Dawn Braid is a Canadian skating coach and consultant. She was the first woman to hold a full-time coaching job in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

Career

She grew up in Woodbridge, Ontario, and competed as a figure skater at a national level in her youth. At the age of 17, she began coaching ice hockey players in skating techniques, working as a novice coach at in Toronto and for the junior B Vaughan Raiders team, owned by her father. In 2005, she was hired by the

Toronto Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. The Maple Leafs compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the A ...

to teach at their development camp. She would then go on to work as a consultant for several NHL teams, including the Buffalo Sabres, Anaheim Ducks, and Calgary Flames, as well as coaching a number of Ontario Hockey League players, including John Tavares and Ryan Merkley. In 2016, she was hired as a full-time skating coach by

Arizona Coyotes The Arizona Coyotes are an inactive professional ice hockey team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. They competed in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division (1996–1998, 2021–2024) and ...

, the first woman to hold a full-time coaching job in the NHL, and not just a part-time or temporary consulting position. After two years with the Coyotes, she left the team to return to her consultancy work. She was named one of the 25 most powerful women in hockey by Sportsnet in 2020.

Personal life

Her son, Mackenzie Braid, played 14 games professionally in the ECHL.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Braid, Dawn Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Ice hockey people from Ontario Canadian ice hockey coaches Women in the National Hockey League