Coyotes Hire Dawn Braid, NHL’s First-Ever Full-Time Female Coach

The Arizona Coyotes made history Wednesday by hiring Dawn Braid, thus becoming the first NHL team to hire a woman as a full-time coach.

Coyotes Hire Dawn Braid, NHL’s First-Ever Full-Time Female Coach

Bradi, who was the team’s part-time skating consultant last season, has been promoted to full-time skating coach.

She has previously served as an independent consultant for several league teams, including the Anaheim Ducks, Buffalo Sabres, Calgary Flames and Toronto Maple Leafs. Braid also spent seven years with the Athletes Training Center as director of skating development. One of the most high-profile players she worked with during her time there was New York Islanders center John Tavares. 

The Coyotes also added Mike Van Ryn and Steve Potvin to the coaching staff. Van Ryn will serve as the Coyotes’ development coach while Potvin was named the team’s skills coach.

Braid was unavailable to speak with the media Wednesday, but released a statement through the Coyotes.

“I’m very excited about this opportunity with the Coyotes,” said Braid. “I’m looking forward to working with Dave Tippett and his coaching staff and all the great players in the organization.

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

This not the first major move the organization has made this year. Just earlier this summer, the club fired longtime GM Don Maloney and promoted then-26-year-old John Chayka from assistant general manager to GM.

“Dawn is someone who we feel is at the top of her field so we thought it was imperative to hire her,” Chayka said (via azcentral.com). “She’s got a great personality and the players work hard for her and respect her knowledge. The bottom line is she gets results, and that’s the key thing. Dawn is someone who [head coach Dave Tippett] and I respect and we feel that she’s going to be a very important asset for us.”

Tavares also praised her as a trainer.

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

Other major sports leagues’ teams have also made historical strides in the past year by adding women to their full-time coaching staff, or by at least giving women a greater role on their staff. The Buffalo Bills hired Kathryn Smith as special teams quality control coach in January– the NFL’s first full-time female assistant– and the San Antonio Spurs brought in Becky Hammon as assistant coach– also the NBA’s first-ever female assistant– in August 2014.

One year ago, the Arizona Cardinals made Jen Welter the first woman to hold an NFL coaching position of any kind when she served as an intern during the preseason.

Although the world of sports still remains very male-dominated, one can only guess moves like these represent a small step toward allowing women to become a more integral component of teams’ coaching staffs.

GLENDALE, AZ – MARCH 05: Alex Tanguay #40 of the Arizona Coyotes is congratulated by teammates after his second period goal against the Florida Panthers at Gila River Arena on March 5, 2016 in Glendale, Arizona. (Photo by Ralph Freso/Getty Images)