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    • Campbell embraces trailblazer role; Maata makes Utah debut
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    Campbell embraces trailblazer role; Maata makes Utah debut

    Pabio Posted on

    News staff and wire services
    | The Detroit News

    Toronto — Jessica Campbell stood behind the visitors’ bench watching that night’s opponent in warm-ups.

    The Seattle Kraken assistant coach was focused on the Dallas Stars’ line rushes and defensemen peers when she noticed a young girl in the stands.

    “Just so excited,” Campbell recalled of the face looking back through the glass. “I locked eyes with her in that moment… it hit me that I’m looking at her and she can now see what she can become. I never had that.”

    The 32-year-old Campbell is the first woman to hold an on-the-bench role as an assistant or associate coach in NHL history after getting hired in July following two seasons with Seattle’s top minor-league affiliate.

    “Starting to really get to know the group and the team, them getting to know me,” she said. “The demands of the schedule, the vigorous push through it all, it’s just managing all that.”

    It’s also about managing the attention as a trailblazer.

    “As I go through these moments, I don’t take it lightly, the path that I’m on and charting,” said Campbell, who spoke with reporters in Montreal and Toronto this week as she marked her first NHL games in Canada. “But I think there’s so much to this schedule, to this job, that I can’t take any moment for granted. I never do.”

    Campbell, a native of Rocanville, Saskatchewan, played college hockey at Cornell, professionally in the now-defunct Canadian Women’s Hockey League and with the national team. She grew up cheering for the Canadians and wore that iconic red, white and blue jersey – her mother, Monique, taught her how to skate – on frigid outdoor prairie ponds in southeastern Saskatchewan.

    It was surreal Tuesday night as she was on the bench at Bell Center as Seattle routed Montreal, 8-2.

    “I played one game at the Bell Center at the very end of my career in the CWHL and went to the Habs game right after with my parents,” she said. “It was just a full circle moment where I really felt all the emotions of what this journey has been.”

    Campbell rose through the game at a lightning-quick pace.

    After retiring as a player and doing a coaching stint in Sweden, she started working as a power-skating consultant when the pandemic hit. That meant NHL players in British Columbia needed ice time as the league prepared for its restart in the summer of 2020. Those sessions in the Okanagan Valley got her thinking there was a path to the NHL.

    “I proved it to myself on my own as they showed up and paid for my services,” Campbell said. “They gave me the permission to believe in this dream because I didn’t see it was possible. They allowed me to see that it was possible.”

    Her power-skating reputation subsequently landed her an assistant coaching role with Germany at the 2022 men’s world championship. Seattle then hired Campbell to work alongside Stanley Cup winner Dan Bylsma with the Kraken’s American Hockey League team.

    When Bylsma was promoted to Seattle’s top job in May, she packed up and followed a month later.

    “They’ve been great, very respectful,” Campbell said of the players’ reception. “I’m potentially more different to them than they are to me… they’re very familiar now with how I operate. I believe I’m a very approachable and compassionate person.”

    Her style is shaped by coaches she appreciated as a player – and those she didn’t.

    “The power of positivity is real,” Campbell said. “Even the top players, sometimes they don’t even know how good they are. You give affirmations to certain players and they go out and they just get rolling even more. Care about them as human beings, get to know them, how they tick, how they operate.”

    Campbell, who won silver for Canada at the 2015 women’s worlds and captained the 2010 under-18 team to gold, said she feels that she belongs at the highest level of hockey.

    “Focus on my work and hope that success or that impact’s a good one, and it can only lead to good for others,” she said. “It keeps me grounded and it puts a lot of meaning into the work that I do. I’m part of something a lot bigger than myself.”

    Ex-Wing Maata makes Utah debut

    (At) Utah 5, Calgary 1: Mikhail Sergachev had a goal and two assists, Connor Ingram stopped 30 shots and former Red Wing Olli Maata was plus-1 in his Utah debut.

    Maata, acquired late Tuesday night from Detroit for a third-round draft choice, played the second-most amount of minutes (20:06) behind Sergachev’s team-leading 22:46.

    Alexander Kerfoot, Barrett Hayton, Maveric Lamoureux, and Clayton Keller also scored to help end Utah’s four-game skid.

    Ex-Wing Anthony Mantha scored for the Flames, who lost their fourth straight. Dustin Wolf finished with 23 saves.

    (At) LA Kings 5, Vegas 3: Anze Kopitar had a goal and two assists, including the his 800th career assist, Adrian Kempe and Kevin Fiala each had a goal and an assist, and Warren Foegele, Alex Laferriere and Joel Edmundson also scored for Los Angeles, which has won three of his last four.

    Brandt Clarke added three assists and Mikey Anderson had two assists, and Darcy Kuemper made 23 saves.

    Kopitar’s assist on Fiala’s power-play goal at 6:23 of the third period made him the fifth player born outside of North America to reach 800 assists, joining Jaromir Jagr (1,155), Evgeni Malkin (809), Nicklas Lidstrom (878) and Henrik Sedin (830). Kopitar also joins Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby (1,013) and Malkin along with Detroit’s Patrick Kane (818) as active skaters to reach the milestone.

    Pavel Dorofeyev had two goals and Tanner Pearson also scored for Vegas. Ilya Samsonov stopped 20 shots.

    Tampa Bay 5, (at) Colorado 2: Nikita Kucherov scored the first of three Tampa Bay goals in the opening 5 1/2 minutes, Jake Guentzel and Conor Geekie also scored in the early flurry against goalie Kaapo Kahkonen, who was making his season debut for Colorado after being claimed off waivers from Winnipeg .

    Tampa Bay’s Anthony Cirelli added an empty net goal with 1:20 left in regulation.

    Ivan Ivan tipped in a shot from Cale Makar for a power-play goal late in the first period. Makar added a goal in the third period. Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 33 saves, picking up his 299th career victory.

    Makar and Nathan MacKinnon were both credited with an assist on Ivan’s goal, extending their season opening point streak to 11 games.

    (At) Columbus 2, NY Islanders 0: Damon Severson broke a scoreless tie in the third period and Elvis Merzlikins stopped 28 shots for his first shutdown of the season.

    It was the first time this season the Blue Jackets (5-3-1) have won two straight, but they have earned seven of a possible eight points in their last four games.

    Semyon Varlamov made 24 saves for the Islanders (3-5-2) but was pulled for a sixth skater with 2:30 left. Justin Danforth then scored an empty-netter 27 seconds later.

    Griffins lose 3-2 in overtime in Hartford

    The Grand Rapids Griffins dropped a 3-2 overtime decision against the Hartford Wolf Pack on Wednesday at the XL Center in Hartford, Conn.

    Dominik Shine scored both goals for Grand Rapids, Sebastian Cossa stopped 28 shots and Antti Tuomisto earned an assist to extend his point streak to three (0-3—3).

    McDavid out 2-3 weeks with injury

    Connor McDavid is expected to miss two-to-three weeks with an ankle injury, the Edmonton Oilers said Wednesday.

    McDavid, the reigning playoff MVP who led Edmonton to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final, was injured Monday night when he was tripped and went left skate first into the boards on his first shift at Columbus. The team sent him home to get evaluated, sowing fears that it might be a long-time absence for the undisputed best player in hockey.

    The Oilers were naturally going to be extra cautious with McDavid, especially so early in the season and given their aspirations to go on another long playoff run this spring. The 27-year-old had 10 points in his first nine games before being injured.

    McDavid is a three-time Hart Trophy winner as regular-season MVP and has led the NHL in scoring five times in nine years in the league and finished first in goals once. He could miss between six and 11 games because of the injury.

    Sharks acquire defenseman Liljegren

    The San Jose Sharks have acquired defenseman Timothy Liljegren from the Toronto Maple Leafs.

    They sent fellow defenseman Matt Benning, a 2025 third-round pick and a sixth-rounder back in the trade finalized Wednesday.

    Liljegren, a 25-year-old Swede, has appeared in one game so far this season. He is a veteran of 210 regular-season and playoff games in the NHL.

    The Maple Leafs clear more than $1.5 million in salary cap space with the move that sets the table to activate free agent signing Jani Hakanpää off long-term injured reserve. Liljegren is making $3 million and Benning $1.25 million, with each player under contract through next season.

    Toronto gets the earlier of the three third-round selections San Jose has. The Leafs added Hakanpää and Chris Tanev on their blue line looking to bulk up after another first-round playoff exit, and the 30-year-old Benning brings more size and physicality.

    The rebuilding Sharks in Liljegren get a younger player with more offensive potential who might benefit from a change of scenery.

    Michigan-area hockey schedule

    Wednesday

    Jets 6, Red Wings 2

    Hartford 3, Grand Rapids 2 (OT)

    Friday

    Rockford at Grand Rapids, 7

    Michigan at Boston University, 7

    Michigan Tech at Northern Michigan, 7

    Northern Michigan at Michigan Tech, 6

    Ferris Green at Bowling Green, 7

    Saturday

    Sabers at Red Wings, 7

    Michigan at Boston University, 7

    Ferris State at Bowling Green, 7

    Sunday

    Grand Rapids at Cleveland, 6:30

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