Even with the Columbus Blue Jackets off to a slow start, head coach Dean Evason didn’t feel that his seat was warming just past the midway point of his second season on the job.
But, of course, that wasn’t quite the case.
“I was blindsided. Yeah, of course. Usually, when you go through this as a coach, you can feel it coming. But I’ll be honest with you: I didn’t,” Evason said. “(General manager Don Waddell) talked to me, then he talked to Steve, and it was time to pack our s— and get out of Dodge.”
Under Evason this season, Columbus was 21-19-7 and sitting eighth in the Metropolitan Division.
In 2024-25, the Blue Jackets appeared to take a step forward, finishing above .500 for the first time since 2019-20 and missing out on a return to the Stanley Cup Playoffs by just two points.
“This season has been a frustrating one for all of us and the bottom line is we are not performing at a level that meets our expectations. We all share in that responsibility, me included, and while this was not a decision that was made lightly, it is one that needed to be made at this time,” said Waddell in a statement. “Dean did a tremendous job last year under extremely difficult circumstances and I thank him for that.”
Part of Columbus’s struggles this season has been its inability to hold leads. In nine of its 26 losses, it held a lead in the third period — something Evason pointed to when explaining why he thought the team was due for a turnaround.
“At the end of the day, do you take it personally?” he said. “You have to, a little bit. But you have to be accountable, too. I get that we lost leads in the third period, and that was frustrating for everybody.
“But without sounding like a whiny or petty little whatever, I don’t think (the firing) should have happened. I think it was too soon, and I think there was more to it than losing leads in the third period. What that is, I don’t know.”
Evason, who previously spent five seasons as the head coach of the Minnesota Wild, told Portzline that the Blue Jackets changed their forecheck and neutral-zone play to eliminate their third-period collapses.
Columbus has won its two games since bringing Bowness out of retirement to take over behind the bench.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen to this Blue Jackets team. But I believe that we should have made the playoffs this year if we were still coaching,” Evason said. “That’s not a knock against (Bowness) in any way, because he may do the exact same thing.”
Ultimately, Evason leaves the Blue Jackets with a 59-52-16 record in 127 games, bringing his career mark to 208-129-43. While he wasn’t able to bring Columbus back to the post-season, the veteran of 13 NHL seasons as a player had guided the Wild to the playoffs four times before being let go after 19 games in 2023-24.
And even after the abrupt firing, he’s looking for a way back into the head-coaching ranks.
“I hope I get another job,” he said. “I know I’m a good coach. I do. I know there are things I have to get better at, and every time you go through something like this, you should get better. The ones who do are the ones who keep getting jobs.”
