Washington Capitals hire Dr. Aimee Kimball to development staff

Just prior to the final session of Rookie Camp, the Washington Capitals hired Dr. Aimee Kimball as their senior director of team and organizational development.

In a press release from the Caps, General Manager Brian MacLellan said:

"“We are excited to welcome Aimee to our organization. Aimee brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to help us maximize the potential of our players. We feel her addition to the hockey operations staff will be a benefit to our organization.”"

Kimball has 15 years of NHL experience on her resume, spending her first 10 seasons with the Pittsburgh Penguins and last five seasons with the New Jersey Devils. In her new role with the team, Kimball will provide “skilled direction and support” in the player development areas outside of strength training and on ice training.

Kimball’s work will also include proper formulation, accumulation, and presentation of all player development related information and plans. Her work will span each phase of player development including pre draft evaluation of players, their development after the draft, and working with both minor league and NHL players.

In addition to her role with the Caps, Kimball serve as the Mental Performance Coach for the USA Hockey Women’s National Team for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China. She earned a bachelors degree in psychology from the Pennsylvania State University while earning a master’s degree in sports sciences from Miami University.

Kimball also earned a doctorate in education with an emphasis in sports psychology and cultural studies from the University of Tennessee as well as an executive MBA from the Miami University Farmer School of Business.

Kimball joins a player development staff that includes Brooks Orpik and those guys oversaw the action over the last three days at Rookie Camp. Now it’s onto training camp with physicals on Wednesday and the first on ice session Thursday.

Kimball’s role is important as a big key to success for an NHL player isn’t just their physical aspect of the game but their mental game as well.

Kimball spoke of her new role to Samantha Pell of The Washington Post (subscription required):

"“I’m someone who can help them become mentally stronger. What I think many of the athletes realize is they often get to this point based on skill and this might be one of the first challenges they face, and it is helpful to have somebody to teach them how to manage stress or teach them how to deal with being scratched for the first time in their life.”"

Stars and Sticks congratulates Kimball and welcomes her to the Caps family.