NEWSLETTER
Just before the Blackhawks starting their development camp on Monday morning, the organization announced the hiring of two assistant coaches to complete Luke Richardson’s staff at the NHL level. Derek King is staying with the club to work with the forwards, and Kevin Dean is joining the Blackhawks to handle the defensemen.
If his name rings a bell for the 12 fans who attended games back between 1999 and 2001, it’s because Dean finished his NHL career with the Blackhawks. He appeared in 331 regular season NHL games with the Devils, Thrashers, Stars and Blackhawks before hanging up his skates and moving into the coaching world.
His coaching resume is good, and it’s been primarily with the Boston Bruins organization over the past decade.
Dean was an assistant with the Providence Bruins from 2011-12 through 2015-16 where he started working with Bruce Cassidy. In 2016-17 he was the head coach in Providence and they advanced to the third round of the AHL postseason.
In 2017, Cassidy invited Dean to join his coaching staff at the NHL level. When he made the jump to the NHL, Cassidy praised his work in developing defensemen for the Bruins.
“He’s an extremely knowledgeable hockey mind who is deeply committed to the Bruins organization and development of our players,” Cassidy said in the Bruins’ statement after promoting Dean in 2017. “We’ve established a strong rapport having coached together for five years in Providence and I look forward to working closely with him again on a daily basis.”
Dean worked with some really good defensemen in Providence and was a big part of their development. Torey Krug, Kevan Miller, Matt Bartkowski, Matt Grzelcyk and Charlie McAvoy all played for him in the AHL.
We’ve heard Dean had a chance to join Cassidy in Las Vegas when he took the Golden Knights’ head coaching job earlier this summer, but wanted to pursue other opportunities. Coming to Chicago gives him a chance to continue working with developing defensemen in an organization that figures to have some turnover in the coming months/years.
