The new coach is officially installed and the Columbus Blue Jackets are gearing up for training camp.
Dean Evason was officially introduced to the public last Tuesday, and our own Ed Francis was there to take in the first impressions and comments from the head coach.
Now, it's up to Waddell and Evason to figure out the rest of the club's details, such as getting Cole Sillinger signed to a contract, a possible Patrik Laine trade as he cleared the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance program last week, and Evason figuring out his coaching staff.
The weekend was busy with a pair of signings already as Kent Johnson agreed to a three-year deal on Saturday, and the Blue Jackets avoided arbitration with Kirill Marchenko after he agreed to a three-year deal on Sunday.
Johnson will make $5.4 million ($1.8 million AAV) through 2026-27 and Marchenko will make $11.5 million ($3.85 million AAV) through 2026-27. It’s refreshing for the Jackets to ink two important members of its core to deals without the negotiations happening through the press.
Assistants coaches Jared Boll, Steve McCarthy, and Mark Recchi have waited in limbo all summer in the wake of an incoming general manager and now a new head coach.
Based on what The Athletic's Aaron Portzline posted to X (formerly Twitter) last week, it's expected Evason has already met with the current assistants on board and decisions should be coming soon.
#CBJ GM Don Waddell said new coach Dean Evason will meet with assistant coaches Jared Boll, Steve McCarthy, and Mark Recchi in the next day or two.
— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) July 23, 2024
There could be staff changes, but there won't be an entirely new staff, he said.
There's already one change to the staff as Josef Boumedienne's contract expired and will not be back with Columbus.
If you listened to Evason's press conference last week, your takeaway might have been there's a lot of "coach speak" and the typical buzzwords you'll hear coaches say.
"We're never going to get outworked," said Evason. "We're never going to get outworked. When we go into a building or teams come in here, they (will) know that if they don't work hard, they'll lose."
Coaches tend to talk about "compete", "structure", and "systems" and how their teams play within that structure as a unit. It's a lot to unpack for the average fan who will believe it when they see it. But if it's working, you'll know it when you see it.
Once training camp gets underway and, more importantly, the regular season, we'll begin to see the differences of the team now versus what the team looked like each of the past few seasons.
The major difference on paper, of course, is Evason's experience factor as a head coach for the Minnesota Wild from 2019-20 through 2023-24. He has a career .639 winning percentage, going 147-77-27 with two 100-plus point seasons and four trips to the playoffs.
Blue Jackets players have always said the right thing, defending their coaches and taking accountability for their play on the ice. But there had to be a difference in going from John Tortorella, particularly for those veterans on the team today like Boone Jenner and Zach Werenski, to first-time coaches like Pascal Vincent and Brad Larsen before him.
Among the characteristics Evason talked about include communication, building relationships and trust, and a process. A process of building towards a Stanley Cup. The building blocks towards getting from one step to the next.
Evason has worked with stars including Nicklas Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin during his time as an assistant with the Washington Capitals, and Kirill Kaprizov while coaching the Wild, joking he taught Ovechkin and Kaprizov everything they know.
"Every individual is different," Evason said. "You react to different players different ways. You have to get to know them. You have to build a relationship. You have to build a trust in them that you can teach them.
This speaks directly to where the Blue Jackets are in their current situation as talented prospects look to mature into NHLers and how veterans can help in guiding the way.
"Communicate," Evason said. "Hopefully, it's face to face. I think that's the best way to do it.
"I want every player on our team to feel very comfortable that they can come and talk to me or any of the coaches and be honest and straight up. It might not be what they want to hear. It might not be what I want to hear from the player.
"That's okay. We can have differences. We can go back and forth. We can yell. You have to build that trust. You have to build that communication so that's something we want to do right away to get the best out of the individual."
A new era is underway with Waddell and Evason, and now we will see how it culminates together as training camp gets started in a little over a month.
