- Devils hire Jessica Campbell as manager of player development
- Bryan McCabe joins as VP of prospect personnel and Comets assistant GM
- Read below for the Cornell connection to Campbell’s new boss
Jessica Campbell is back in the NHL, and this time the job is in a front office.
The New Jersey Devils hired the first woman to work an NHL bench full time as their manager of player development on Wednesday. They announced Bryan McCabe the same morning as vice president of prospect personnel and assistant general manager of the AHL’s Utica Comets. General manager Sunny Mehta made both moves official as players reported for training camp.
Campbell spent the past two seasons as an assistant coach with the Seattle Kraken after Dan Bylsma brought her up from Coachella Valley. She stepped down on April 30 to look at other options around the league.
Take a look at how her exit in Seattle played out:
Both hires report to assistant GM Braden Birch, who also runs the Comets. That part of the team’s release carries a wrinkle. Campbell and Birch overlapped for three seasons in Cornell’s hockey program, and she captained the Big Red as a senior.
The two of them round out a development staff that already includes Eric Weinrich, Mark Voakes and Esa Pirnes. New Jersey wants the group running point on draft picks and young players while tying those prospects into the club’s athlete care, performance and coaching departments.
McCabe arrives after 14 seasons in Florida’s front office. He started as a player development coach in 2012-13, moved up to director of player development, then took over as director of player personnel in 2017-18. He sat in that chair through three straight Stanley Cup Final runs and the back-to-back championships in 2024 and 2025.
Before the suit and tie, the 51-year-old played 1,135 NHL games over 15 seasons with the Islanders, Canucks, Blackhawks, Maple Leafs, Panthers and Rangers. His 2005-06 season in Toronto was the peak, with 68 points and a third-place finish among all NHL defensemen.
Campbell’s road to an NHL bench got a full documentary treatment from Sportsnet a year ago. Watch it here:
Mehta has rebuilt this department almost entirely with people he already trusts. Birch, McCabe and Campbell all walk into Devils camp on day one.
