The Minnesota Wild appeared to be hitting rock bottom when they lost their seventh game in a row, but that was made even more apparent when they announced they fired head coach Dean Evason and assistant coach Bob Woods. Many thought it would happen at some point during the season, but not quite this quickly.
They also didn’t take long to name a replacement in former Nashville Predators head coach John Hynes. General manager Bill Guerin had made it obvious he wasn’t happy with the team’s results but left Evason’s job alone at the time. Things changed quite quickly, and we’ll look at how things ended with Evason, who this new coach is, and what he can bring to the table.
Wild’s Evason Not Enough
Again, the firing of Evason may not have been a surprise, but the timing of it was. While the Wild had lost their seventh straight, they started playing more of their style recently. It looked like they could’ve started to turn things around, but they were also repeating mistakes that should’ve been fixed.
Going back in time, Evason took over the team from Bruce Boudreau just 12 games before the season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019-20. He was the head coach for five seasons with a record of 147-77-27 and got the team to three consecutive playoff appearances, but all were first-round losses.
Aside from the disappointing playoff finishes, Evason was well-liked in his coaching style until this season’s train wreck of a start. He had a no-nonsense personality and told it like it was rather than sugar-coating it. The Wild will miss that because it’s highly unlikely they’ll find another personality like his.
Wild Pickup Hynes
As surprising as firing Evason was for Wild fans to hear, just as surprising was the announcement of his replacement, Hynes. Reading through many social media comments, many aren’t impressed with the hire and believe he’ll barely do better than Evason. Hynes has been an NHL coach with two teams over the past eight years. First, he was with the New Jersey Devils for a little over four seasons and had a dismal record of 150-159-45.
However, after the Devils, he was hired by the Predators again for a little over four seasons, and his record improved to 284-255-63. It’s not an excellent record, but it is a winning one, and like Evason, his team was in the playoffs for three consecutive seasons but also failed to bring home a Stanley Cup.
How did the Wild come upon Hynes, everyone may ask? Ray Shero, a senior advisor for the Wild, hired him as the Devils head coach back when he was with that organization. Shero wasn’t the only one to know Hynes either; Guerin knew of him when he was general manager of the Pittsburgh Penguins, where Hynes spent time as the coach of their American Hockey League team, the Wilkes Barre/Scranton Penguins. So two prominent names in the Wild organization knew of Hynes’ coaching history and felt comfortable bringing him in.
Hynes Brings Fresh Perspective
With the record Hynes has, it’s easy to understand why Wild fans would be skeptical, but regardless of the record, he is a new face to a struggling organization. The Wild were out of options as far as players were concerned, and this was the only choice they had to shake their team out of its current funk.
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This could be a tricky situation for Hynes to walk into, and it’ll be interesting to see how he handles the team in the future. He can’t do any worse than what was already happening to the team; they can keep losing or go up from here with new direction and guidance. Firing a coach can sometimes be the thing that jumpstarts a team, and that’s exactly what the Wild are looking for with this. It’s just unfortunate Evason was on the losing end this time.
Wild Move On
This firing was the last hope for a team that hadn’t won a game in two weeks and seemed to be spiraling downward with no end in sight. They had some slivers of hope that seemed to be dashed as quickly as they started. Hopefully, with Hynes behind the bench, he can devise a new plan to get this team back in the win column. It’s not fun when coaches get fired; unfortunately, it’s part of the business. Hopefully, this new perspective is exactly what the Wild need and Evason will land a new job with a new team for happy endings all around.
