The Boston Bruins have decided to promote from within to fill their NHL assistant coach role, hiring Kevin Dean to join Bruce Cassidy behind the bench next season. Dean had worked with Cassidy for several seasons in the American Hockey League, before taking over as head coach when Cassidy moved to the NHL last year.
Dean had a long career as a professional player, bouncing back and forth between the AHL and NHL for the New Jersey Devils for many years before bouncing around during his last few years. In 331 career NHL games, the defenseman recorded 55 points and 138 penalty minutes. A long-time AHL assistant, this will be his first opportunity behind an NHL bench. The Bruins’ GM Don Sweeney explains why they made the hire:
The Bruins are excited to be promoting from within our organization. Kevin’s experience, work ethic and commitment to winning and developing players qualify him as the best coach to compliment Bruce’s staff. Kevin’s professionalism and communication skills have always been strong attributes. His success as a Head Coach this past season only reinforced our opinion that Kevin is both ready and excited for the challenges of coaching at the NHL level.
There is no word on who will take over as head coach of the Providence Bruins, and try to follow up on the 43-23-10 season that Dean led them to this year. Boston on the other hand will try to get back to the playoffs with Cassidy who turned around a struggling squad when promoted to head coach partway through the season. The team removed the interim tag from his role earlier this spring and committed to him for the foreseeable future.
Great! Now get some quality Defenseman please!!