round.
“A lot of people are approaching it like a preseason game, he’s approaching like a game, and that’s how he’s always approached everything, to prepare and approach it like this is it,” Deion Sanders said. “He’s thankful and appreciative of the opportunity. He don’t get covered in, you know, all the rhetoric in the media.
“Some of the stuff is just ignorant. Some of it is really adolescent, he far surpasses that, and I can’t wait to see him play.”
-
Adam Rittenberg
LSU starting quarterback Garrett Nussmeier aggravated the patellar tendinitis he has been dealing with in his knee but will not miss any significant time, coach Brian Kelly said Friday.
Kelly dropped in ahead of a news conference Friday with offensive coordinator Joe Sloan to tell reporters that Nussmeier did not suffer a severe knee injury or even a new one. According to Kelly, Nussmeier has chronic tendinitis in his knee and “probably just planted the wrong way” during Wednesday’s practice.
Nussmeier ranked fifth nationally in passing yards (4,052) last season, his first as LSU’s starter, and projects as an NFL first-round draft pick in 2026.
“It’s not torn, there’s no fraying, there’s none of that,” Kelly said. “This is preexisting. … There’s nothing to really see on film with it, but it pissed it off. He aggravated it a little bit, but he’s good to go.”
Kelly said Nussmeier’s injury ranks 1.5 out of 10 in terms of severity. Asked whether it’s the right or left knee, Kelly said he didn’t know, adding, “It’s not a serious injury. Guys are dealing with tendinitis virtually every day in life.”
LSU opens the season Aug. 30 at Clemson.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Sports2 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike