Women have been hired as skating coaches, scouts, and analytics personnel for years now. The Arizona Coyotes were the first NHL team to hire full-time female coach when they named Dawn Braid as the team’s new skating coach back in 2016. The Toronto Maple Leafs hired Canadian hockey legend Hayley Wickenheiser back in August as their assistant director of player development. Power skating coach Barb Underhill consults for various NHL teams and their AHL affiliates, including (most recently) the Tampa Bay Lightning. In 2017, Rachel Doerrie joined the New Jersey Devils’ Hockey Operations Department as an analyst specializing in player information and video.
The NHL’s reluctance to change continues to leave women on the outside looking in
