Earlier this afternoon the Columbus Blue Jackets organization announced that Dean Evason is the new head coach. This comes after GM Don Waddell announced the relieving of former head coach Pascal Vincent in June. The details of Evason’s contract haven’t been revealed yet but it is a multi-year deal.
Dean Evason was most recently the head coach for the Minnesota Wild. He became the interim head coach of the Wild after Bruce Boudreau was fired near the end of the 2019-20 season. He had previously been an assistant coach for the club. Evason coached Minnesota for three full seasons before he was fired in November 2023 after starting 5-10-4 and having a seven-game losing streak.
During his time in Minnesota, Evason coached 251 games, winning 147, losing 77, and having 27 overtime losses. In all three of his full seasons, the Wild made it to the playoffs but lost in the first round.
Evason’s hockey career started early in his life. He was selected 89th overall in the 1982 NHL draft by the Washington Capitals. In 1984, he won the Memorial Cup with the Kamloops Junior Oilers. In his thirteen seasons in the NHL, Evason played for the Capitals, Calgary Flames, Dallas Stars, Hartford Whalers, and San Jose Sharks. After the NHL, he played internationally in Switzerland and Germany. In 1997, he won gold with Team Canada at the men’s ice hockey world championship.
After his playing career ended, Evason started as an assistant coach in the WHL with the Calgary Hitmen in 1999. Later that year, he was hired as the head coach of the Kamloops Blazers. Evason coached in the WHL from 1999 to 2005, going from Kamloops to the Vancouver Giants and finally co-coaching for the Calgary Hitmen. His WHL total record is 432 games coached, with 216 wins, 161 losses, 39 overtime losses, and 16 shootout losses.
In 2005 he moved to the NHL as an assistant coach for the Washington Capitals. He stayed there until 2012 when he became the head coach of the Nashville Predator’s AHL affiliate, the Milwaukee Admirals. In his six seasons with the Admirals, Evason coached 456 games, won 242, lost 161, lost 29 in overtime, and lost 24 in shootouts. The team had four playoff appearances but lost in the first round each time. After Milwaukee, Evason was hired as an assistant coach for the Minnesota Wild.
Evason had this to say about becoming the new head coach of the Blue Jackets:
“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. 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”
General Manager Don Waddell said,
“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. 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.”
Dean Evason has a storied hockey history and his resume and experience could help the Blue Jackets get back to winning hockey games. Not including his last season in Minnesota, Evason averaged around a .664 points percentage over three full seasons. Another thing to note is that he spent many seasons coaching younger players in the WHL and AHL and could be a great fit for the young and developing Blue Jackets players.
Fans can get to know Dean Evason a little more during a press conference at Nationwide Arena on Tuesday, July 23 at 10:30 a.m.
