Kevin Dean

After the Boston Bruins made news last night by relieving head coach Bruce Cassidy of his duties, general manager Don Sweeney met with the media today to explain the decision. Sweeney told reporters including Fluto Shinzawa of The Athletic that it was time for a new voice, and that he and Cassidy had already decided assistant coach Kevin Dean would not be returning.

Chris Kelly and Joe Sacco, however, are currently still under contract. It obviously remains to be seen whether they are kept on by whoever the Bruins hire next, but they were not relieved of their duties with Cassidy. Here are some more notes from Sweeney’s presser:

• The team is not expected to buy anyone out this offseason, despite lots of speculation about Nick Foligno after his poor debut with the club. The 34-year-old forward (35 in October), is signed for one more season at a $3.8MM cap hit and scored just two goals in 64 games this season. The Bruins already have more than $80MM committed to next season, though with the injury timelines of players like Brad Marchand and Charlie McAvoy, long-term injured reserve can obviously give them some flexibility to start the year.
• Of course, that also doesn’t include Patrice Bergeron, who is an unrestricted free agent this summer after winning his record-setting fifth Selke Trophy. Matt Porter of the Boston Globe relays comments from Sweeney which suggest a “directional shift” if Bergeron doesn’t return, or if the injured players struggle to get back to full strength. It seems unlikely that a full tear down is on the horizon, given the team just recently traded for and extended Hampus Lindholm, but Sweeney already seems to be preparing for the possibility of a down year in 2022-23.

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.