Blue Jackets name Dean Evason head coach

Dean Evason (Scott Paulus, Wikimedia Commons)

According to Josh Erickson of Pro Hockey Rumors on Monday, the Columbus Blue Jackets have named Dean Evason of Flin Flon, Manitoba as the next head coach. This will be Evason’s second National Hockey League head coaching job. He previously coached the Minnesota Wild for five seasons from 2020 to 2023.

Evason coached 251 games for the Wild and had a record of 147 wins, 77 regulation losses and 27 losses in extra time, for an impressive winning percentage of .639. Twice the Wild reached the 100 point plateau with Evason in charge. Minnesota had 113 points in 2021-22, and 103 points in 2022-23.

However, even though the Wild had regular season success with Evason as the head coach, they could not win a Stanley Cup playoff series. Minnesota was beaten in the qualifying round by the Vancouver Canucks in 2019-20, and then eliminated in the first round by the Vegas Golden Knights in 2020-21, the St. Louis Blues in 2021-22, and the Dallas Stars in 2022-23.

Evason takes over in Columbus from Pascal Vincent of Laval, Quebec. Vincent was fired on June 17 after the Blue Jackets had the least number of points in the Eastern Conference with 66.

As a player, Evason spent 13 seasons in the NHL as a centre from 1983 to 1996. He was with the Washington Capitals for two seasons from 1983 to 1985, with the Hartford Whalers for seven seasons from 1985 to 1991, the San Jose Sharks for two seasons from 1991 to 1993, the Dallas Stars for two seasons from 1993 to 1995, and the Calgary Flames for one season in 1995 to 1996.

In 803 games, Evason had 139 goals and 233 assists for 372 points. He was a -92 with 1002 penalty minutes, 65 power-play points, 9 shorthanded points, 14 game-winning goals and 1135 shots on goal.

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