Slumping Minnesota Wild Fire Coach Dean Evason; John Hynes Steps In

When you autumn beneath nan Edmonton Oilers successful nan NHL standings, thing has to beryllium done.

On Monday, GM Bill Guerin pulled nan trigger connected a move that’s intended to ray a occurrence nether nan struggling Minnesota Wild. He fired caput coach Dean Evason and adjunct Bob Woods.

Evason, 59, leaves pinch a grounds of 147-77-27 complete 321 regular-season games since he was elevated from an assistant’s domiciled to replace Bruce Boudreau down nan Wild chair connected Feb. 14, 2020. His points percent of .639 is nan champion successful Wild franchise history and makes him nan 2nd coach pinch a winning grounds to beryllium relieved of his duties this month. Jay Woodcroft was astatine .643 complete 133 games erstwhile he was fired by nan Edmonton Oilers connected Nov. 12.

Though Evason’s net has not been publically disclosed, CapFriendly reports that he was successful nan 2nd play of a three-year statement hold that he signed pinch nan Wild connected Dec. 30, 2021.

As good arsenic getting nan Wild complete 100 points successful each of nan past 2 seasons, Evason led his squad to nan playoffs successful each 4 years that he was successful charge. That’s nary mini feat successful a 32-team league, but nan closest nan Wild ever sewage to advancing past nan first information was their Game 7 nonaccomplishment to nan Vegas Golden Knights pursuing nan pandemic-shortened 2020-21 campaign.

Despite moving things backmost pinch mostly nan aforesaid lineup arsenic past season, nan Wild person stumbled successful nan early going. Their challenges statesman successful net, wherever rising prima Filip Gustavsson posted a .931 prevention percent past play and beloved seasoned Marc-Andre Fleury wasn’t acold down astatine .910.

This year, those numbers person dropped to .881 for Gustavsson and .875 for Fleury arsenic nan Wild are allowing 3.95 goals per game, second-most successful nan league. Meanwhile, they’re scoring only 2.95 goals per crippled arsenic their powerfulness play has reached its lowest effectiveness of nan Evason regime, and their penalty-killing complaint of 66.7% is nan worst successful nan league.

By existent standards, nan Wild had immoderate occurrence erstwhile they travelled to Stockholm to return portion successful nan NHL Global Series earlier this month. They gave up conscionable 5 goals complete 2 games and picked up azygous points successful some their games: a shootout nonaccomplishment to nan Ottawa Senators and an overtime conclusion astatine nan hands of nan Toronto Maple Leafs. But nan losses continued to heap up erstwhile they sewage backmost stateside — a 3-2 conclusion by nan Colorado Avalanche past Friday, past a 4-1 nonaccomplishment successful Detroit connected Sunday.

Heading into Monday night’s games, nan Wild sat 30th successful nan NHL standings pinch 14 points. A team’s position astatine U.S. Thanksgiving is often considered to beryllium a barometer of its playoff prospects. When Evason was relieved of his duties connected Monday, Minnesota sat 7 points retired of nan 2nd wild-card spot successful nan West.

Early Monday evening, nan Wild confirmed earlier reports that John Hynes will return complete arsenic nan team’s caller caput coach.

This will beryllium nan 3rd caput occupation successful nan NHL for nan 48-year-old autochthonal of Warwick, RI. After starting his coaching profession successful nan NCAA and pinch USA Hockey, Hynes yet parlayed a six-year stint pinch nan AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins into an opportunity to return complete nan New Jersey Devils successful 2015.

Over nan adjacent 354 games, Hynes coaches nan Devils to a grounds of 150-159-45 for a .487 points percent earlier he was relieved of his duties connected Dec. 3, 2019. He was hardly retired of activity for a period earlier he was tapped to switch nan fired Peter Laviolette pinch nan Nashville Predators connected Jan. 7, 2020.

With nan Predators, Hynes amassed a grounds of 134-96-18 and guided his squad to 3 playoff appearances — besides each first-round losses. After Nashville went done a trade-deadline sell-off and grounded to scope nan post-season successful 2022-23, caller Nashville GM Barry Trotz opted to switch Hynes down nan chair connected May 30 — pinch Andrew Brunette taking complete nan pursuing day.

So erstwhile again, Hynes hasn’t had to hold agelong to snag different apical job.

Hynes was named nan AHL’s coach of nan twelvemonth for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton successful 2011. That fall, Guerin began his post-playing profession arsenic a improvement coach pinch nan NHL Penguins. That kicked disconnected respective years wherever he and Hynes would person been moving together to create young players for nan Pittsburgh organization.

As we’ve seen pinch Edmonton complete nan past fewer weeks, a caller coach typically fuels an betterment successful squad performance, astatine slightest successful nan short word — whether that’s because of caller systems and strategies, aliases because underperforming players beryllium up a small straighter erstwhile they spot personification suffer their job.

The Oilers are 4-3-0 since Knoblauch took complete connected Nov. 12 and Connor McDavid has started to look much for illustration his accustomed ascendant self. On Monday, he was named nan NHL’s first prima of nan week acknowledgment to 12 points successful his past 4 games.

The Wild will beryllium hoping that Hynes tin present a akin spike. But nary matter who’s down nan bench, Minnesota has 1 unsocial handicap that nary different squad faces: because of nan club’s 2021 buyout of nan past 4 years of nan matching contracts of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter, nan Wild are presently successful nan midst of nan 2 worst years of salary-cap implications from that decision. This season, they’re missing a full of $14.74 cardinal successful abstraction nether a headdress ceiling of $83.5 million, aliases astir 18 percent of their full headdress space.

In nan existent flat-cap world, astir different NHL teams besides person dead headdress space owed to buyouts and prize overages. But nary different statement is carrying much than $8.8 cardinal this year. That’s significant, but it’s hardly half of Minnesota’s burden.

To their credit, nan Wild person managed to enactment retired of semipermanent injured reserve, truthful they are accumulating a mini magnitude of regular headdress space, which could beryllium valuable person to nan waste and acquisition deadline. But of course, that only matters if they’re successful a position to adhd talent arsenic they push for a playoff spot.

The Wild’s caller era originates pinch a sojourn from their division-rivals from St. Louis connected Tuesday. Then, they’ll return to Hynes’s aged stomping grounds successful Music City to look different Central Division foe, nan Predators, connected Thursday.