Bill Guerin Names Dean Evason Head Coach Of the Minnesota Wild

The Minnesota Wild will not be coach searching in the offseason, Evason named Head Coach of the Minnesota Wild.

Many thought that how the Wild play in the upcoming “play-in” series against the Vancouver Canucks would affect whether or not Guerin would give Dean Evason the head coach position. Well, it turns out that Evason will be coaching his first postseason series as a head coach in the NHL.

https://twitter.com/mnwild/status/1282676292282986496

Bill Guerin has announced that Dean Evason has become the Minnesota Wild’s 5th head coach in team history. This must give him a sense of relief knowing his job is secure. It is a 2-year contract that will come into effect next season and will go through the 2021-2022 NHL season.

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Evason went 8-4 as the interim head coach of the Minnesota Wild and did a great job, it also was during the prime of Kevin Fiala’s second-half breakout. He looked patient and composed behind the bench, his detail-oriented approach and communication skills with the players and within the organization are likely why he was given the job and was such a great fit.

Evason, who has been a Wild assistant coach for two seasons, also has previous coaching experience including being the Washington Capitals assistant coach and coached for the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals where he first coached Kevin Fiala.

There will be no lengthy coaching search during the offseason, so Bill Guerin has one less thing to do now and can check that off his list. Although it has been reported that GM Bill Guerin never started the coaching search process, there is a surplus of veteran head coaches available including Gerald Gallant, Peter Laviolette, and several other big-time names who were deemed not as good of a fit as Evason.

This is a huge opportunity for Evason, so hopefully, he can be defined as a Stanley Cup-winning coach with the Wild in the future. Not only will he get the opportunity to coach the Wild’s most prized possession, Kirill Kaprizov, but he will have the chance to his the Winter Classic, assuming it still occurs next season.