Coaching Up

For young hockey players, NHL development camps provide a glimpse into what it will take to advance their game to the next level. The Seattle Kraken are making sure that their camp provides that same opportunity to young coaches as well.

This summer, the Kraken are collaborating with two NHL Coaches' Association (NHLCA) programs focused on women and individuals from the BIPOC community to bring in two new faces as coaches for camp activities.

Lennie Childs, assistant coach for the men's program at Union College (Schenectady, NY), and Kraken Youth Hockey Player Development coach Katelyn Parker, will be skating alongside Dave Hakstol, Dan Bylsma, Jeff Tambellini and their staffs as they run camp participants through drills, testing and other activities on and off the ice.

Both candidates were interviewed by the Kraken hockey operations staff before being asked to play a key role in this year's camp. Each got the invite from assistant general manager, Alexandra Mandrycky.

The process that Mandrycky and her team had gone through is what impressed Childs, who had received invites from a couple NHL teams to be part of their summer camps.

"(Mandrycky said) they had called their scouts and they knew of me and had some good things to say," Childs said. "She had done her homework on me prior, which I really appreciated. Obviously in all of these opportunities that come up, I definitely don't want to be the person that's perceived to get an opportunity because of my skin color.

"It was clear that this wasn't just the Kraken trying to put someone in here and just saying, 'hey, we did this.'"

For Childs, who is originally from Silver Spring, MD, the opportunity is a dream come true. Childs found his love for coaching when a coach at a camp he attended put a teenage Childs in charge of practices, scheduling, lunches…pretty much everything. From there the former forward's trajectory changed and he has spent years building up his coaching acumen and personal style.

Now, both he and Parker will be doing similar things but at a much higher level. And they can soak up knowledge from the existing Kraken NHL and AHL staffs on everything from hockey strategy to player management.

It's also a great chance to show what they can do as young coaches themselves.

That expectation is exactly what NHLCA President, Lindsay Pennal hoped for when she went to the NHL's GM meetings this Spring and introduced the idea of having participants in the association's diversity programs be part of team's development camps.

Since 2020, Pennal has been working with the 140 participants in the NHLCA's Female Coaches Development Program and BIPOC Coaches program to achieve the three goals of networking, professional development, and visibility and exposure via month web-based meetings.

But she knew hands-on experience would provide opportunities for big leaps in coaches' progress beyond the work that was already happening. So, she went to the general managers and pled her case to include coaches in the diversity programs in summer development camps.

"I left (the meetings), recognizing how busy the GMs are," Pennal said. "I didn't expect them to take it on. I said here's my contact info, snap a picture and please send it to your assistant GM's.

"The fact that within two weeks 12 teams have reached out and said, 'my GM told me about this program. We want to run it. What do we do?' I'm thrilled, because I know next year, we'll have double that and we'll have 32 probably the following year. I think the support of our NHL coaches also pushing it from the inside was a huge contributor to the uptake…the coaches are asking and saying 'look, this is what the NHLCA is running. We want to take part in it we want to support their programs.'"

For Parker the invite is doubly special. She has been part of the women's program since leaving college coaching and returning to her home state of Washington to help build the game through programming at the Kraken Community Iceplex (KCI) and also as a scout for the Team USA U18 women's program.

When the Kraken's AHL affiliate launched this season, they began their on-ice existence at KCI before facilities were ready in Coachella Valley. Now the program she watched come to be will looking to her as a guiding voice for future young players in the organization's system.

"That's one of the biggest things about development camp is you want to really welcome these players into your organization," Parker said. "I've been fortunate to be part of the (Kraken) organization and know what it stands for and that greater purpose that we're all driving towards. And so being able to have that in my back pocket and being able to express that or showcase that on the ice as well, I think is going to be an awesome opportunity."

Both Parker and Childs have spent recent weeks researching players that will be at the Kraken's development camp and studying the materials that director of player development, Jeff Tambellini has sent over. Childs plans to keep a journal throughout camp, and both can't contain their excitement as they talk about getting to hear how to think the game and how to get the most out of different players.

"Anytime you can continuously build your toolbox and gather more knowledge the better," Parker said. "At its core hockey is a very simple game. . .but the nuances and the details of the game are what I think makes it so beautiful and special. There are so many ways to teach and ways to view it. It will be awesome to be on the ice and in those conversations and see how (NHL and AHL coaches) approach camp or how they approach the game."

And after this camp experience, what comes next? Beyond the individual benefits, Parker, Childs, and Pennal all speak passionately about how increasing not just the numbers but also the visibility of players and current and future coaches who are women and people of color is key in creating true diversity in the game of hockey.

Pennal points to leagues such as the ECHL, USHL, and North American Hockey League that didn't have any women behind the bench three years ago when the NHLCA programs started, but now do. This season, the Kraken's own Coachella Valley Firebirds' Jessica Campbell became the first woman to be an assistant coach behind the bench for an AHL team. She'll be at the Kraken's camp too.

"We'll get more (diverse) coaches in the NHL when we get more coaches in college hockey and junior hockey," Childs said. "That means we'll get more players into college hockey and junior hockey which means we need more players to play AAA hockey, and youth hockey, which means we have to get more players (from under-represented communities) at the grassroots level to enjoy the game, love the game and participate in the game at the highest level. That's the key."