Blackhawks assistant coach Kevin Dean will not return to the club next season, reports Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff.
In fact, it doesn’t appear any of the assistants, including Derek King and Derek Plante, will be back next season after the club announced the hiring of new head coach Jeff Blashill today. Reports indicate longtime NHL center Michael Peca, most recently an assistant coach with the Rangers, is joining Blashill’s staff. Anders Sorensen, who finished the season as Chicago’s interim head coach, has reportedly accepted an offer to stay with the club in an assistant role, while David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period added they’re expected to bring in a third fresh assistant, likely Penguins assistant coach Mike Vellucci.
Dean and King were named assistants simultaneously in the summer of 2022, shortly after the club hired Luke Richardson, whom Blashill succeeds, to be their head coach. The former had spent the previous five seasons as an assistant with the Bruins and, working with an understaffed blue line in Chicago, has furthered his reputation as a high-end defensive coach during his time with the Blackhawks. He’s gotten better-than-expected results with developing names like Alex Vlasic and, at least in smaller samples this past year, Ethan Del Mastro and Wyatt Kaiser.
Dean is currently in Europe as an assistant with the United States at the World Championship, so an official announcement on his and the rest of the aforementioned names’ departures likely won’t come until the tournament concludes. Before jumping into coaching as an AHL assistant with the Devils back in 2006, Dean logged over 300 games as a defenseman in the NHL with the Devils, Blackhawks, Thrashers, and Stars from 1995 to 2001.
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