Boston Bruins general manager Don Sweeney announced today that the team has hired Kevin Dean as an assistant coach of the Boston Bruins under head coach Bruce Cassidy.
Dean’s promotion comes one season after being named head coach of the Providence Bruins, Boston’s American Hockey League affiliate. At the helm of the P-Bruins, Dean led the team to a 43-23-6-4 record and a berth in the 2017 Calder Cup Playoffs, where the Bruins advanced all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals following upsets of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Hershey. Dean’s Bruins were the first team in AHL history to win four elimination games on the road in a single postseason.
Dean spent five seasons as an assistant coach of the Providence Bruins (2011-16), reaching the playoffs four times.
The 48-year-old native of Madison, Wis., previously spent five seasons as a coach in the New Jersey Devils organization, including four seasons as an assistant coach for the AHL’s Lowell Devils.
On the ice, Dean competed in 331 NHL games with Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta and New Jersey. In 1995, he completed a rare feat by winning both a Stanley Cup (New Jersey) and Calder Cup (Albany) in the same season. Dean played 306 AHL games with Utica, Albany and Milwaukee, and was a First Team AHL All-Star in 1994-95.
