Canucks to hire Kevin Dean as assistant coach to Adam Foote: report

Dean was responsible for the defensive strategies in both Boston and Chicago, and presumably, will take on that role for Foote’s staff. In other words, Dean had the same job that Foote held with the Canucks for the past three seasons.

Dean, 56, played 331 NHL games, with stints with the New Jersey Devils, Atlanta Thrashers, Dallas Stars, and Chicago Blackhwaks. The Devils originally selected Dean in the fifth round of the 1987 NHL Draft.

Before his three year stint on the Blackhawks’ coaching staff, Dean spent five seasons on the Bruins’ bench after six seasons with the AHL’s Providence Bruins (five as an assistant, one as a head coach).

The Canucks have yet to announce Dean’s hiring. Currently, Yogi Svejkovsky, the skills coach turned assistant responsible for the Canucks’ power play this past season, is the only confirmed assistant coach behind the bench on Foote’s staff.

With Dean and Svejkovsky, the focus for Foote and the Canucks to round out the coaching staff is expected to be to hire an offensive-minded assistant coach to round out the coaching staff. It will be interesting to see what route the Canucks go there. Will they try to hire an ex-head coach trying to get back into the game? Will they hire a veteran assistant coach? Only time will tell.