Kevin Dean visits Albany as an AHL head coach

Kevin Dean visits Albany as an AHL head coach

Kevin Dean still gets warm feelings these days when he enters Times Union Center, although his best memories come from when it was called Knickerbocker Arena.

Dean, who played 143 games as an Albany River Rats defenseman and was captain of their 1994-95 Calder Cup championship team, has returned numerous times as an assistant coach, first with the Lowell Devils, then the Providence Bruins.

The Bruins will carry a nine-game points streak (5-0-4) into the arena to face the Albany Devils.

Before getting his call to the NHL, where he played 331 career games, Dean was a cornerstone on the first two Rats squads, including Albany's only American Hockey League champion.

Dean retired as a player after the 2001-02 season and was co-owner with his brother of a small business in their hometown of Madison, Wis., for a few years when Lou Lamoriello, then the general manager of the New Jersey Devils, asked him to coach.

When Cassidy was hired as a Boston Bruins assistant, Dean took the lead job in Providence.

The Providence scoring leader, with 18 points and a plus-14 rating in 22 games, is former Union forward Wayne Simpson.