Arizona Coyotes Hire Dawn Braid as Skating Coach Making Her First Female Coach in NHL

The Arizona Coyotes announced on Wednesday, that they have hired Dawn Braid, to serve as their skating coach, making her the first female full-time coach in the National Hockey League. 

Last season Braid worked with the Coyotes on a part time basis in the same capacity. Prior to the Coyotes, she served as a consultant with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Calgary Flames, Anaheim Ducks and Buffalo Sabres. 

Braid said, “It is something that I have wanted to see happen. The fact that they respect what I do enough to name me a full time coach, or to name me the first female coach in the NHL, I take pride in that. I have worked very hard for this opportunity. It has been going on for years and I just look forward to going even further with it.”

Coyotes general manager, John Chayka, who at 26-years-old is the youngest general manager in the NHL said, “We feel that Dawn can provide a real competitive advantage for our team. The game is getting faster and it is all about skating.”

He added, “Dawn is someone we feel is at the top of her field so we thought it was imperative to hire her. She has a great personality and the players work hard for her and respect her knowledge. The bottom line is she gets results and that is the key thing.”

Before her time assisting the NHL teams, she spent seven years working as the director of skating development at Athletes Training Center in Mississauga, Ontario. One of her clients was New York Islanders captain, John Tavares. 

Tavares told NHL.com back in 2012, “Dawn has wanted to put me in to make myself a more powerful and efficient skater. Dawn always says, ‘If you did not train properly and do the things you need to do, you are not going to be strong enough to do the things I want you to do.’”

Braid’s hiring follows a trend in men’s professional sports of female coaches being hired to the full-time staffs. In 2014, Becky Hammon was hired by the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association and in 2016, the National Football League’s, Buffalo Bills hired Kathryn Smith as the first female full-time coaches. 

The Arizona Cardinals gave Jen Welter the opportunity to be the first woman to hold a coaching position in the NFL, when they hired her as an intern on their staff last year, during the preseason. Aside from Hammon in the NBA, Nancy Lieberman is on the coaching staff of the Sacramento Kings as well.    

The hiring also confirmed the belief of Jamie Lee Rattrey, who plays forward for the Brampton Thunder of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League.

In January, she told NHL.com, “100 percent I do think it will happen. I think we learn the game at the same level as the guys do now. I think you see a lot of girls developing at the same level as the guys do now. I think you [will] see a lot of girls developing as players and coaches now. A lot of coaches at the highest level in women’s hockey are female, so I think we will see it one day where an NHL team will hire a woman coach.”

 

The Coyotes also announced on Wednesday that they hired former NHL defenseman, Mike Van Ryn as the development coach and Steve Potvin as skills coach.