Sophomore Jinx Posted November 27, 2023 Share Posted November 27, 2023 Minnesota Wild fire coach Dean Evason, assistant Bob Woods after losing 14 of their first 19 games Story by The Canadian Press ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The Minnesota Wild fired coach Dean Evason and assistant Bob Woods on Monday after losing seven games and 14 of their first 19 to start to the NHL season. General manager Bill Guerin announced the moves but did not say who would be replacing Evason. Evason, 59, was nearly a quarter of the way through his fourth full season as Minnesota’s coach. He got his first NHL head job in February 2020 as a midseason replacement when Bruce Boudreau was fired. “Dean did an excellent job during his tenure with the Minnesota Wild, especially as head coach of our team,” Guerin said. “I am very thankful for his hard work and dedication to our organization. I would also like to thank Bob for his hard work during his time as an assistant coach with the Wild. I wish Dean, Bob and their families all the best in the future.” Evason is the second NHL coach fired this season after the Edmonton Oilers dismissed Jay Woodcroft and replaced him with Kris Knoblauch. The Oilers have won four of seven since. Not much has gone right for the Wild (5-10-4) so far this season. Matt Boldy, who scored 31 goals last season, has just one 12 games into the first season of his $49 million, seven-year contract, and Kirill Kaprizov — the team's highest-paid player at $9 million a year — has six in 19 games. Only the lowly San Jose Sharks have allowed more goals per game than Minnesota (3.95). The Wild host the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday night. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophomore Jinx Posted November 28, 2023 Author Share Posted November 28, 2023 Wild fire HC Dean Evason, hire John Hynes as replacement Story by Josh Erickson, Pro Hockey Rumors The Wild have relieved head coach Dean Evason and assistant coach Bob Woods of their duties effective immediately, the team said in a statement Monday evening. The Athletic’s Michael Russo reports the Wild will be naming former Devils and Predators bench boss John Hynes as Evason’s successor. Wild GM Bill Guerin gave the following comment: Dean did an excellent job during his tenure with the Minnesota Wild, especially as Head Coach of our team. I am very thankful for his hard work and dedication to our organization. I would also like to thank Bob for his hard work during his time as an Assistant Coach with the Wild. I wish Dean, Bob and their families all the best in the future. Evason had been a member of the Wild organization since he was brought on as an assistant in 2018, while Woods joined the Wild bench one season prior. The 59-year-old Evason began his coaching career with the WHL’s Calgary Hitmen as an assistant in 1998-99 after finishing out his playing career in Germany, working his way up the junior hockey ranks over the next handful of seasons. His first NHL job came courtesy of an assistant role with the Capitals immediately after the 2004-05 lockout, coaching Alex Ovechkin in his first seven NHL seasons. After departing Washington in 2012, Evason spent the next several seasons working in the Predators organization as the head coach of their AHL affiliate, the Milwaukee Admirals. There, he helped guide more than a few future NHL stalwarts — namely Mattias Ekholm, Ryan Ellis, Filip Forsberg, Calle Järnkrok, Viktor Arvidsson, and Kevin Fiala, among many others. After joining the Wild, he earned a promotion to head coach within two seasons when the Wild fired Bruce Boudreau late in the 2019-20 campaign. Just a couple of years later, Evason had coached the Wild to their best season in franchise history. The 2021-22 campaign saw the Wild break the 50-win mark for the first time since their inception in 2000, nearly sitting atop the Central Division with 113 points. That was in an extremely tough group with the 119-point Stanley Cup champion Avalanche and the 109-point Blues, whom the Wild bowed out to in the first round of the playoffs. The Wild remain without a playoff series victory since the 2015 postseason and have not advanced to a Conference Final since the 2002-03 season. So with the Wild now far out of the playoff picture with a 5-10-4 record, sitting bottom five in the league in both goals for and against, a change was necessary and expected. Injuries and goaltending have certainly played a factor in their poor play — captain Jared Spurgeon missed the first 13 games of the season, and Filip Gustavsson’s and Marc-André Fleury’s combined .878 SV% is near the bottom of the league. They’ve likely been unlucky, too. The Wild have controlled a slim majority of scoring chances and a strong majority of high-danger chances during 5-on-5 play, a common theme for an organization that’s usually one of the more defensively stout in the league. But the culture around the team is evidently turning sour quickly, Kirill Kaprizov is on pace for a career-low 26 goals and has a team-worst -10 rating, and most of their depth defensemen have been significant liabilities. This roster is not all that different from the one that’s finished top-three in the Central Division for three straight seasons, and it’s certainly one that still has playoff aspirations. Minnesota has not won since Nov. 7 against the Islanders and is winless in seven straight. Woods, who had worked on the Capitals’ bench with Evason briefly as an assistant in the early 2010s, is now on the open market after more than six seasons with the Wild. It’s unclear whether the Wild will opt to fill his vacancy. Hynes, who was let go by the Predators after last season, is technically in the final season of his contract with Nashville. That means the Predators had to grant permission to their divisional rival to speak to their former head coach and that Hynes will be paid by both Minnesota and Nashville this season. Now behind the bench of his third NHL franchise, he faces an uphill climb to get Minnesota back in the playoff picture. Hynes will suit up behind an NHL bench for a ninth consecutive season, as he was fired by the Devils and hired by Nashville midway through the 2019-20 campaign. The Wild will certainly get a boost in the standings once Fleury and Gustavsson improve their play between the pipes, a likely scenario given their stellar performance last season. However, they again have the misfortune of being in quite a competitive division. The Avalanche and Stars occupy first and second place as expected powerhouses, while the Blues, Predators and Coyotes all sit at or above the .500 mark and, especially in Nashville’s case, have posted decent underlying numbers. Hynes’ main job is simply to restore confidence in his group. This roster has the ability to play better — especially Kaprizov, who, despite the okay point production, has looked like a complete non-factor on some nights. The team also hopes a significant change behind the bench can boost their league-worst penalty kill, which is operating at just 66.7%. Penalty killing was an area of strength for Nashville last season, who finished tied for fourth in the NHL with an 82.6% success rate. The Wild will be on the hook for the remainder of Evason’s contract, which runs through 2024-25 at just under $2M per season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Master Mind Posted November 28, 2023 Share Posted November 28, 2023 (edited) All the talk has been about how disappointing Edmonton is, but the Wild have quietly been massively under-performing too. Hynes feels like an appropriate hire. Mediocre coach for a historically mediocre team. Edited November 28, 2023 by Master Mind 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophomore Jinx Posted November 28, 2023 Author Share Posted November 28, 2023 1 minute ago, Master Mind said: All the talk has been about how disappointing Edmonton has been, but the Wild have quietly been massively under-performing too. Hynes feels like an appropriate hire. Mediocre coach for a historically mediocre team. Exactly. I've been watching them and peeking in on a few games to see what gives, and they are truly awful given the talent, and their subsequent lack of productions. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gurn Posted November 28, 2023 Share Posted November 28, 2023 (edited) The, prior to firing a coach, shake up the team, trades were both on Nov 8/23 Aquire Zach Bogosian--- for a 7th round pick to Tampa and Calen Addison ----for Adam Raska plus a 5th rounder to San Jose Edited November 28, 2023 by Gurn 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coconuts Posted November 28, 2023 Share Posted November 28, 2023 They may be in even tougher than Edmonton to climb out of the hole tbh, it's been a rough start for them. One more season of 7.3M worth of dead cap after this season though, makes sense to try and at least salvage a competitive season even if it doesn't result in playoffs. They'll still need to convince Kaprizov to stay, they can't afford to just sit on the hands. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PureQuickness Posted November 28, 2023 Share Posted November 28, 2023 I'm really not sure firing or hiring any coach will change anything around. The team just seems stale. We all know Boudreau's track record and even HE couldn't turn that team around. Why would Hynes do anything? He's a losing record coach. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AatuD2 Posted November 28, 2023 Share Posted November 28, 2023 12 minutes ago, Coconuts said: They may be in even tougher than Edmonton to climb out of the hole tbh, it's been a rough start for them. One more season of 7.3M worth of dead cap after this season though, makes sense to try and at least salvage a competitive season even if it doesn't result in playoffs. They'll still need to convince Kaprizov to stay, they can't afford to just sit on the hands. I think it's over 14 million of dead cap again next year? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophomore Jinx Posted November 28, 2023 Author Share Posted November 28, 2023 7 minutes ago, PureQuickness said: I'm really not sure firing or hiring any coach will change anything around. The team just seems stale. We all know Boudreau's track record and even HE couldn't turn that team around. Why would Hynes do anything? He's a losing record coach. Ya, with Hynes they might even be worse. The team may be thinking "wtf", that's our upgrade??? Boldy 1 goal OOF Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snoop Hogg Posted November 28, 2023 Share Posted November 28, 2023 Should have hired Willie D. He’s real gud. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwarrior Posted November 28, 2023 Share Posted November 28, 2023 Yeah, firing the coach will fix everything. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coconuts Posted November 28, 2023 Share Posted November 28, 2023 5 minutes ago, AatuD2 said: I think it's over 14 million of dead cap again next year? Ahh yeah, 7.3Mx2, brain fart They'll be eying that offseason as a way to really establish themselves and fill holes imo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rekker Posted November 28, 2023 Share Posted November 28, 2023 I bet Woodcroft gets hired in Minny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bounce000 Posted November 28, 2023 Share Posted November 28, 2023 (edited) Maybe they finally realized he’s actually Creed Bratton Edited November 28, 2023 by Bounce000 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophomore Jinx Posted November 28, 2023 Author Share Posted November 28, 2023 5 minutes ago, Rekker said: I bet Woodcroft gets hired in Minny 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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