The Columbus Blue Jackets announced the hiring of Dean Evason on July 22, 2024. (Photo by Jeff…) [+] Vinick/NHLI via Getty Images
NHLI via Getty Images
Now, the NHL’s final head coaching vacancy for the 2024-25 season has been filled.
The Columbus Blue Jackets announced on Monday that they have agreed to terms with guard Dean Evason on a multi-year contract.
“Dean Evason brings the passion, work ethic and tenacity he developed as a player to the coaching role,” said new Blue Jackets general manager Don Waddell, who took the helm on May 28 after wrapping up a 10-year career with the Carolina Hurricanes organization. “We couldn’t be more pleased to have him serve as the next head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets.”
Columbus will be the 59-year-old Evason’s second NHL team after he was promoted from assistant to serve as interim manager behind the Minnesota Wild’s bench to replace Bruce Boudreau in February 2020, a month before the league was suspended due to the pandemic, and was fired Nov. 27, 2023.
In 251 games, he led the Wild to 147 wins, 77 losses and 27 ties for a solid .639 scoring percentage, and the team made the playoffs in all four of his seasons under him, but never made it past the first round.
In Columbus, he will take over a team that finished 29th in the NHL standings with 66 points in 2023-24, after finishing 31st with 59 points the year before. Columbus has never advanced beyond the second round of the playoffs since joining the NHL in 2000 and hasn’t appeared in the postseason since the 2020 bubble.
Officially, Evason will be the Blue Jackets’ fifth head coach since 2020, when they were managed by John Tortorella. Then, in 2021, the team handed the reins to Tortorella’s longtime assistant Brad Larsen. He served two seasons before Columbus infamously hired Mike Babcock on July 1, 2023, but Babcock didn’t even make it to the first day of training camp and resigned after the NHL Players Association investigated Babcock for alleged privacy violations by asking to view players’ phones.
The Blue Jackets were eager to fill Babcock’s position and turned to assistant coach Pascal Vincent, who was Larsen’s first hire when he took over as head coach in 2021. Vincent was released from his position on June 18, 2024.
When Waddell took over, he made it clear he was looking for a coach with NHL experience, and Evason fits that bill. Former Los Angeles Kings coach Todd MacLellan was also thought to be in the running for the job before the two sides were unable to agree on contract terms. Former Edmonton Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft was also thought to be in the running.
Evason had a lengthy on-ice career in the NHL, appearing in 803 games over 13 years with five different teams.
Amid their on-ice ineffectiveness in recent years, the Blue Jackets have built up an intriguing pool of young prospects, led by Adam Fantilli, the No. 2 overall pick in 2023. Denton Mateychuk, a first-round draft pick in 2022, will likely make his NHL debut this fall on the defensive line.
Waddell is also hoping Sean Monahan can recreate the chemistry he enjoyed with Johnny Gaudreau over the years in Calgary. On July 1, Waddell signed the 29-year-old centre to a four-year contract with a cap hit of $5.5 million per season as an unrestricted free agent.
“This team has a great core of players and a lot of young talent,” Evason said in a team statement Monday. “I’m really looking forward to working with this group and helping us become a team that can play extremely hard and compete at the highest level.”
Assistant coaches Mark Recchi, Steve McCarthy and Jared Boll were retained after Vincent was fired, while Joseph Boumediene left the team when his contract expired on July 1, according to Aaron Portsline of The Athletic. Evason will now have the option to keep those assistant coaches or hire new coaches.
Evason will be formally introduced at a press conference at Nationwide Arena on Tuesday.
