The Blue Jackets (finally) have their man.
Dean Evason was named head coach on Monday afternoon, ending a month-plus search to replace Pascal Vincent, who was fired by president and GM Don Waddell on June 17.
The 59-year-old Evason becomes Columbus' 11th full-time head coach in club history and fourth since John Tortorella left his post after the 2020-2021 season. He was one of three finalists for the position, a group that also included veteran NHL coaches Todd McLellan (formerly of Los Angeles, Edmonton and San Jose) and Jay Woodcroft (formerly of Edmonton).
“Dean Evason brings to coaching what he brought as a player – passion, hard work and tenacity – and I couldn’t be happier that he will serve as the next head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets,” said Waddell. “He has spent well over two decades in this league as a player, assistant coach and head coach and I believe that experience, combined with the outstanding person he is, will allow Dean to get the best out of our players and put us in a position to succeed as a team.”
According to Aaron Portzline of The Athletic, Evason and Woodcroft each made in-person visits to Columbus last week to meet with Waddell and the team's hockey operations staff.
Evason began his NHL head coaching career as interim head coach of the Minnesota Wild beginning in February 2020, coaching a limited number of games prior to the COVID-19 pause. He went 8-4-0 before the pandemic break and was named full-time head coach in the summer of 2020, prior to the Wild losing in the qualifying round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
“I am incredibly proud and honored to be named the head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets and appreciate very much the opportunity that Don, the McConnell family and Mike Priest have extended to me,” said Evason. “There is a great core and a lot of young talent on this team. 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.”
In three full seasons as head coach in Minnesota, the Wild made the playoffs three times and finished top-3 in the Central Division all three times.
The Wild fired Evason after a 5-10-4 start to the 2023-24 season. In his NHL career, Evason has a record 147-77-27 and an 8-15 record in the postseason.
When he was given a contract extension by the Wild in 2021, Minnesota GM Bill Guerin spoke to the culture of the organization established by Evason: "It's a team-first mentality here, and a lot of it's because of what Dean's brought to the table."
Prior to agreeing to the extension, Evason made sure that the rest of the staff received an extension first. "He has a ton of respect for his staff and wanted to do it all (the extensions for his staff) on the same day," said Guerin. "He didn't want to put himself in front of anybody."
In May, Evason made his international coaching debut as an assistant to Canada’s national men’s team in International Ice Hockey Federation’s world championship. Rick Nash, who serves as the director of player development for the Blue Jackets, was GM of the Canadian team.
Canada finished fourth, losing the bronze medal game 4-2 to Sweden. Woodcroft was also an assistant for Canada.
This story will be updated.
