Stephen Whyno, The Associated Press
2 hours ago
FILE – Minnesota Wild coach Dean Evason speaks to players during NHL hockey training camp in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Sept. 22, 2022. The Columbus Blue Jackets announced the hiring of Dean Evason as their new head coach on Monday, July 22, 2024. (Carlos Gonzalez/Star Tribune via The Associated Press, File)
The Columbus Blue Jackets hired Dean Evason as their coach on Monday, filling their final NHL vacancy two months before the start of training camp.
The 59-year-old Evason will be Columbus’ third consecutive head coach since Mike Babcock, who was hired on the eve of training camp last September and then resigned. The team said Evason agreed to a multi-year contract.
New Blue Jackets general manager Don Waddell fired Pascal Vincent shortly after taking the helm of the team’s hockey operations, and Evason ultimately emerged as the leading candidate in the search to replace Vincent as coach.
“(Evason) has spent more than 20 years in this league as a player, assistant coach and head coach and I believe that experience, combined with his great personality, will enable Dean to bring out the best in his players and put the team in a position to be successful,” Waddell said in a statement.
Evason was the head coach of the Minnesota Wild for the past five seasons before being fired in November and replaced by John Hynes. This is Evason’s second head coaching stint in the league, having previously served as an assistant coach with Washington and Minnesota, where he replaced Bruce Boudreau midway through the 2020 season.
In this role, Evason is tasked with ending a postseason drought for the Blue Jackets, who have missed the playoffs the past four years and have yet to advance beyond the second round in 24 seasons as a franchise.
“We have a great core of players on this team and a lot of young talent,” Evason said. “I’m really looking forward to working with this group and helping us become a team that plays extremely hard and competes at the highest level.”
Evason was a centre during his playing career, appearing in more than 800 games for Washington, Hartford, San Jose, Dallas and Calgary between 1983 and 1996.
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