ST. PAUL, Minn. — Dean Evason isn’t hiding.
The man who lives mere blocks from TRIA Rink and Xcel Energy Center and used to walk to and from work even on the snowiest and coldest winter days and nights was sitting in plain sight at Keys Café on Wednesday, two days after he was fired as Minnesota Wild coach.
Advertisement
He shook the hand of the host, whom he knows well. He enthusiastically greeted one of the waitresses, who was excited to see Evason and tell him about her chipped tooth, which she’s upset makes her look like Jim Carrey in “Dumb and Dumber.”
On Tuesday morning, not even 18 hours after Bill Guerin called him into his office to deliver the bad news, Evason rejoined CorePower Yoga and took part in a sweaty, 120-degree hot yoga class.
“My legs are dead today,” Evason said as he took a bite of his egg sandwich and washed it down with a vanilla latte.
He’s got a golf trip in the works. He’s got dinner plans Wednesday night at La Grolla, the Italian staple his buddy owns. He plans to visit his three kids. His wife, Genevieve, is a flight attendant based in Montreal for Air Canada. She does long-haul flights to Europe, and he plans to soon jump on flights she’s working and sit “hopefully in business class” so he can spend 24-hour stints with her in places like Frankfurt and Milan.
He’s not moping around like many coaches do after losing their jobs. This is the profession he chose, and he knows this goes with the territory, even when you think it’s undeserved.
“I’m not going to hole up in my apartment worried people are going to look at me, saying, ‘There’s the coach of the Wild who got fired,’” Evason said. “I’m not embarrassed. I don’t think we did a crappy job. I want to be out and about. This has been my home for five years. I’ve lived in that same place for five years. I walked to the rink every day. I love it. I love living here. I love the people. I love the team, the organization. Does it get emotional sometimes? Sure. I mean, I get emotional. But I’m more thankful than anything.”
Mid-afternoon Monday — after coaches had met in the morning to put together video clips for players ahead of Tuesday’s Blues game, showing the type of fast hockey that had been missing in the first 19 games — Evason got a call from Guerin asking him to come down to his office at Wild headquarters.
Advertisement
Evason called his wife and told her one of two things was happening: “Either I’m getting fired or he’s going to ask me to fire some of my assistant coaches, and I don’t know what I’m going to do if he asks me to do the latter.”
In other words, Evason was willing to sacrifice his job to save Bob Woods, and it wasn’t the first time. That happened after last season, too, when Guerin was dismayed by the penalty kill.
Evason walked into Guerin’s office, looked at his face as he sat behind his desk and knew right away: “Are you firing me, bud?”
“He said, ‘Yeah,’ and he stood up, came around the desk and we hugged and he just started crying,” Evason said. “And so did I. I said, ‘Billy, I didn’t expect it to happen, but I’m so grateful and so honored to have the opportunity,’ and I thanked him. I’m not bitter. Do I want to still be the coach of the Minnesota Wild? Yeah, of course. But I understand what he’s doing. Do I agree with it? No, of course not, because I lost my job and Bob lost his job. But we had a fantastic conversation.”
They talked about the team, what they accomplished together, how they grew together.
Guerin inherited Evason. He was Paul Fenton’s “guy,” but Guerin and Evason quickly grew an immense respect for each other even amidst two big postgame blowups over Evason’s five seasons as coach.
“I stood up to him. He stood up to me, and he held no grudge, and I held no grudge, then we got back in and battled again together,” Evason said. “This is the business. We weren’t winning. I got fired. Billy felt we needed a spark. Do I think we could have sparked another way? Yeah. But we’ve tried a lot of ways, right? And that’s what you do. You try to spark. You’re nice, you’re supportive. You kick the wall. You yell. Billy comes in. He yells. It wasn’t working.”
Some coaches don’t like to watch their old teams. While Evason made it clear he doesn’t plan to root for the Wild as a team, he’s rooting for the individuals he coached.
Advertisement
He watched John Hynes’ introductory news conference and postgame media session. And, yes, he watched the Wild beat the Blues 3-1 in Hynes’ debut, playing better than they’ve played in weeks.
“Go figure,” he texted Woods.
In fact, he texted back and forth with Woods all game. Twenty-two seconds in, the Wild took a penalty, and Woods — in charge of running the defense and penalty kill — immediately texted Evason, “The PK looks great.”
“(Filip Gustavsson) was making unbelievable saves, the group was playing fast, and I couldn’t have been happier to see Gauds’ (Freddy Gaudreau) face when Patty (Maroon) grabbed him after his goal and the relief on Bolds’ (Matt Boldy) face when he scored (his first goal since Oct. 14),” Evason said.
Evason got texts from virtually everybody on the roster.
“They’re an accountable group,” he said.
Dean Evason had been the Wild coach since February 2020. (Michael Reaves / Getty Images)The most touching came from Gaudreau, the player Evason has supported since their days together in AHL Milwaukee and somebody coming off a career year that earned him his first NHL security — a five-year contract.
Gaudreau felt incredibly guilty for his scoreless season and texted Evason, “I need to see you.” Evason wrote back, “Gauds, no, I’m good.” Gaudreau wrote back, “But I’m not.” Evason assured him he’d be OK and to focus on the next game. So Evason was overjoyed to see Gaudreau score the winning goal in his new coach’s first game.
Evason is comfortable in his own skin — a contrast to his first news conference, an extremely nervous performance after he’d walked to TRIA one February morning in 2020 and learned he was being elevated from assistant coach to interim.
He’s confident and can’t wait for his next coaching opportunity.
But before moving on to that or to his European trips, Evason sat down with The Athletic to talk about the team, its future, his future and what went awry this season.
Advertisement
As an ex-player, why does it take a coaching change sometimes to get a team to play fast, energetic, free hockey?
Your mind is a fragile thing. As a group, they did lack confidence. How many games did we have all these scoring chances, all these opportunities to score, and we don’t score, and then it just starts weighing on you and weighing on you. We tried everything. Billy tried yelling at them. I called them out. I called meetings. We did all this stuff and we were in the process of building them up and I thought going in the right direction. It’s ironic, but two days ago in practice, we said on the ice, “Bolds, you’re not going to go all year with one goal. Gauds, you’re not going to have no points for the rest of the year.” And they both score (Tuesday). Sometimes it does take a change. I did the same thing to Bruce (Boudreau), and they responded.
So you really didn’t sense this was coming because lately you had been calling out players and after the Detroit game looked as frustrated as we’ve ever seen you and out of answers?
It was frustrating because you try to do everything and then you feel you’re close and then it just doesn’t get done again. And I’m sure they fed off of me, as well, because I was frustrated. But, no, I didn’t expect it. We were in there Monday morning trying to do something else to fix things and give them something to hang their hats on and something different to focus on. We were playing really slow, like not moving our feet, and that wasn’t our group. But last night, I texted Bob, and said, “Go figure. The PK’s great. Gus was great. Bolds and Gauds score.” It’s ironic. But at no point did I think, “I wish those donkeys did that a week ago.”
Why was the PK struggling to such degrees when it was good last regular season? Last night, Gus said it was mentally exhausting feeling every PK he was going to give up a goal.
What do I think happened? I think there’s injuries. You’ve made reference of it, our save percentage isn’t as high. (The opponent’s) Grade A scoring chances weren’t going in last year and they were this year. We had the same personnel, same guys. Did we tweak some stuff on the PK? Yeah, because of the playoffs last year. We had a couple of systems that we were flip-flopping back and forth so that we could make adjustments. Did that mess them up? It shouldn’t have. Can I pinpoint one issue why it was going in the net? No, I can’t.
I know publicly you always said you coach the players given and the $14.7 million in dead money isn’t your concern. But the reality is you’re not coaching on an even playing field as every opponent. That’s five $3 million players, two $7.5 million stars. I know you hold yourself accountable, but wasn’t that reality that you were hamstrung?
It’s reality, and I’ll tell you this. I’m disappointed that we don’t have an opportunity to coach a team that could have $15 million more. But not once did I ever say publicly or privately, “I wish we had $15 million more.” We don’t. I don’t consume myself with it because we didn’t have $15 million. Do I wish now that I could coach in two years this hockey team? Absolutely because I think the foundation that we have set here is really strong. It’s really strong right now, and I contributed to that. I wish I had the opportunity to coach when the restrictions are lifted. It’s going to be a way better hockey team with the foundation set, with $15 million more worth of talent to help win hockey games and the prospects coming because we’ve drafted, I think, well. The kids just are not quite ready yet, but they’re gonna be a great team for a long time.
Bill Guerin and Dean Evason had tried any number of ways to fix the Wild. (Nick Wosika / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)Is Kirill Kaprizov hurt? What’s gone on with him?
I think his injury took a lot out of him. He comes back and plays two games and then the playoffs, and he’s still in recovery mode. He’s had it looked at again this year. I don’t want to give secrets out, but that’s a hard injury to recover from. Has that affected his ability to have the pace? Yes, 100 percent. I do believe that. Kirill Kaprizov is trying his ass off. He just hasn’t found his skating pace that we are accustomed to.
How much did Jared Spurgeon’s injury before the season started affect this team?
To get off like that was tough, and to lose key, key guys like Spurge and Bolds, Gauds, big, big parts of the team. But to just not have Jared Spurgeon in our lineup, he’s one of the best defensemen in the damn world. In the world! So we don’t have that guy, and you’ve got to some younger people there, too. As good as Brock Faber played early in the year, he’s not Jared Spurgeon.
How good is Faber going to be? On and off the ice, he just seems mature beyond his years.
He is so mature and even through the struggles early in the year here, he’s never been a guy that you went, “Boy, he played like crap tonight.” He just continued to play at an elite level. I think you hit it on the head. He is mature beyond his years. He’s been a captain. He’s a leader. He’s gonna be a huge part of this team.
Advertisement
Same with Marco Rossi, you think?
Yeah. I mean, Marco is a little more quiet. But what I really loved about Marco this year is his pushback. He’s never cowardly. I know Darbs (Darby Hendrickson) just showed him several clips of where he had scrums in front of the net and is pushing guys. And for a smaller guy like that, he’s got that bite to go with the skill that he is. He’s always at the net and he’s stopping there. I was very excited about him this year because, as you know, we had some concerns. It’s taken him some time to get here. And he just took a real giant step forward.
Any regrets?
No. Hindsight, and it’s two days, fresh, and I’ve just watched the one game, should we just continually stayed the course and maybe they come out of it? But then you’re like, “F—, he didn’t change the lines. He didn’t make them accountable.” Then if it doesn’t work you’re kicking yourself for not kicking the garbage can. Again, we tried everything. Every different type of way to motivate and spark them, we tried. A new coach comes in and can just support the guys because they can — they haven’t pissed you off yet. So that gives the player a little more of a comfort feel, too, that this coach has your back. I’ve never been fired in-season so I don’t know the process, but right now, there’s no sense in wasting energy by being pissed off or negative. What’s the point? I disagree with Billy making the decision. I’d be stupid if I sat here and said, “I’m glad he fired me. He did the right thing.” I don’t think so. I think we could have pulled out of this. But it’s done, and now that it’s done, I need to move forward.
How quickly do you want to coach again? Do you want to take some time or will take calls immediately if they come?
I don’t need time off. What do I need time off for? I don’t need to process this situation. It’s over. I’m in a position now that I’ve got some stuff to take care of personally, like with my apartment and stuff like that that I don’t really enjoy. But do I need to mourn? No. I need to get back at it. I didn’t wake up yesterday thinking I’m a s—-y coach. I woke up yesterday thinking I’m a f—ing good coach. I can coach. I’m ready to coach. I hope I get another situation to coach, and I hope it’s in this league. I heard your question to John Hynes yesterday, asking if he started to really watch the Wild when we started to struggle. That’s something I didn’t think of and something I may start to do. It makes sense just so I’m ready if I get that call.
Do you ever consume yourself with the raw deal you got in the playoffs? Vegas, you lose Carson Soucy, Joel Eriksson Ek’s playing on one knee, Jonas Brodin gets hurt in Game 7. St. Louis series, everybody — Marcus Foligno, Matt Dumba, others — was hurt going into the series, and you lose Eriksson Ek at the worst time in the final game. Last year, Gaudreau’s hurt, Marcus Foligno’s hurt, Ryan Hartman’s hurt, Eriksson Ek’s out, Kaprizov was rusty after only two games in six weeks.
Eriksson Ek is by far the most important player on that team. I watched him last night. You don’t get the appreciation when you’re sitting on your couch watching this guy. He is an absolute horse, an absolute warrior. He is just incredible. So to answer your question, in the playoffs, yes. They need to get to the playoffs and go in healthy and stay healthy. Every single year we have had an amazing number of injuries heading into the playoffs and during. Look at Vegas last year. They didn’t get hurt. Do we believe injuries played a massive part in our playoff inability? One hundred percent.
Like you played, you’re a fiery coach, something we saw a lot after overtime and shootout goals. It felt like you really connected with the fans that way.
I’m not on social media, but my wife has sent me a couple screen captures of what some fans have said the last couple days. I do think that I connected with the fans, and even all the stuff with punching Darbs and stuff.
I think the people like the passion. The people here, Minnesotans are as close to Canadians as you can get. And obviously I’m a very proud Canadian. When I did show my emotions, I heard from people that they love that. And I didn’t do it to get media attention. It’s just who I am. It’s just the passion that I have. I think that’s why, like you just mentioned, the first-round exits, that’s why they’re so passionate. Fans here just want to get past that. They want to win. They just need a winner. And we all get it and I’m just disappointed that I couldn’t be the head coach when it happens.
(Top photo: Matt Blewett / USA Today)
ncG1vNJzZmismJqutbTLnquim16YvK57lGpnaWhjbHxzfJFsZmppX2eGcLDEmqVmnaaWwLC6jLCgpZxdm7aztc2gZKyhpJm8uLqO