How Jessica Campbell’s hockey journey led to her history-making debut with the Kraken
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Ryan S. Clark, NHL reporter
SEATTLE — Growing up as a small-town kid with big dreams of reaching the NHL is a story that’s been told for more than a century — about men.
Most girls never had that dream, because no woman had ever reached those heights. Part of it has to do with the fact there hasn’t been a long history. Canada and the United States created women’s national teams in 1987, while the first women’s world championships was in 1990. The Olympics eventually added a women’s tournament in 1998. There was the American Women’s College Hockey Alliance that started in 1997 that saw women’s collegiate teams compete for a national title, but the NCAA didn’t hold its first tournament until 2001.
Jessica Campbell was born in 1992 — the same year Manon Rheaume made history playing for the Tampa Bay Lightning in an exhibition game.
“I imagined and dreamed of playing in the NHL because there was no professional women’s league as a young girl and I thought I was going to play in the NHL because I was playing with the boys,” Campbell said. “Little did I know what wasn’t possible. But I believed it was possible.”
More than three months have passed since the Seattle Kraken hired Campbell as an assistant coach, and she became the first woman in NHL history to be behind the bench on opening night, Oct. 8. The move came two years after the Kraken’s AHL affiliate, the Coachella Valley Firebirds, hired Campbell as an assistant coach. She was also the first woman behind the bench in that league’s history.
Her success has fueled her ascension. Under former Buffalo Sabres and Pittsburgh Penguins coach Dan Bylsma, Campbell helped the Firebirds reach consecutive Calder Cup finals in their first two seasons of existence, coaching the forwards and running the power play. The Firebirds were third in goals in Campbell’s first season, and led the league in 2023-24.
This was a contrast to what the Kraken had experienced. A playoff appearance in their second season was sandwiched between two campaigns in which a lack of goals became a frequent topic of conversation: The team finished in the bottom four in goals per game in both.
It led to Kraken general manager Ron Francis firing head coach Dave Hakstol and assistant Paul McFarland. The Kraken front office saw what Bylsma and his staff were doing in the AHL and believed they could translate that success and the culture that came with it at the NHL level.
The Kraken’s front office already knew Campbell’s philosophies resonated with veterans and rookies alike. They now believe her teachings can help their roster overcome those offensive deficiencies — and get back into the postseason mix.
Thinking about everything on her plate has the potential to be overwhelming. These are the moments when Campbell stares at a specific tattoo on her right hand.
Finely etched in dark blue ink, the cursive script tattoo that’s 2 inches in length on Campbell’s right hand is subtle while simultaneously commanding attention.
The word is ytimessä. It’s Finnish in origin. When translated into English, it means to be at the heart of something, and Campbell interprets it as achieving what she calls “a flow state,” with the reminder that reaching that destination comes with stops along the way.
Campbell looks at this tattoo daily. It allows her to remember where she’s been, how she’s arrived and where she wants to be in the future.
“It keeps me grounded in who I want to be as a coach, and how I want to show up every day,” Campbell said.
From her beginnings in coaching, to multiple stops in Europe, and back to North America to become the first of what she hopes is more NHL coaches who are women.
There is no precedent for Campbell, because she herself is the precedent.
“When you look at the history of our game and the number of years the NHL has been around, this is awesome,” said Sheldon Kennedy, who worked with Campbell and played eight seasons in the NHL. “I’m not worried about the X’s and the O’s and the game. To me, it’s more about the principle and that she didn’t fluke her way in there. She worked her butt off to get in there. She committed and did what she needed to do, and that’s what’s exciting for me.”
MANY WHO HAVE WORKED with Campbell will immediately and frequently reference how much she cares. She cares about her players, the team and about doing right by everyone.
That’s what stood out to three-time Stanley Cup champion Brent Seabrook.
“I’ve had a lot of great coaches that cared,” said Seabrook, who played his entire 15-year career with the Chicago Blackhawks. “They cared about me as a person and us as a team. I think Jess has those qualities. She cares about her players getting better on an individual basis and her team getting better on a group basis.”
Campbell is all about learning. It’s why she learned from the coaches who supported her and the ones who didn’t throughout her time playing at Cornell, the now-defunct Calgary Inferno, the Canadian women’s national team and the Malmö Redhawks in Sweden.
As a player, Campbell concentrated on improving her weaknesses rather than her strengths. She’d heard how focusing on weaknesses was bizarre from a development standpoint. But she saw it differently in that chipping away those trouble areas would eventually make her an even more complete player.
Toward the end of her career, she worked with a sports psychologist who asked Campbell what she does best, who she is at her best and what makes her special as a player.
Skating was her answer, while admitting that she spent her offseasons working on every aspect of her game but her skating.
“He said, ‘Let me be the first to tell you that if you forget about what makes you special, you’ll get away from being who you are,'” Campbell said. “In this game and in this industry there’s so many special players and talented players, the way you separate yourself is by being more of who you are and expanding of who you are and bringing that to a team.
“That was such a big moment for me and as a coach, I think about that all the time.”
That’s why Campbell asks every player what they do best, who they are at their best and what makes them special, while finding ways to elevate different aspects of their game to be the most complete player possible.
MOVING TO KELOWNA in 2017, she was an assistant coach at what is now known as RINK Academy while also starting her own business as a power skating and skill development coach. Her goal was to eventually have NHL clients.
Campbell began building her client base starting with Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Damon Severson. They grew up together in Melville, Saskatchewan, a town of around 5,000 people.
Severson, like many active and retired NHL players, has a place in the Okanagan Valley where Campbell was coaching. As buildings began to gradually reopen during the COVID pandemic, Severson reached out to Campbell to see if she could train him.
Campbell agreed — only for Severson to ask if he could bring a friend. That friend was Los Angeles Kings defenseman Joel Edmundson.
Pretty soon, Campbell went from working with just Edmundson and Severson to a group of 20 NHL players who were looking to regain their sharpness before entering either the Edmonton or Toronto bubbles of the 2020 playoffs. The list included Mathew Barzal, Dante Fabbro, Tyson Jost, Brayden and Luke Schenn as well as Edmundson, Severson and Seabrook.
“Luke said to me I think at the very first skate, ‘Do you come up with your own drills? I’ve never gotten these drills and these are awesome,'” Campbell recalled. “I was like, ‘Yeah, they’re all my own drills,’ and I remember the look on his face when he first said that to me. It gave me so much confidence because he was into what I was putting out there.”
Those skates are what led to Seabrook asking Campbell if they could have private sessions as he was recovering from surgeries on both hips and a right shoulder procedure.
“She never let us get away with anything,” Seabrook said. “Even when she was skating with the guys, she was harping on the details and the little things. As a player, I’m always really big into those details. … She was tough on me and the big thing was knee bend and getting down. That is something I had to work on at the gym to get stronger after surgery and then incorporate that on the ice with skating.”
THE NEXT STEP in her ascension didn’t go as smoothly.
Campbell had lived in Kelowna for a few years before she went to Europe and played one last season for Malmö in 2019-20 following a two-year hiatus.
After she retired from playing, becoming a skating and skills coach looked like the next step for Campbell. She had a successful collegiate and pro career that led to her playing for Canada internationally. Not only did she coach at the academy level, but had started a business that allowed her to run skates with NHL players. Plus, her time playing in Europe meant she built relationships with coaches on another continent.
“So I actually asked a few people in North America, ‘Do you think I should pursue [trying to coach] in Sweden?'” Campbell recalled. “I basically got told, ‘Don’t do that. Don’t quit your day job to move. There are many skating coaches and phenomenal skills coaches that are in Sweden specifically. That’s where some of the best coaches come from.’
“I’m like, ‘OK, so you’re telling me you know I’m going to fail?'”
Campbell said what she was told and how she heard it felt like two separate things. It didn’t necessarily make her want to prove people wrong, as much as she wanted to prove to herself that she could become a coach in Europe.
Campbell marketed herself to multiple teams. What set her apart from other coaches was the fact she could bring teachings from North America. There were coaches who heard her elevator pitch and liked what she presented.
“They said, ‘I think what you’re doing is awesome. Your material looks great,'” Campbell said. “These were agents, these were other skills coaches and great people. They said, ‘I hate to say this, but our team would never hire a female. It wouldn’t happen.’ I heard that along the way.
“I guess I just chose to not listen to it. I knew the only way I would get to this level is to do it on my own.”
Campbell’s mission was to focus on the testimonials she received from players rather than dialogue about why she wouldn’t receive an opportunity.
2:53
Jessica Campbell explains her path to making NHL history
Jessica Campbell joins “SportsCenter” to discuss her journey to becoming the first woman assistant coach in the NHL.
Her first job came in 2020-21 when her old club, Malmö, hired her as a skills coach for the men’s team. A year later, she joined the Nürnberg Ice Tigers in Germany.
She initially joined the Ice Tigers as a skills coach, but the team was struggling with its special teams and wanted another perspective. Her suggestions worked, and it led to the Ice Tigers hiring Campbell as an assistant coach for the remainder of the season. Her work played a part in the Ice Tigers reaching the qualifying round of the playoffs.
“It was my ‘aha!’ moment as a coach where I saw what I was doing and the way I was communicating as a fit,” Campbell said. “The guys were going out and capable of making the changes and the tweaks that I was asking them to do.”
Her work with the Ice Tigers also opened a door for Campbell to join the German men’s national team as an assistant coach during the 2022 IIHF men’s world championships. Coaching at the men’s world championships was historic, in that Campbell became the first woman to ever be behind the bench at the tournament.
Being with Germany was foundational because of head coach Toni Söderholm.
Söderholm, who is Finnish, is the person Campbell fondly refers to as “my green light” because he gave her the confidence to fully embrace her coaching role. That was also the job that opened the door for Campbell to join the Firebirds a few months later.
Söderholm worked to create a culture within the national team and there was a word that embodied what he and his staff sought to achieve.
The word was ytimessä.
FACED WITH A DECISION before her historic first NHL game as a Kraken assistant coach, Campbell asked her best friend and former teammate, Brooklyn Langlois, for some advice:
What should she wear?
“I turned to her and asked, ‘Which one should I go with?'” Campbell recalled. “She says, ‘White. That’s the only color a man wouldn’t wear.’ That’s how I ultimately chose the white suit. The blazer that I bought was called, ‘the standout blazer,’ so it all felt perfect.”
Her experience with the German national team at the men’s worlds speaks to why wearing a white suit has so much meaning.
The German Hockey Federation wanted everyone from the equipment managers to the coaching staff to match. From shoes to sweaters down to having their same lapel pin placements.
“It was very traditional and it was a great look, but they also wanted the men wearing ties and I could wear a scarf,” Campbell said. “Ultimately, it kind of looked like I was a flight attendant which is not what I pictured for myself. We laugh about it now because it definitely didn’t reflect my natural fashion style, but I was willing to fill water bottles in that scarf if I had to in order to be part of that team.”
Campbell said she didn’t feel the need to say anything at the time because she wanted to fit in with the team. But it was a different situation with her new club.
0:55
Jessica Campbell reflects on historic night
Kraken assistant coach Jessica Campbell reflects on being the first full-time female assistant coach in NHL history.
Campbell said being on the bench and working with the team felt like any day at work. Or, it did at first.
When she looked into the Climate Pledge Arena stands, specifically during the introductions, that’s when Campbell realized that this was unlike any day of work she or any woman in the history of hockey ever had.
“My family was there. My best friends who are from all over Canada and the U.S. were there and with everybody coming together, it felt like my hockey wedding day in a way,” Campbell said. “Just the energy and the excitement, but that’s what really brought the magnitude of the moment to me.”
Although they work in front of the whole world, being an NHL assistant coach is not a public-facing role. Unlike a head coach, they typically don’t address the media after every game, morning skate and practice. They’ll receive some of the credit when the team wins, while receiving some of the blame when a team loses, while the head coach takes the brunt.
That’s what made opening night different. Those pregame introductions allow assistant coaches — albeit only for seconds — to be in a literal spotlight. Campbell was the first of the Kraken’s assistant coaches to be introduced, and the only person on the staff who received a stronger ovation from the crowd was Bylsma.
“That really hit me in that moment with what was happening, what I’m part of and I just know that I’m part of something so much bigger than just me,” Campbell said. “There were moments throughout the day where I was reminded of that.
“When I got to the arena, just the reception from those around you and seeing the emotions from other people is what really reminds me of what this means to the industry and to the community and to the people. … I’m taking pride knowing that I have to carry this torch for others.”
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Greg Wyshynski, ESPN
No, the Winnipeg Jets haven’t already won the Stanley Cup, although one can be excused for feeling that way.
The Jets started the season 12-1-0, becoming the sixth team in NHL history to win 12 of their first 13 games of a season. They’ve outscored everyone in front of the player whom many consider the best goaltender in the world in Connor Hellebuyck. Things are certainly trending in their direction.
Some early-season trends in the NHL stick. Others are a distant memory by the end of the season: Please recall the Edmonton Oilers‘ horrific first month that preceded a resurgent run to the final game of the season in the Stanley Cup Final.
Injuries and slumps happen. Fans get their hopes up, only to be let down.
Here are trends for all 32 teams from the 2024-25 season thus far that we’re testing with our patented (OK, patent-pending) “Trend-o-meter” to see how valid they are — from certain to stick (10) to probably just a blip (1).
Jump to a team:
ANA | BOS | BUF | CGY
CAR | CHI | COL | CBJ
DAL | DET | EDM | FLA
LA | MIN | MTL | NSH
NJ | NYI | NYR | OTT
PHI | PIT | SJ | SEA
STL | TB | TOR | UT
VAN | VGK | WSH | WPG
Atlantic Division
Jim Montgomery will keep his job (by any means necessary)
Despite preseason platitudes from his bosses, Bruins coach Jim Montgomery does not have a contract with Boston beyond this season. That led to some “hot seat” speculation when the Bruins stumbled out of the gate, although they were 6-6-1 by the end of October.
It’s a pressure-packed situation in Boston, as the optics have underscored. Bruins fans have seen Montgomery tear into captain Brad Marchand on the bench after a turnover and bench leading scorer David Pastrnak in the third period of a recent game. Boston players, including Marchand himself, treated the situations like nothing out of the ordinary. But it certainly feels as if Montgomery is desperately trying to get the attention of his team early.
And why not? He’s not the reason that Jeremy Swayman is playing as if he didn’t have a training camp or that management felt Joonas Korpisalo could replace Linus Ullmark. He’s the not the reason that a good complementary player like Elias Lindholm was imported to be a No. 1 center or that they didn’t sufficiently replace Jake DeBrusk‘s offense. It’s his job on the line, though. Do as you will, Monty.
Trend-o-meter rating: 10
In the new 12-team College Football Playoff format, there is an added emphasis on conference championships. The four highest-ranked conference champions receive a first-round bye and a fifth conference champion is guaranteed a spot in the field. Those champions will be determined by conference title games held Dec. 6-7.
But in a college football landscape that has mostly done away with divisions and with some conferences expanding to as many as 18 teams, it can be difficult to figure out who is in line to reach those conference title games.
We’re here to help out. Below are the list of tiebreakers for each league to help determine conference championship game participants.
Conference’s tiebreaker policy
Two-team tie:
1. Head-to-head
2. Win percentage against common opponents
3. Win percentage against common opponents from top-to-bottom of the conference standings (breaking ties among tied teams)
4. Combined win percentage of conference opponents
5. Higher ranking by the Team Rating Score metric (from SportSource Analytics)
6. Draw administered by the ACC commissioner
Three-plus team tie: In case of a tie for both conference championship spots, once the tiebreaker identifies one championship game representative, it will start over with the remaining tied teams.
1. Combined head-to-head win percentage among the tied teams (if all tied teams are common opponents)
2. If all tied teams are not common opponents, if any tied team defeated each of the other tied teams
2a. If all tied teams are not common opponents, and no tied team defeated each of the other tied teams, but a tied team lost to each of the other tied teams, that team is eliminated
3. Win percentage against common opponents
4. Win percentage against common opponents from top-to-bottom of the conference standings
5. Combined win percentage of conference opponents
6. Higher ranking by the Team Rating Score metric (from SportSource Analytics)
7. Draw administered by the ACC commissioner
Conference’s tiebreaker policy
Two-team tie:
1. Head-to-head
2. Win percentage against common conference opponents
3. Win percentage against the next-highest common opponent in the conference standings; in case of tied teams in standings, use each team’s win percentage against all of those teams
4. Combined win percentage in conference games of conference opponents (strength of conference schedule)
5. Total wins over the 12-game season (only one win against teams from FCS or lower division will be counted)
6. Higher ranking by the Team Rating Score metric (from SportSource Analytics)
7. Coin toss
Three-plus team tie: In case of a tie for both conference championship spots, once the tiebreaker identifies one championship game representative, it will start over with the remaining tied teams. When reduced to two tied teams, the two-team tiebreakers will be used.
1. Combined head-to-head among tied teams (if all tied teams are common opponents)
1a. If all tied teams are not common opponents, if any tied team defeated each of the other tied teams
1b. If all tied teams are not common opponents, and no tied team defeated each of the other tied teams, but a tied team lost to each of the other tied teams, that team is eliminated
2. Win percentage against all common opponents
3. Record against next-highest common opponent in conference standings; in case of tied teams in standings, use each team’s win percentage against all of those teams
4. Combined win percentage in conference games of conference opponents (strength of conference schedule)
5. Total wins over the 12-game season (only one win against teams from FCS or lower division will be counted)
6. Higher ranking by the Team Rating Score metric (from SportSource Analytics)
7. Coin toss
Conference’s tiebreaker policy
Two-team tie:
1. Head-to-head
2. Win percentage against common conference opponents
3. Win percentage against common opponents from top-to-bottom of the conference standings (breaking ties among tied teams)
4. Combined conference win percentage of conference opponents
5. Higher ranking by the Team Rating Score metric (from SportSource Analytics)
6. Draw administered by the Big Ten commissioner
Three-plus team tie: In case of a tie for both conference championship spots, once the tiebreaker identifies one championship game representative, it will start over with the remaining tied teams. When reduced to two tied teams, the two-team tiebreakers will be used.
1. Combined head-to-head among tied teams
1a. If all tied teams are not common opponents, if any tied team defeated each of the other tied teams
2. Win percentage against all common conference opponents
3. Win percentage against common opponents from top-to-bottom of the conference standings (breaking ties among tied teams)
4. Combined conference win percentage of conference opponents
5. Higher ranking by the Team Rating Score metric (from SportSource Analytics)
6. Draw administered by the Big Ten commissioner
Conference’s tiebreaker policy
Two-team tie:
1. Head-to-head
2. Win percentage against common conference opponents
3. Win percentage against common opponents from top-to-bottom of the conference standings (breaking ties among tied teams: if a two-team tiebreaker will not break a tie, combined records against tied common opponents will be used)
4. Combined conference win percentage of conference opponents
5. Higher relative total scoring margin against all conference opponents (from SportSource Analytics)
6. Random draw
Three-plus team tie: In case of a tie for both conference championship spots, once the tiebreaker identifies one championship game representative, it will start over with the remaining tied teams.
1. Combined head-to-head among tied teams (if all tied teams are common opponents)
1a. If all tied teams are not common opponents, if any tied team defeated each of the other tied teams
1b. If all tied teams are not common opponents, and no tied team defeated each of the other tied teams, but a tied team lost to each of the other tied teams, that team is eliminated
2. Record against all common conference opponents
3. Win percentage against common opponents from top-to-bottom of the conference standings (breaking ties among tied teams; if a two-team tiebreaker will not break a tie, combined records against tied common opponents will be used)
4. Combined conference win percentage of conference opponents
5. Higher relative total scoring margin against all conference opponents (from SportSource Analytics)
6. Random draw
Conference’s tiebreaker policy
Two-team tie:
1. Head-to-head
2. If one team is ranked in the latest CFP rankings (and didn’t lose in the final weekend of the regular season)
2a. If one team is ranked in the latest CFP rankings and lost in the final weekend of the regular season, a composite average of selected metrics will be used
2b. If both teams are ranked, the higher-ranked team that didn’t lose in the final weekend of the regular season (if both lose, a composite average of metrics)
2c. If neither team is ranked in the latest CFP rankings, a composite average of selected metrics will be used
3. Win percentage against common conference opponents
4. Overall win percentage (conference and nonconference) excluding exempt games
5. Coin toss
Three-plus team tie: In case of a tie for both conference championship spots, once the tiebreaker identifies one championship game representative, it will start over with the remaining tied teams.
1. Combined head-to-head (if all teams played each other)
1a. If one tied team defeated all other tied teams
2. If the highest-ranked team in the latest CFP rankings that didn’t lose in the final weekend of the regular season
2a. If the highest-ranked team loses in final weekend of regular season, a composite average of selected metrics will be used
2b. If multiple ranked teams in the CFP rankings, the highest ranked team(s) that wins in the final weekend of the regular season
2c. If all ranked teams lose on the final weekend, a composite average of selected metrics will be used
2d. If no teams are ranked in the final CFP rankings, a composite average of selected metrics will be used
3. Win percentage against common conference opponents
4. Overall win percentage (conference and nonconference) excluding exempt games
5. Coin toss
Conference’s tiebreaker policy
Two-team tie and three-team tie:
1. Head-to-head
2. Highest CFP rankings going into the final weekend (if team wins in the final weekend)
3. Highest average ranking of four computer rankings (Connelly SP+, SportSource, ESPN SOR, KPI Rankings)
4. Highest average ranking of two computer rankings (SportSource, KPI Rankings)
5. Highest most recently published multiyear football Academic Progress Rate (if same, most recent year)
6. Draw administered by commissioner’s designee
Conference’s tiebreaker policy
Two-team tie:
1. Head-to-head
2. Win percentage against common opponents
3. Win percentage against common opponents based on MAC finish (breaking ties) from top-to-bottom of conference
4. Combined conference win percentage of conference opponents
5. Higher ranking by Team Rating Score metric (SportSource Analytics)
6. Draw administered by MAC commissioner
Three-team tie:
1. Combined head-to-head (if all teams played each other)
2. If one tied team defeated all other tied teams
3. Win percentage against all common opponents
4. Win percentage against all common opponents based on finish (with ties broken)
5. Combined conference win percentage of conference opponents
6. Higher ranking by Team Rating Score metric (SportSource Analytics)
7. Draw administered by MAC commissioner
Conference’s tiebreaker policy
Two-team tie:
1. Head-to-head
2. Highest CFP ranking (if team wins in the final weekend)
2a. If only or both CFP ranked teams loses in the final weekend (or if there is no ranked teams), an average of metrics will be used
3. Overall win percentage (conference and nonconference)
4. Record against the next-highest team in the conference standings (tied teams will be lumped together if tied teams played all those teams)
5. Win percentage against common conference opponents
6. Coin toss conducted virtually by the commissioner
Three-plus team tie:
1. Combined head-to-head (if all teams played each other)
2. If one tied team defeated all other tied teams
3. Highest CFP ranking among teams to win in the final weekend
4. Average of selected metrics (if ranked team loses or if no teams ranked)
5. Overall win percentage against all opponents (conference and nonconference); maximum one win against FCS or lower-division team
6. Record against the next-highest team in the conference standings (tied teams will be lumped together if tied teams played all those teams)
7. Win percentage against common conference opponents
8. Drawing conducted virtually by the commissioner
Conference’s tiebreaker policy
Two-team tie
1. Head-to-head
2. Overall win percentage
3. Win percentage against the next-highest team in the division standings (lumping together tied teams)
4. Win percentage against all common nondivisional conference opponents
5. Higher-ranked teams in the CFP rankings (if it wins in the final regular season week); if the highest-ranked team loses, an average of selected computer rankings (Anderson & Hester, Massey, Colley and Wolfe)
6. If no team is ranked in the CFP rankings, an average of selected computer rankings (Anderson & Hester, Massey, Colley and Wolfe)
7. Overall win percentage (conference and nonconference) against FBS teams
8. Coin toss
Three-plus team tie: (Teams will not revert to two-team tiebreaker once three-plus team tiebreaker is trimmed to two.)
1. Combined head-to-head
2. Divisional win percentage
3. Win percentage against the next-highest team in the division standings (lumping together tied teams)
4. Highest-ranked team in the CFP rankings (if they win in the final weekend of regular season); if that team loses, an average of selected computer rankings
5. If no team is ranked in the CFP rankings, an average of selected computer rankings (Anderson & Hester, Massey, Colley and Wolfe)
6. Overall win percentage (conference and nonconference) against FBS teams
7. Draw lots (conducted by commissioner)
Check out the ESPN college football hub page for the latest news, analysis, schedules, rankings and more.
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Jesse Rogers, ESPN Staff Writer
SAN ANTONIO — Juan Soto will take his time surveying the free agent market before signing with a team, according to his agent Scott Boras.
Speaking at the general manager’s meetings Wednesday, Boras indicated that Soto desires a “thorough” vetting before making a decision.
“Due to the volume of interest and Juan’s desire to hear [from teams], I can’t put a timeframe on it, but it’s going to be a very thorough process for him,” Boras said. “He wants to meet people personally. He wants to talk with them. He wants to hear from them.”
That includes ownership, even for the New York Yankees, for whom he played in 2024 and hit 41 home runs with a league-leading 128 runs scored. Soto helped New York to a World Series appearance, but that doesn’t necessarily give the Yankees a leg up on the competition to sign him.
“He wants ownership that’s going to support that they are going win annually,” Boras said. “Owners want to meet with Juan and sit down and talk with him about what they’re going to provide for their franchise short term and long term.”
Soto’s overall deal is likely to be at least the second largest in MLB history behind Shohei Ohtani‘s 10-year, $700 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Boras refused to compare the two players, but stressed Soto’s age (26) as a distinctive factor in teams’ pursuit of his client. Ohtani was 29 when he hit free agency.
“I don’t think Ohtani has much to do with Juan Soto at all,” Boras said. “It’s not something we discuss or consider. … He’s in an age category that separates him.”
Both New York teams have spoken to Boras already, though there are a handful of other big-market franchises that could be in play for his services, including the San Francisco Giants and Toronto Blue Jays.
Boras was asked how the competitive balance tax on payrolls could impact Soto’s free agency.
“I don’t think tax considerations are the focal point when you’re talking about a business opportunity where you can make literally billions of dollars by acquiring somebody like this,” Boras said.
Boras and Soto are only at the beginning stages of what could be a drawn-out process. One thing going for the player, in Boras’ estimation, is that Soto is “pretty well known” considering he has already been on three teams and played in 43 playoff games, including twice in the World Series.
In his agent’s eyes, every winning team should be interested.
“They’re [team executives] called upon to be championship magicians,” Boras said. “Behind every great magician is the magic Juan.”
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