The Columbus Blue Jackets new head coach is setting his eyes on a prize he wasn't able to achieve as a player in the National Hockey League.
The Columbus Blue Jackets introduced new head coach Dean Evason Tuesday. He was quick to point out that his goal is to get the Blue Jackets a Stanley Cup trophy, which would also be his first as both a coach and former player.
The team has only advanced past the second round once in its 23 seasons in the NHL.
"I had a passion to lift the Stanley Cup with my skates on. That's not going to happen. But I have this opportunity to hoist the Stanley Cup with a (blue) suit on," Evason said.
Evason was hired onto a Blue Jackets team that has faced a rough stretch of seasons. His predcessor Pascal Vincent was fired after one season with the team after taking over for a head coach with an even shorter tenure, Mike Babcock.
The Blue Jackets also fired general manager Jarmo Kekalainen this year and hired new GM Don Waddell.
Waddell spoke about the process of picking Evason as the next head coach.
"The one thing that, Dean really brought to the table that I really believe after being here for the month and a half that we needed was, the passion, the structure, the process that he's going to put in place to make the players accountable," Waddell said.
Waddell said this was something the team talked about when he was hired.
"We felt like we have some good young players to go with our veterans, but we needed, a better structure," Waddell said.
The team itself has had an ever rougher stretch than its leadership.
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, 59, was the head coach of the Minnesota Wild for parts of five seasons, with a record of 147-77-27. The Wild fired Evason on Nov. 27, 2023, after a seven-game winless streak.
Evason said he hopes to build on the team's foundation and hopes to get some hardware in the trophy case.
Evason said he's impressed with the young players on the roster and also the core group of starting players.
Evason played in the National Hockey League with 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.
In his first press conference, Evason referenced his time as a player and said this helps fuel his drive to find success as a coach. He said his goal is to help the Blue Jackets made a playoff run.
"Our goal is to win the Stanley Cup. But to get there, you got to make the playoffs and you got to win one, two, three and four rounds," Evason said.
Evason said he doesn't know what happened in the past but wants to help the Blue Jackets take the next step.
"We're here to win hockey games. We're here to do a job. I'm not here to live. I'm here to to coach the the the Columbus Blue Jackets. And I'm here to have success," Evason said.
