Dean Evason/Bob Woods relieved of coaching duties

[bbgarnett]

 

[Brewin Flames]

Stuck in seven-game skid, Minnesota Wild fire Dean Evason

• 
  Greg Wyshynski, ESPNNov 27, 2023, 06:22 PM ET

 

The Minnesota Wild on Monday fired coach Dean Evason after a disastrous start to their season.

 

John Hynes, who previously coached the Nashville Predators and the New Jersey Devils, will take over as coach, an NHL source confirmed to ESPN.

 

Evason and assistant coach Bob Woods were both let go. The Wild are 5-10-4 (14 points) and are mired in a seven-game winless streak. They have only four regulation wins this season, tied for second-fewest in the NHL.

 

"Dean did an excellent job during his tenure with the Minnesota Wild, especially as head coach of our team," Wild general manager Bill Guerin said. "I am very thankful for his hard work and dedication to our organization."

 

Evason is in his fifth season as Wild head coach, having been hired with 12 games left in the regular season in 2019-20. He had a record of 147-77-27.

 

Minnesota made the postseason in all four of his previous seasons but failed to win a playoff round, including a qualification-round loss in the 2019-20 pandemic shortened season that featured a 24-team playoff field.

 

The Wild were 22nd in the NHL in goals per game (2.95) entering Monday night. They've watched key offensive players like forwards Matt Boldy (1 goal in 12 games) and Kirill Kaprizov (6 goals in 19 games) fall short of previous production levels.

 

Minnesota is the second-worst defensive team in the NHL (3.95 goals against per game) after finishing sixth in that category last season. The biggest factor has been goaltending, as Filip Gustavsson (.881 save percentage) and Marc-Andre Fleury (.875) have both played well below expectations.

 

The Wild are currently seven points out of a playoff seed.

 

Hynes was fired by the Predators in May after four seasons in Nashville. He was head coach of the Devils for five seasons. Hynes's teams have qualified for the playoffs four times but have failed to win a playoff round. He was a candidate for the New York Rangers' coaching opening that eventually went to Peter Laviolette.

 

Hynes has a long history with two of the Wild's top executives. Guerin was his general manager when Hynes coach AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton with the Pittsburgh Penguins organization. He was also hired as Devils head coach by Ray Shero, who is now a senior advisor for the Wild.

[IllaZilla]

Enough of the love affair with former Nashville and Pittsburgh cast offs...

[Get Wild]

There was a strategic opportunity to hire Gallant or Woodcroft.... what a ****-up

[Tomdog]

If Gallant was available either he didn’t want it or BG isn’t as smart as I thought. 

[ClusterChuck]

But what about the other coaches like Darby Hendrickson? And the 'New' PP coach, They need to go also. Fresh start.
I can only laugh at this and remember the phrase..."Careful what you wish for" 

[CreaseAndAssist]

I think its like @IllaZilla's favorite analogy, the Wild are just shuffling chairs on the Titanic.  Ultimately, it might see a short boost but after 7-10 games it will probably be back to rationalizations and soul searching.  Hynes is a stop gap.  The best thing that could happen is that they'd just stay bad.  Honestly, just sell off what you can (which isn't much) and be bad and hopefully net a blue-chip talent in the draft.  

[Tomdog]

There are players to be traded, unfortunately most have some type of trade list attached to their name. 
#1 on the list of trade bait should be Spurgeon. 
While not the problem with this team, he’s not the solution either, and his nmc kicks in July 1. 

[IllaZilla]

9 hours ago, Tomdog said:

If Gallant was available either he didn’t want it or BG isn’t as smart as I thought. 

 

According to Russo, Gallant would have cost too much. Sounds like Hynes will cost just under $2M, which was about what they were paying Evason.

 

Russo also said the team feels that with the Western Conference so weak this season, there is a good chance they can right this and get into the Playoffs. He said right now 82 points would get the Wild into the Playoffs. And he speculated that the Playoff edict is coming from Leipold...

[ClusterChuck]

12 hours ago, Tomdog said:

There are players to be traded, unfortunately most have some type of trade list attached to their name. 
#1 on the list of trade bait should be Spurgeon. 
While not the problem with this team, he’s not the solution either, and his nmc kicks in July 1. 

Agreed, Not much change since his return and his best days are behind him.
Normally in these situations a trade or 2 is made to shake things up.
But like you said, So many attachments and no real ability to make any. Evason became the scapegoat.
Going from a decent win % coach to barely above average makes little sense to me. 

[JR Ewing]

I really, really, really wouldn't want to have John Hynes as my head coach mostly because the goalies have been so bad.

[Alexandron]

29 minutes ago, ClusterChuck said:

Agreed, Not much change since his return and his best days are behind him.
Normally in these situations a trade or 2 is made to shake things up.
But like you said, So many attachments and no real ability to make any. Evason became the scapegoat.
Going from a decent win % coach to barely above average makes little sense to me. 

Your phrase "Going from a decent win % coach..." I think for our team is normal if we will take all our

coaches: Jaques Lemmair; Richards; Yeo; interim coach Torchetti; Boudreau; and Evason. They all were able to bring us to the playoffs, but sadly, not were able to show much there. Except only for one season of the 1st coach. Hopefully the new coach will be able to show more action for the team. It is our lifetime lottery.

[Alexandron]

8 minutes ago, JR Ewing said:

I really, really, really wouldn't want to have John Hynes as my head coach mostly because the goalies have been so bad.

Hope, our goalies will be better than Oilers goalies for him.

[Tomdog]

9 hours ago, IllaZilla said:

According to Russo, Gallant would have cost too much.

I didn’t know there was a salary cap on the coaching staff. 
If they’re worried about what they pay the coaches we may have found part of the problem. 

[wildstars95]

 from one deer in the headlights look coach to another one 

[IllaZilla]

2 hours ago, Tomdog said:

I didn’t know there was a salary cap on the coaching staff. 
If they’re worried about what they pay the coaches we may have found part of the problem. 

I found that interesting too. At first I thought Gallant wanted too much to be just an interim coach and finish out the season so they could do a search. But then I read they gave Hynes a four year deal.  So yeah, maybe they are cheaping out on the coaches...

[Confrontational]

This no doubt isn't sitting too good with Kirill - and him and the team playing cost the coach his job...  The players gotta figure their sh!t out - Boldy, Eek, Brodin, etc...  I'd say go into complete rebuild mode - but they can't...  That big Wisconsin farmer and his pal are still sucking on the MN tit - and maintaining a team would be incredibly tricky since you consumed so much in Kirill, #20, and #11...  

 

Rest assured - #20 don't give one sh!t sitting on his farm knowing he is the partial cause of this...  

 

Darby must be a fricken Hoover regarding how he's still on the coaching staff - with sore knees... Might be the nicest guy in the whole world - but holy smokes - how many excuses can he possibly use over the years...?  

 

Anyways, hope they bounce back - but it's the same ol same ol...  Wonder if they've talked to Kiovu about coming back - cough...  

[Tomdog]

After the buyouts they probably should have gone into rebuild, but they started to win. So fine go with it. 
The next year they struggle but rebound. Made some moves but really never used up future resources, fine. 
But this year they may as well get what they can from whoever they get it from. 
And I’m not sure I would have any sacred cows. 
 

The 4th line is carrying their weight, the 3rd line has been OK. 
The 2nd line is invisible and the top line can’t seem to hang  on to the puck. 
Leaving us with the high points of the season being, in no particular order, Faber, Brodin, Eek, Maroon, Dewer, Duhaime, and Kap. 
The rest meh. 
So who do you really want to keep and what can you get for the rest?

[IllaZilla]

8 hours ago, Tomdog said:

After the buyouts they probably should have gone into rebuild, but they started to win. So fine go with it. 
The next year they struggle but rebound. Made some moves but really never used up future resources, fine. 
But this year they may as well get what they can from whoever they get it from. 
And I’m not sure I would have any sacred cows. 
 

The 4th line is carrying their weight, the 3rd line has been OK. 
The 2nd line is invisible and the top line can’t seem to hang  on to the puck. 
Leaving us with the high points of the season being, in no particular order, Faber, Brodin, Eek, Maroon, Dewer, Duhaime, and Kap. 
The rest meh. 
So who do you really want to keep and what can you get for the rest?

The main problem is that GMBG gave the prime trade pieces (Zucarello, Hartman, Foligno) all NMC's. So they can't be moved unless they request a trade and the Wild are willing to trade them.

 

EEK and Kaprizov can be traded before July 1, 2024, then their NMC/NTC's kick in. But do you really want to trade them?

 

I mean about the only players you can trade are Faber, Boldy, Duhaime, Dewar, Middleton, Merrill, and Gustavsson. You're not trading Faber and Boldy, so that leaves you with Dewar, Duhaime, Middleton, Merrill, and Gustavsson. You're not getting a bag of used pucks for all five of them...

[ClusterChuck]

20 hours ago, Confrontational said:

This no doubt isn't sitting too good with Kirill - and him and the team playing cost the coach his job...  The players gotta figure their sh!t out - Boldy, Eek, Brodin, etc...  I'd say go into complete rebuild mode - but they can't...  That big Wisconsin farmer and his pal are still sucking on the MN tit - and maintaining a team would be incredibly tricky since you consumed so much in Kirill, #20, and #11...  

 

Rest assured - #20 don't give one sh!t sitting on his farm knowing he is the partial cause of this...  

 

Darby must be a fricken Hoover regarding how he's still on the coaching staff - with sore knees... Might be the nicest guy in the whole world - but holy smokes - how many excuses can he possibly use over the years...?  

 

Anyways, hope they bounce back - but it's the same ol same ol...  Wonder if they've talked to Kiovu about coming back - cough...  

My favorite post of the year !! 
And because it's so true.
Isn't it normally to have a new coach and asst, That the rest of the staff is gone too and they bring in who they want?
Unless Hynes is a temp while BG goes after someone at the end of the year. 

[IllaZilla]

34 minutes ago, ClusterChuck said:

My favorite post of the year !! 
And because it's so true.
Isn't it normally to have a new coach and asst, That the rest of the staff is gone too and they bring in who they want?
Unless Hynes is a temp while BG goes after someone at the end of the year. 

Haynes got a four year deal, so he’s not temporary. And he’s Guerin’s drinking buddy. He’s not going anywhere. 

[ClusterChuck]

18 hours ago, IllaZilla said:

Haynes got a four year deal, so he’s not temporary. And he’s Guerin’s drinking buddy. He’s not going anywhere. 

Yeah, Easy call having history together. 
Since when do contracts matter?  

I just think BG felt he had to do something and did partly because of no other option canning Evason and the other part a PR move. 
The team probably would've won vs the Blues and even the Preds as the Preds were going hot and overlooked us. Seemed too early to pull the plug as the team could've worked out of the slump.
Gus was and is showing signs of last year's form, Other's returning from injury etc.
I know 3-5 years is the average for coaches but Evason had a mess to deal with from the start and had a good record even with that 'Club' ruining the locker room.
Clean out the Golf Pro (#20), The Tennis Pro (#11) and the Dinning Hall Matre'D (#9) leaving just the remaining member, The Pool attendant (#46), Evason had back to back 100+ pt seasons.

With that same mindset, KOC should be fired from the Vikes coaching job for being just .500 this season after last.

 

[Tomdog]

After listening to Evason on one of the podcasts it sounded like BG wanted to get rid of Woods and Dean didn’t want to, so see you later Dean. 
He also said he planned on watching a lot of hockey to see how some of the better pp and pk teams do things. 
Maybe had he done that in the off season he’d still have a job. 

[Icechipper]

Evanson was just angry all the time. Bitching at officials gets old and doesn't inspire best behavior and performance of a team.

[CreaseAndAssist]

On 11/28/2023 at 6:49 PM, IllaZilla said:

I found that interesting too. At first I thought Gallant wanted too much to be just an interim coach and finish out the season so they could do a search. But then I read they gave Hynes a four year deal.  So yeah, maybe they are cheaping out on the coaches...

 

A four year deal?  Whoa, where was that published?  When they asked Guerin at Hynes' press conference what his coaching deal was; he declined to answer.  To give him a 4-year deal is crazy.  2 years makes a lot more sense.  Either way, instead of doing a search he just calls up another friend and hopes it works out.