The Boston Bruins are expected to name Kevin Dean the head coach of their AHL affiliate in Providence. That’s according to CSN New England, which expects the announcement to be made shortly.
Update: The announcement has been made.
Dean has been an assistant coach in Providence the past five seasons. The head coach during that time was Bruce Cassidy, who was recently named to Claude Julien’s staff in Boston.
From CSN New England:
The writing appeared to be on the wall for Dean’s promotion when he spoke with the Bruins media following one of the development camp sessions last week, and gave some very well-articulated, smart and candidly honest answers about the B’s prospects. While it’s clear Dean was the most appropriate choice given his knowledge of Bruins personnel, he also carries a strong reputation as a natural teacher that greatly helped the B’s organization develop young defensemen like Torey Krug, Matt Bartkowski, Kevan Miller and Adam McQuaid over the last six plus seasons.
The B’s have added a number of defensive prospects to their system in the last couple of years, including Jakub Zboril, Brandon Carlo, Jeremy Lauzon, and Charles McAvoy. They need those youngsters to be developed properly, so having an AHL coach that knows how to work with d-men makes sense.
Related: Carlo impresses Dean