Washington (AFP) – Former Minnesota Wild head coach Dean Evason was hired on Monday as coach of the NHL Columbus Blue Jackets, who have missed the playoffs for the past four seasons.
The 59-year-old Canadian, who played for five different clubs in a 13-season NHL career, went 147-77 with 27 overtime losses in just over four seasons at Minnesota. Evason’s Wild teams lost in the first round of the playoffs each campaign and he was fired last November after Minnesota went 5-10-4 to open the campaign.
“I’m incredibly proud and honored to be named the head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets,” Evason said. “There’s a great core and a lot of young talent on this team. 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 will replace Pascal Vincent, who was fired June 17 — two months after the Blue Jackets finished 27-43-12 with the worst record in the Eastern Conference. Don Waddell, hired in May as the team’s president of hockey operations, made the decisions to dump Vincent and hire Evason.
“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,” Waddell said. “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.”
The Jackets have long-term deals with most of their top players, including forwards Johnny Gaudreau and Patrik Laine as well as goaltender Elvis Merzlikins.
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