The Columbus Blue Jackets filled their final offseason vacancy by hiring Dean Evason as the team’s new head coach on a multi-year contract on Monday.
Evason, 59, was the head coach of the Minnesota Wild for five seasons before being fired last season after the team went 5-10-4 after 19 games. He led the Wild to the playoffs three consecutive years from 2020 to 2023, but lost in the first round each time. Under Evason’s guidance, the Wild went 147-77-27 in the regular season.
The Blue Jackets waited nearly two months after the season ended before firing Pascal Vincent, who replaced Mike Babcock prior to training camp last fall. The move to fire Vincent came about two weeks after Don Waddell was named president and general manager.
“Dean Evason brings the passion, work ethic and tenacity he developed as a player to his coaching role, and I couldn’t be more excited for him to become the next head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets,” said Waddell. “He’s 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 help Dean bring out the best in his players and put us in a position to be successful as a team.”
“I am extremely proud and honored to have been named head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets and am incredibly grateful for the opportunity that Don, the McConnell family and Mike Priest have given me,” Evason said. “This team has a great core of players and a lot of young talent, and I am really looking forward to working with this group and helping us become a team that plays extremely hard and competes at the highest level.”
The Blue Jackets finished last season with 27 wins, 43 losses and 12 ties, missing the playoffs for the fourth consecutive year.
We will provide more details at a later date.
