The Columbus Blue Jackets named Dean Evason as head coach on Monday.
Evason, 59, was the head coach of the Minnesota Wild for parts of five seasons, with a record of 147-77-27.
He was named the club’s interim head coach on Feb. 14, 2020, and was elevated to head coach on July 13, 2020. The Wild fired Evason on Nov. 27, 2023, after a seven-game winless streak.
Evason will be introduced at a press conference at Nationwide Arena scheduled for 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday.
He is a former NHL assistant coach and American Hockey League head coach with the Milwaukee Admirals. And he played for five NHL teams as a center during a 13-year playing career, with 139 goals, 233 assists and 1,000 penalty minutes in 803 games.
“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,” Blue Jackets General Manager Don Waddell said on the team's website.
“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," Waddell said.
Evason takes the helm of a team that has struggled in recent years.
The Blue Jackets finished the 2023-2024 season with one of the worst records in the NHL at 27-43-12 and 66 points. The team missed the playoffs for the fourth straight season.
Evason replaces Pascal Vincent, who was fired in June after just one season. Vincent was recently named as the head coach of the AHL's Laval Rocket, affiliate of the Montreal Canadiens.
