By Jordan Long
The Minnesota Wild decided their head coach moving forward will be Dean Evason. He was the interim coach but the Wild gave him a contract through the 2022 season.
The Wild fired Bruce Boudreau 57 games into the year. The Wild at the time were 27-23-7. Boudreau spent 4 seasons with the Wild. Minnesota went 303-158-110 with 2 playoff births. It looked like they were about to miss the postseason for the 2nd consecutive year under him and they decided to let him go.
Evason took over the Wild on February 14th. Before the NHL decided to stop play on March 12, Evason had the Wild playing improved hockey. His record was 8-4. With the NHL restarting the season on August 1st, Minnesota will be in the 24 team bracket for the playoffs. Evason has his chance to coach them in a playoff series even if it only lasts until the best of 5 series against Vancouver.
According to ESPN, Minnesota’s General Manager Bill Guerin said, “I am very excited to announce that Dean Evason is our full-time head coach. Dean has done a fantastic job as our interim head coach and deserves this opportunity. I look forward to watching our team under his leadership going forward.”
This is Evason’s first NHL Head Coaching job. The Wild must trust him to turn the club around. They haven’t made it past the 1st-round of the playoffs since 2015. That season the Wild were knocked off in the 2nd round. Evason has 2 years to help this club make a deep run in the playoffs. If he is unable to, the Wild may let him go after the 2022 season. Hopefully, Evason is the right man for the job and helps Minnesota become a winner again, maybe even win the first Stanley Cup in franchise history.
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