Dean’s aim: Coach up
Baby B’s give Ex-UNH star a head-start
The Bruins will have a pretty good group of prospects with NHL potential with their AHL affiliate, Providence, this season — and that includes new head coach Kevin Dean.
After playing four years at the University of New Hampshire, the 47-yearold Dean worked his way into the NHL and played 331 games for New Jersey, Atlanta, Dallas and Chicago. Then, after several years in private business, he got a call from Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello offering him an AHL assistant coaching position at Lowell.
And thus the big, stay-at-home defenseman was on his way on a coaching path that he hopes leads to an NHL head coaching job.
Having spent so many years playing and/or coaching under Lamoriello and former Devils coach Jacques Lemaire, Dean was plainly a product of the Devils’ defense-first philosophy, based on sound system play and a roster of players who understood and embraced whatever role they were asked to perform.
“I played for three seasons with Lemaire, and between my time in the AHL and then NHL probably, I was with Lou for eight or nine years,” Dean said. “I know how Lou works. He’s very demanding, for sure, but if you step up and perform the way he expects, whether you’re a top player or a lower-end guy like I was or someone who works in the office, he will reward you.
“And Lemaire was just a terrific coach. He has an ability to coach saying very little. He had a really unique skill to zero in on what needed to be stressed and that’s it. Not a lot of BS. It was just, ‘ This is what we’ve got to get in this area.’ ”
Dean said Lemoriello drove home the importance of players doing their jobs, big or small.
“That where’s Lou had a really big influence on the organization: It was like, ‘This is your role, understand it, embrace it. You’re as important on the thirdand fourth-line as Petr Sykora and Scott Stevens are at the top.’ ”
After five years coaching in the New Jersey system, Dean signed on as an assistant under Providence Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy in 2011. Having learned plenty about defense with the Devils, he got more of an education in offense under Cassidy, a former offensive defenseman.
“That’s where I really benefited as a coach working with Butch,” Dean said. “He’s unbelievable on the offensive side of it. It was great for me to grow as a coach. Because obviously there is value on both sides of the puck, but that part of my coaching repertoire really needed to be developed. I’ve certainly got a lot to learn and a long way to go, but working with Butch was a godsend in that regard.”
Dean said he had conversations with B’s GM Don Sweeney this summer about his coaching future.
“I’m a ways away from being an NHL head coach, I know that,” Dean said. “But I do want to coach in the NHL. So I’ll just work to do a good job here now, and whether that takes me to the NHL as an assistant or a head coach will be determined. But it starts with doing a good job here first.”