A post on X questioning a woman’s place in men’s hockey went viral over the weekend as several women with roles in the NHL and the broader hockey world responded.
The post said, “Women have no place in mens hockey.” It was shared on Thursday, the same night NHL history was made when the Seattle Kraken and Washington Capitals played each other.
That game was the first time two female coaches — Jessica Campbell and Emily Engel-Natzke — faced each other in an NHL game, according to the New York Post.
Campbell is an assistant coach for the Kraken, and Engel-Natzke is a video coach for the Capitals.
Campbell became the NHL’s first female full-time assistant coach to work behind the bench when the Kraken hired her. She made her NHL coaching debut on Oct. 8.
“The year ahead is going to be a lot of fun. But to know and to understand that obviously there’s still at the forefront the thoughts of other women and other people who have the same aspirations as I do,” Campbell told NHL.com in October. “So, to carry that torch every day and keep my focus on being a coach, but it definitely puts meaning into the work.”
She played hockey collegiately for Cornell University as well as in the Canadian Women’s Hockey League and for Team Canada.
Campbell has been an inspiration this season for many women and young girls, including some who have showed up to Kraken games with posters for Campbell — a rare sight for an assistant coach.
While Campbell’s hiring is a first, women have had a long history of working in the NHL.
Here are some influential women in the league.
Dawn Braid
Dawn Braid was the first full-time female coach in the NHL, according to Sportsnet. The Arizona Coyotes, now the Utah Hockey Club, hired Braid in 2016 as a skating coach.
She left the role the next season but has since been affiliated with the Calgary Flames.
Cammi Granato
Cammi Granato is an assistant general manager for the Vancouver Canucks. She was hired by the team in 2021.
Granato is a two-time Olympic medalist for the U.S. women’s national hockey team and is in the Hockey Hall of Fame, according to The Ultimate Lineup.
Émilie Castonguay
Like Granato, Émilie Castonguay is an assistant general manager with the Canucks. She was also hired in 2021, per Ultimate Lineup.
She was the first “female NHLPA certified hockey agent in Canada,” according to CBC. She played hockey at Niagara University.
Cassie Campbell-Pascall, Leah Hextall and Linda Cohn
Cassie Campbell-Pascall, Leah Hextall and Linda Cohn helped make NHL broadcast history in 2022 as part of the first all-women NHL broadcast team on ESPN.
In an Arizona Coyotes game against the Montreal Canadiens, Hextall was the play-by-play announcer, Campbell-Pascall was the color analyst and Cohn was the rink-side reporter.
Campbell-Pascall is a former hockey player for Team Canada. She won three Olympic medals and is “the only captain to lead Canada to two Olympic gold medals,” according to ESPN.
Hextall is an ESPN NHL reporter. She made her hockey play-by-play debut with the CWHL in 2018, per ESPN. She’s previously called games for Sportsnet. Her last name may sound familiar to NHL fans as the granddaughter of Hall of Famer Bryan Hextall, cousin of Ron Hextall and the niece of Bryan Hextall Jr. and Dennis Hextall.
Cohn is the longest-tenured “SportsCenter” host. She grew up playing hockey and even played on her high school’s boy’s hockey team and later on the Oswego women’s team in college, according to ESPN.
AJ Mleczko
AJ Mleczko has been an NHL analyst for ESPN since 2021 after previously working for NBC Sports, per ESPN.
In 2018, she was the first woman to serve “as an in-booth analyst for an NHL postseason game,” the article said.
Mleczko was a member of the U.S. women’s national hockey team that won the first-ever Olympic gold medal for the sport. Mleczko and the team won the silver medal at the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympics.
Hilary Knight
Hilary Knight should be a familiar name for fans of Team USA. She won a silver medal at both the 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympics and gold in 2018.
Off the ice, Knight is an NHL analyst for ESPN and has been since 2021, according to the network.
She recently played for Team USA in the Rivalry Series against Canada, which included a game in Utah in November. In that game, Knight scored two goals, as the Deseret News previously reported.
Cheryl Pounder
In 2023, Cheryl Pounder made history when it was announced that she would be the voice of the NHL24 video game. She was the first female color commentator in the history of the gaming franchise that dates back to 1994, according to TSN.
Pounder has served as a color commentator and analyst for the past three Winter Olympics as well as for TSN’s coverage of the Ottawa Senators.
She’s a two-time Olympic gold medalist with Team Canada, having played at both the 2002 Salt Lake City and 2006 Turin Olympics.
Responses to the hockey tweet
Here are some of the responses to the initial tweet about women in the NHL.