Dean Chynoweth was the New York Islanders first round pick, 13th overall, in the 1987 NHL Entry Draft. Known primarily as a defensive defenseman, Chynoweth had what some would say a bad luck career. He played parts of seven seasons with the Islanders, never playing more than 39 games in a single year. In 1988-89 he played in 6 of the Islanders first 9 games until his left eye was gouged in a fight by Philadelphia Flyer Rick Tocchet. Tocchet received a 10 game suspension for the incident while Chynoweth would miss the next 26 games. It was during this time that Dean was diagnosed with Osgood-Schlatter disease, an affliction that affects growing bones, causing sharp pain in the legs. He was forced to miss the remainder of the season and the disease would go on to hamper the rest of his career. Numerous injuries as well as shifting between the NHL and AHL along the way would limit Chynoweth to only 141 games with the Islanders from 1989 to 1996. He only scored 2 goals as an Islander including one at Madison Square Garden Feb. 14, 1992 in a 9-2 loss to the NY Rangers. 

     Dean may have had a tumultuous NHL career, but his hockey career started off on the right foot. Chynoweth was a member of the WHL's Medicine Hat Tigers squad that won back to back Memorial Cup championships in 1987 & 88. For his part, he was named a 1988 Memorial Cup All-Star defenseman. Some of his teammates were future Islanders Mark Fitzpatrick, Rob DiMaio and Wayne McBean. After returning from his eye injury in 1989-90, Chynoweth would play a big role in the Islanders farm team, the Springfield Indians, winning the AHL's Calder Cup championship.

     Chynoweth was no stranger to fisticuffs and physical play. Perhaps Dean's most memorable moment came in a regular season game against the Buffalo Sabres in the early 90's. Chynoweth managed to line up former Sabre forward Brad May and plastered him into the boards. Between periods, on Sportschannel, May walked up to the camera and said something in the line of: "Hey Dean Chynoweth, i'm gonna get you." Nothing ever really came of it, but it was a brief moment of drama that can take place within a physical game. The Islanders finally tired of Chynoweth's lack of availability and development so they traded him to the Boston Bruins for a 1996 fifth round draft pick ( Petr Sachl ) on Dec. 9, 1995. Dean only had 1 assist in 14 games for the Islanders during the 1995-96 season, but went on to finish 2-7-9 in 35 games with Boston. He would go on to split time for the next two years between Boston and the AHL before retiring following the 1997-98 season. A former first round selection that never really lived up to his potential. Dean's father Ed acted as a commissioner for the Western Hockey League throughout much of the 1990's.

     In 1998, Chynoweth decided to get into coaching as he was hired as an assistant by former Islander Butch Goring, then head coach of the IHL's Utah Grizzlies. In 2001, Chynoweth was hired as head coach of the WHL's Seattle Thunderbirds. After coaching the Thunderbirds to a 21-40-6 record in 2001-02, Dean turned their fortunes in 2002-03 with a record of 44-22-3-3. Today, Chynoweth currently serves as head coach and general manager of the WHL's Swift Current Broncos, a position he has held since 2004.