Coyotes hire what’s believed to be 1st female NHL coach

The hiring of Braid in a full-time capacity is noteworthy because she is the first full-time female coach in the National Hockey League. Braid worked part-time with the Coyotes past year.

“It’s something that I’ve wanted to see happen”, Braid said.

Dawn Braid, hired by @ArizonaCoyotes as skating coach, becomes first full-time female coach in the National Hockey League. She’s got a great personality and the players work hard for her and respect her knowledge. “It’s been going on for years and I just look forward to going even further with it”. Her ascension up the ranks ultimately included a head coaching gig for the Spurs summer league team previous year.

Van Ryn comes on board with Arizona off of his first season as head coach of the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers, where he led the major junior club to a 44-17-7 record during the regular season and helped the team to a second round playoff appearance.

She worked part-time for the Coyotes previous year and has served as a skating consultant with the Maple Leafs, Ducks, Sabres and Flames. “The bottom line is she gets results”.

Braid’s hiring follows similar firsts in the National Basketball Association, where the Spurs made Becky Hammon the first female full-time coach in 2014, and the NFL, where the Bills did the same with Kathryn Smith in January.

According to NHL.com, Braid has a long history with the league. Smith’s hiring followed that of Jen Welter by the Arizona Cardinals to a multi-week internship previous year, making her the NFL’s first female position coach. In 2014, the San Antonio Spurs basketball team brought on former WNBA star Becky Hammon as an assistant coach.

The hiring was announced the same day that the team announced they have added Mike Van Ryn and Steve Potvin to the team’s coaching staff. Van Ryn will serve as development coach, while Potvin was named the team’s skills coach.