ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – The Minnesota Wild made Dean Evason their full-time head coach on Monday, signing him to a two-year contract extension at the commencement of training camp for the restarted NHL season.
Evason’s deal will expire after the 2021-22 season. He was promoted to interim coach on Feb. 14 when Bruce Boudreau was fired, and the Wild went 8-4 under him until the virus outbreak prompted the league to shut down.
Minnesota will play Vancouver in the qualifying round of the 24-team tournament, a best-of-five series that begins on Aug. 2. The games will be played in Edmonton, where Evason and the Wild will travel in two weeks to enter the bubble.
Evason joined the Wild two years ago as an assistant, after six seasons as head coach for Milwaukee in the AHL. The 55-year-old Evason was an assistant in the NHL for the Washington Capitals for seven seasons prior to that. He has also been a head coach at the junior level in Canada.
Evason had 139 goals, 233 assists and 1,002 penalty minutes in 803 career NHL games with five different teams, mostly with the Hartford Whalers.
Photo credit – Jeff Roberson / Associated Press / St. Louis, MO