Kalman: Sweeney Putting A Lot Of Faith In New P-Bruins Head Coach Kevin Dean
BOSTON (CBS) - There's no one more excited about the Bruins' upcoming pool of prospects than Kevin Dean because Monday the former NHL defenseman was named the new head coach for the Providence farm club in the American Hockey League.
Dean's hiring was a promotion for the assistant coach position he held for five seasons under Bruce Cassidy, who is now a NHL assistant coach with the Bruins.
"I'm very excited to say the least," Dean said during a conference call to discuss his new job. "I just got a taste of Robbie O'Gara and Brandon Carlo at the end of last year, young players like Linus Arnesson and Chris Casto, and then you've got Matt Grzelcyk coming into the fold this year. All five or six of those players I just mentioned really have an asset that you can nail down. That to me is what makes a player exciting to work with is you can point to something in their game to get excited about, something in their game that can take them to the next level. Every one of those players has something.
"They're going to be challenged; the challenge is going to be to bring that out in pro hockey and at the NHL level and still work on the things that they're not good at. You look at these kids and the assets they have, it's almost impossible not to get excited."
Dean's going to be challenged too. And he better be able to turn that excitement about the Bruins' prospects into tangible results by developing the talent during his first stint as a head coach at the AHL level. The future of the Bruins is relying on him.
Even if the Bruins are able to swing a deal for a top-two "transitional" defenseman this season or next, and even if the young players on the NHL roster continue to blossom, the Bruins are going to need reinforcements. There's no telling how much the salary cap will continue to increase and there are always going to be free agents that need raises and cap crunches that will force hard decisions. No one wants to think about them, but there will be injuries. General manager Don Sweeney won't be able to manage the salary cap and keep the Bruins competitive if he doesn't have the right reinforcements coming up through the system.
The Providence roster figures to be pretty young. As Dean mentioned, O'Gara and Carlo got some AHL time at the end of last season. So did Danton Heinen and Jesse Gabrielle. Those guys could be down for more seasoning nest season. Grzelcyk will probably start the season with the P-Bruins. Sean Kuraly and Jake DeBrusk will be making the jump. A handful of players will be in their second-year of North American pro hockey. More than ever, development will be crucial and competition could get heated.
Dean hopes to forge a culture that rewards the players that deserve ice time and promotions, but also puts an emphasis on making sure the younger players are handled with the right care.
"That's always the tricky part in the American League. It's one of those few times when you're competing against players on the same team for spots up top, right?" Dean said. "In a perfect world ... we're going to try to create that environment, will be to have a merit-based team where the best players will play. But special care and special attention and focus will be given to the young players and the players identified as prospects with a really good chance to play in Boston so that they can grab those spots. But they're going to have to grab them. Nothing's going to be given to them. They're going to have to come in and put their best foot forward from Day One and consistently and constantly work on the things that they need to get better at to play up top."
Sweeney might be able to have patience with the developing players. But he won't be able to wait long to find out if he picked the right guy to handle the pre-NHL portion of these players' careers. Dean's going to have to expand his role beyond the defensemen, get on the same page with Bruins coach Claude Julien and make sure that every personality in a P-Bruins sweater is dealt with the right way.
The "extensive" search Sweeney conducted only wound up 40 miles south of where the Bruins' extensive search for a GM ended. Sweeney's putting a lot of faith in a first-time head coach to get the job done. Like the players he'll be coaching, Dean will have to develop quickly.
