Arizona Coyotes hire skating coach believed to be first full-time female coach in NHL

Reporting from GLENDALE, Ariz. —  The Arizona Coyotes have hired Dawn Braid as skating coach and say she is believed to be the first full-time female coach in NHL history.

Braid has a long association with the NHL.

She worked part-time for the Coyotes last year and served as a skating consultant with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Ducks, Buffalo Sabres and Calgary Flames.

Braid also spent seven years with the Athletes Training Center as director of skating development. Among the skaters she worked with while there is New York Islanders center John Tavares.

“It’s something that I’ve wanted to see happen,” she said in a statement released by the Coyotes. “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.”

The hiring is the latest in a series of breakthroughs for women in men’s sports.

Last year, the Buffalo Bills made Kathryn Smith the NFL’s first full-time assistant coach. Smith is the team’s quality control coach.

The NBA has had two female assistant coaches — Becky Hammon of the San Antonio Spurs and Nancy Lieberman of the Sacramento Kings.

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