Blue Jackets’ head coach Dean Evason did the almost unthinkable in his first season behind the bench in Columbus. He had his team on the verge of the Stanley Cup Playoffs despite no one around the hockey world giving them a chance.
Evason wasn’t hired by the Blue Jackets until July 22, 2024. He didn’t have as much time as a coach normally would to prepare for the upcoming season. Then he and the team had to deal with unimaginable tragedy just weeks before camp opened when Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau were killed by a suspected drunk driver. The team found a way to bond in honor of the Gaudreau’s and turned in a season few will ever forget given the circumstances.
Going into 2025-26, Evason and his staff have had a full offseason to digest what happened and come up with a game plan to move forward. In his own words at the end of last season, he said there were a lot of good things but it wasn’t good enough because they fell short. He and the Blue Jackets are ready to start Training Camp up in the hopes of taking the next step.
In the last part of our 2025 Blue Jackets’ Summer Q&A series, Evason was kind enough on Monday to spend around 25 minutes with the Hockey Writers to discuss a wide range of topics. You will see everything from his reaction to the offseason to a look ahead to 2025-26. He also opened up about his experience for Team Canada at the Men’s World Championships, some insights into how he thinks about certain situations and he addresses some specific individual situations on the team.
Of course, we mixed in some fun at the beginning. As with our other Q&A’s, our conversation was cleaned up some for clarity and conversation. Here is our full Q&A with Blue Jackets’ head coach Dean Evason on the week before 2025 Training Camp opens.
Evason Q&A
THW: Dean, thanks for doing this. Let’s start with the summer for you. Were you able to enjoy any semblance of fun? What one thing were you able to do that was fun away from the rink?
Evason: “Yeah. Golf. I tried almost every day. The end of the season was fantastic as far as how we ended. After the year, we talked to the group that it was a trying year in a lot of ways, but it was a very satisfying year in a lot of ways. Ultimately, we didn’t get the job done. Our first step is to make the playoffs and we came up short. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t still enjoy your time away. Did we think about it? We did some things as a coaching staff to work on how we’re going to tweak some things to hopefully get up to the point where we make that first step. And the summer was great. Went on a few trips and visited my children was the biggest thing. Seeing them all across Canada and spending time with them which we don’t get to do through the season was the highlight for sure.”
THW: Now that you’ve had the season here, what are some of your favorite places, restaurants or anywhere else in Columbus?
Evason: “I don’t go out a whole lot. The Double Eagle where Don and I are fortunate. The team’s fortunate that the McConnell family has such a beautiful place. I like to go out there. It’s quiet. Golf is a passion of mine. So I spend a lot of time out there. I don’t want to single out any one restaurant. We’ll go out to a few different restaurants. But the biggest thing for me especially this summer was to do things within the city, going to Clippers games and going to Crew games. I didn’t take in any theater this summer, but I did go over to the theater and met the people over there. So I’m excited to dive into that this year a little bit more. Yeah, just basically enjoy the city, enjoy this great weather and I love it here.”
THW: How much convincing did it take you to get into some of the promo videos? I saw the one where you were telling the kid “It’s your time. Get in there.”
Evason: “Yeah. It’s not my favorite thing to do because as an ex-player and now as a coach, I think the players should be the focal point or the visual that people see. We’re support staff, and I like to do things as a group. But I understand also that there’s an element that fans and people want to see everybody within the organization. That means not only the players, but the coaching staff and management. It’s not my favorite thing to do, but I understand that it’s a good thing for us to get out and do things like that, to get in the community and all that good stuff to promote not only our team but this great city.”
GAME ON! 💥 pic.twitter.com/ZiuNZ3cjlM
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) September 8, 2025
World Championships
THW: This is the first time talking to you since the Men’s Worlds. Just what kind of lessons can you learn from the way that ended for Team Canada?
Evason: “Yeah there’s a lot. We’ve rehashed it as a coaching staff and with management, with Team Canada, and what we felt went wrong or what was a perfect storm against us, how we had to go to Denmark and what have you. But the experience overall was amazing. I’ve been fortunate to play in one. I’ve coached now as an assistant and a head coach. Although we didn’t win the last two, the experience was fantastic.”
“And that’s what’s the beauty of this sport or anything that’s live is that anything can happen. Have we dived into it? Have we learned some things from it? Did we bring back and when I say we, Steve McCarthy was there. We brought back some system stuff that we’re going to implement this year. But ultimately, the adversity that we faced and the negativity of the loss was one thing, but the experience overall was pretty fantastic.”
THW: And probably nice for you to have two of your players in Kent Johnson and Adam Fantilli there. How will that experience help the two of them in this upcoming season?
Evason: “I think both are still very young hockey players and obviously had a great season. Just to be around Sidney Crosby, to be around (Bo) Horvat, just all these guys that were there, the pros, not only to watch them how they play the game. A guy like (Ryan) O’Reilly. For those two guys to watch O’Reilly and his preparation of how to play the game, I mean they both have some fantastic examples within our locker room as well. But to see these superstars and how they conduct themselves on and off the ice is very valuable to both those young men.”
THW: And on the other hand, on a more positive note about the Men’s Worlds, you’re able to see Zach Werenski win gold. You’re able to see him be named the best defenseman in the tournament. That really shouldn’t come as any of a surprise. What kind of an impact can that have that he’s able to go on the world stage and continue what he was able to do for your team?
Evason: “Well, not a surprise to any of us obviously, and you included that he was that player. The thing that really stands out to me and stood out to everybody and that’s all that most people talked about. Clearly, the United States winning was fantastic for them, fantastic for him. But for him to run off and grab Johnny Gaudreau’s jersey and bring it back, that’s what really stood out. We all know he’s a fantastic player but what people know now is that he’s a fantastic person as well.”
Offseason Thoughts
THW: So coming back here now, Don Waddell brought a couple new players onto the team in Charlie Coyle, Miles Wood, Isac Lundestrom and others. What will they bring to your team that you feel like may have been missing last season?
Evason: “I just think some professionalism. They all play the game straightforwardly. They all play the game with bite, with heart. They have all played the game for a while now and understand the league. So to put people that have been around, to have that experience, to combine with not only just our young people, but the team that was established last year, that team we think has only been enhanced by the professionalism of the guys that Don brought in.”
THW: Take us inside what a typical offseason looks like for you. What I mean by that is what does a day look like for you? Is there a lot of Zoom meetings? Do you get to talk to the coaches a lot? Just how does that work when you’re planning for next season when you’re trying to determine what changes you’re going to make and how it just all comes together? Now that you have had a whole offseason to work with.
Evason: “Yeah. First of all, we talk a lot through a group thread, a group text. And so we’re in almost constant communication. All of us are on this one thread, a coach’s thread. So we’re going back and forth with banter and most of the time, it’s fun. We’re taking shots at each other and joking and what have you. But then when we got to development camp, that’s when we really dialed in. We sat down at the end of the year, but it’s so fresh at the end of the year. And you’re bitter and you’re excited, so you kind of want to let that sit for a bit.”
“So when we got to development camp, we had meetings. We went over everything systematically, how we want to conduct ourselves emotionally and psychologically with the team and how we want to present different things that we’re going to change. We talked about it there. I asked every coach to put together their package of clips. Then when we got back here now, each coach has shown what they’d change, how we’d tweak it visually. This is why, examples, and now we will pick how we’re going to play. Clearly, our structure is going to stay pretty much the same. But you’re going to tweak different areas because we didn’t have success. So we need to be better as a coaching staff to give the players a better opportunity to make that first step and that’s make the playoffs.”
THW: How do you evaluate your assistant coaches? What does success look like to you when you look at them?
Evason: “Communication, just have an incredible feel as far as how we want to play as a team. And the one thing that can get lost I think in a coaching staff is where the penalty kill guy just cares only about the penalty kill and nobody else cares about it. I want our staff to have touches on everything. Just because Mike Haviland runs the power play, that doesn’t mean that Scott Ford and Steve McCarthy and Jared Boll and Aron (Augustitus) and Cam Briere and (Niklas Backstrom) and myself that we all don’t have a say in how (to do things.)”
“My biggest thing as a head coach is to have a coaching team that’s a team. And everybody has a different role and has different responsibilities. But when we leave that coach’s room, we are hopefully as tight and as organized and as professional and all those good things as much as we want our actual team that are sitting in that dressing room to be.”
THW: When I spoke to Waddell recently, he admitted that there was a meeting with Yegor Chinakhov and clearing of the air. Just for you, what role will you play to help him find his game if a trade does not happen?
Evason: “Yeah. He’s here. You just saw it. We just had a little banter as he came off the ice. I sat down with him last week. First time I’ve seen him since things were written and whatever. And I emphasized to him that I don’t care honestly. He wants to play hockey. He didn’t get a chance to play hockey at the end. He’s frustrated by that. He asked for a trade. That’s fine. That’s out of my control. What I wanted to emphasize to him is that if you are in this dressing room, then we will expect the exact same thing that we expected from you last year and that’s to compete. That’s to battle for a position to help your team win each and every night.”
“And the biggest thing for me is that I will not hold a grudge. I will not be pissed off at you for doing what you think is best for your career. But having said that, if you’re here, you do the same things that everybody else on the team does. We’ll ask the same thing of you this year that we asked of you last year.”
THW: The one thing that I thought was a very interesting change that Waddell made was a change of the strength and conditioning coach. You got to see it play out every day. How much of an issue do you feel like that was? Was that part of the issue with back-to-back games last season?
Evason: “Well, yeah. You can have your opinion on a lot of different things. But at the end of the day, we have to improve in all areas. So does us being a little stronger, a little physically better help us get to where we want to be? Sure. We’re all support staff, and we are supporting these players to get on the ice in order to win hockey games. And I’m certainly not somebody, and Don isn’t either, that micromanage. We will allow everybody to do their job to the best of their ability. Hopefully, the changes that we made will help us get to where we want to go.”
Individual Situations
THW: Couple players I’ll ask you about here. The first is Dmitri Voronkov. The team clearly loves the player. Anyone who saw him last season saw he had a great start but faded out a little bit toward the end of the year. What do you feel like is his ideal role when he’s really playing like he can?
Evason: “Just a big, strong, physical presence that has really good hands who can finish. Does he need to play more physically with his size and his strength? And I’m not talking about running around, chicken with your head cut off, but he definitely has to be more physical. He’s definitely got to get in on more forechecks and disrupt. That’s an area that we are going to push him to do. Ideal situation is he’s that ultimate power forward that has size combined with skill that can play up in your lineup and can play all different roles. He’s shown that he’s committed defensively. He’s shown that he can produce offensively. So if we continue to push him and he pushes himself to work each and every day at getting better in all those areas, he’s going to help us win.”
THW: One player the depth chart may indicate, but Cole Sillinger could potentially be a winger at the start. What do you want to see from him this season and what role do you potentially see him playing? With Charlie Coyle now, you have flexibility at center.
Evason: “Yeah. I talked to Silly at the end of the year about being that Swiss army knife guy that can play in every situation. He can play on the power play. He can play penalty kill. He can play left, right, center and he can play different roles. He’s got tremendous speed. He’s physical. He’s got an offensive skill set to him that can score. So we just asked him to commit to playing wherever you’re going to play. I like him at center. As you just stated, we’ve got some centermen. There’s only four positions at center. So guys are going to have to move around a little bit. If you commit to just playing the hardest you can or the best you can, wherever you get asked to do that, then you’re going to give yourself an opportunity to have success.”
“I tell the players all the time that we’ll put you in a role at the start of the year and ask you to commit to that, but that doesn’t mean you have to stay in that role. You can change that role. If you’re not on the power play, you can change to play on the power play. If you’re not on the penalty kill, you can change to play on the penalty kill by doing things a little bit above maybe your comfort zone or doing things above what you think is expected of you. Then you will get an opportunity to change your role.”
THW: Goals against was a major issue last season but it got better as the season went on. What is your confidence level with that going into this year? Do you feel good about where it’s at with some of the tweaks that you’re bringing?
Evason: “Yeah. I think not only the changes that we’re bringing. Hopefully, those will help us in all areas structurally and systematically. But I think the opportunity now for the players to understand how we play. We had guys in and out of the lineup and everybody does throughout the season, but we didn’t have a consistent group right from the start of the year. So we come into this training camp and we’ll see how everything plays out. But the players know how we’re going to play. We’re not changing our base structure of how we’re going to play the game. We’re going to make some tweaks. But the players now will be able to teach the new players. They’ll be able to help each other and push each other to play the way that we want to play. Not necessarily how the head coach wants to play or the coaching staff wants to play. Obviously, everybody has to commit, but we’ll hopefully be committed as a team to play the way that we all want to play.”
THW: The goaltending situation. Daniil Tarasov is no longer here. You have Elvis Merzlikins and you have Jet Greaves. What adjustments, if any, will you make on how you play the goaltenders? At least from an outsider’s point of view, I don’t even know who’s going to start day one for you guys.
Evason: “Yeah. Neither do I. And what’s going to be determined is it’ll be determined by them. They both know they can play in the National Hockey League. They both know that they’re starters or can be starters in the National Hockey League. So they’re going to compete for that job. And we’re not changing our philosophy with that. If you have success, you play. And you saw it at the end of the year where Jet was having success, so he played. Elvis was having success, so he plays. So it’s no different than any other position. If you earn the right to get in the net or you earn the right to play more minutes, then you’ll play more minutes.”
Looking Ahead
THW: Just got two more for you here. Training camp is interesting because of a lot of preseason games early. How will you adjust to that in how you handle the early portion of camp?
Evason: “Yeah. It’s a funky camp with four games in a row. We’ve got the three practice days. We’re going to go defensive day with penalty kill, neutral zone day with the power play, then offensive day with a little scrimmage and incorporate power play versus penalty kill. Try to hit all three zones early with those three days. And then now we’ll teach through the four games. It’s going to be difficult to, you have to have eight veterans in each game. I’ve got four games in a row. Fortunately, we have more veterans than we did last year because if we didn’t if we had the same group, it would be difficult to play four in a row. So it is what it is. We’re going to work with it. We’ve got a structured plan of how many games we want each player to play. It’s not the same for every player. Some guys will get a few more that are maybe competing a little bit more for a position or the right to play more. They might play a little bit more than a guy that that we feel is already established and has a true position on our team. We’ve got a template of how we want to have guys play, how many games we want them to play, and all that kind of stuff. Obviously, it can change depending on what happens moving forward.”
THW: And the 2025-26 season, the 25th anniversary season, there seems to be a lot of momentum. Why do you feel that this team can be successful this season?
Evason: “I just think that the people that we have in that dressing room. Yes. Any locker room you go into in the National Hockey League has guys that can play in the NHL, that have a tremendous amount of skill and determination and grit and all that kind of stuff. I just think that the people that we have within that dressing room, and I’ll single out Boone Jenner as our leader. When you have an attitude like that that is spearheading and driving your team, then that’s what gives you great hope that we’re going to be successful. I think it’s simple as that. I could go through almost every guy in that locker room and say the same thing, but it starts with Boone.”
