Minnesota Wild Fire Dean Evason, Name John Hynes Head Coach
The Wild have relieved head coach Dean Evason and assistant coach Bob Woods of their duties effective immediately, the team said in a statement Monday evening. Two hours later, they named former Devils and Predators bench boss John Hynes as their new head coach.
Wild GM Bill Guerin gave the following comment on the decision to part with Evason:
Dean did an excellent job during his tenure with the Minnesota Wild, especially as Head Coach of our team. I am very thankful for his hard work and dedication to our organization. I would also like to thank Bob for his hard work during his time as an Assistant Coach with the Wild. I wish Dean, Bob and their families all the best in the future.
Evason had been a member of the Wild organization since he was brought on as an assistant in 2018, while Woods joined the Wild bench one season prior. The 59-year-old Evason began his coaching career with the WHL’s Calgary Hitmen as an assistant in 1998-99 after finishing out his playing career in Germany, working his way up the junior hockey ranks over the next handful of seasons. His first NHL job came courtesy of an assistant role with the Capitals immediately after the 2004-05 lockout, coaching Alex Ovechkin in his first seven NHL seasons.
After departing Washington in 2012, Evason spent the next several seasons working in the Predators organization as the head coach of their AHL affiliate, the Milwaukee Admirals. There, he helped guide more than a few future NHL stalwarts – namely Mattias Ekholm, Ryan Ellis, Filip Forsberg, Calle Järnkrok, Viktor Arvidsson, and Kevin Fiala, among many others. After joining the Wild, he earned a promotion to head coach within two seasons when the Wild fired Bruce Boudreau late in the 2019-20 campaign.
Just a couple of years later, Evason had coached the Wild to their best season in franchise history. The 2021-22 campaign saw the Wild break the 50-win mark for the first time since their inception in 2000, nearly sitting atop the Central Division with 113 points. That was in an extremely tough group with the 119-point Stanley Cup champion Avalanche and the 109-point Blues, whom the Wild bowed out to in the first round of the playoffs. The Wild remain without a playoff series victory since the 2015 postseason and have not advanced to a Conference Final since the 2002-03 season.
So with the Wild now far out of the playoff picture with a 5-10-4 record, sitting bottom five in the league in both goals for and against, a change was necessary and expected. Injuries and goaltending have certainly played a factor in their poor play – captain Jared Spurgeon missed the first 13 games of the season, and Filip Gustavsson‘s and Marc-André Fleury‘s combined .878 SV% is near the bottom of the league.
They’ve likely been unlucky, too. The Wild have controlled a slim majority of scoring chances and a strong majority of high-danger chances during 5-on-5 play, a common theme for an organization that’s usually one of the more defensively stout in the league. But the culture around the team is evidently turning sour quickly, Kirill Kaprizov is on pace for a career-low 26 goals and has a team-worst -10 rating, and most of their depth defensemen have been significant liabilities. This roster is not all that different from the one that’s finished top-three in the Central Division for three straight seasons, and it’s certainly one that still has playoff aspirations.
Minnesota has not won since November 7 against the Islanders and is winless in seven straight.
Woods, who had worked on the Capitals’ bench with Evason briefly as an assistant in the early 2010s, is now on the open market after more than six seasons with the Wild. It’s unclear whether the Wild will opt to fill his vacancy.
Hynes, who was let go by the Predators after last season, is technically in the final season of his contract with Nashville. That means the Predators had to grant permission to their divisional rival to speak to their former head coach and that Hynes will be paid by both Minnesota and Nashville this season.
Now behind the bench of his third NHL franchise, he faces an uphill climb to get Minnesota back in the playoff picture. Hynes will suit up behind an NHL bench for a ninth consecutive season, as he was fired by the Devils and hired by Nashville midway through the 2019-20 campaign.
The Wild will certainly get a boost in the standings once Fleury and Gustavsson improve their play between the pipes, a likely scenario given their stellar performance last season. However, they again have the misfortune of being in quite a competitive division. The Avalanche and Stars occupy first and second place as expected powerhouses, while the Blues, Predators and Coyotes all sit at or above the .500 mark and, especially in Nashville’s case, have posted decent underlying numbers.
Hynes’ main job is simply to restore confidence in his group. This roster has the ability to play better – especially Kaprizov, who, despite the okay point production, has looked like a complete non-factor on some nights. The team also hopes a significant change behind the bench can boost their league-worst penalty kill, which is operating at just 66.7%. Penalty killing was an area of strength for Nashville last season, who finished tied for fourth in the NHL with an 82.6% success rate.
The Wild will be on the hook for the remainder of Evason’s contract, which runs through 2024-25 at just under $2MM per season.
The Athletic’s Michael Russo was the first to report the Hynes hire.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Capitals Place T.J. Oshie On Injured Reserve, Activate Martin Fehérváry
The Capitals made some roster moves this afternoon, most notably placing winger T.J. Oshie on injured reserve with an upper-body injury retroactive to November 24, according to the NHL’s media portal. Defenseman Martin Fehérváry was activated off IR in a corresponding transaction and replaced Oshie on the 23-man active roster.
While Washington has impressed this season and sits in playoff position in the Metropolitan Division, Oshie hasn’t been a significant factor. Oshie has seen ice time worth of a top-six forward, averaging 16:39 per game, but the 37-year-old is producing at (by far) the worst rate of his NHL career. Injuries have been a factor the last few seasons, but he still managed to stay relevant last year with 35 points in 58 contests. Now, he’s as snakebitten as ever, notching just one goal and one assist through 17 games. It’s worth noting he’s shooting at just 3.3% – the only time in his 16-year, 975-game career that he’s shot in the single digits.
This is not an unexpected move. He is listed as day-to-day, and it was reported last weekend that he would not travel with the team on their five-game West Coast road swing. Hopefully, the veteran can return to action when the team returns home, and he can continue on his quest to 1,000 games.
In placing Oshie on IR, the Capitals create space for the much younger Fehérváry to return to play tonight against the Sharks. The 24-year-old landed on IR over two weeks ago and missed five games with a lower-body injury sustained November 10 against the Devils. Selected 46th overall in 2018, the budding top-four defender has logged two assists in 12 games this season, averaging 18:20 per contest. His 50.3% Corsi share at even strength is a marked improvement over his first two full seasons in the NHL, and he continues to grow into a trusted complementary player who can handle significant defensive zone usage. He’ll assume a top-pairing alongside John Carlson in his return to the lineup tonight.
Coyotes List Vladislav Kolyachonok As Week-To-Week
The Coyotes announced Monday that defenseman Vladislav Kolyachonok is out of the lineup on a week-to-week basis with a lower-body injury. No corresponding transaction has been made. However, PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan notes that injured defenders Mathew Dumba and Travis Dermott practiced with the team today and could return to the lineup for Tuesday’s game against the Lightning. Dermott is on injured reserve and must be activated before returning to play.
Kolyachonok sustained the injury on a hit from Golden Knights winger Jonathan Marchessault midway through the second period of Saturday’s 2-0 win. The 22-year-old Belarusian defender, who was making his season debut, skated just 6:09 through the first half of the game and did not return. Arizona recalled him earlier in the month after injuries to Dermott and Juuso Välimäki. However, he was a healthy scratch for four games to begin his first recall of the season.
A 2019 second-round pick of the Panthers, the Coyotes acquired Kolyachonok as a sweetener in the July 2021 trade that saw Arizona receive aging defender Anton Strålman, whom the Panthers no longer had cap space to afford. A puck-mover by nature, he’s failed to truly jump out in the NHL or AHL but remains on track to be a dependable long-term call-up option at minimum. He has 35 NHL games with the Coyotes, although 32 came in the 2021-22 season. The Coyotes stashed him in the minors for all but two games in 2022-23.
Kolyachonok was off to a decent start with the Tucson Roadrunners before his call-up, recording just three points in 11 games but had a +5 rating that is still tied for the team lead. He was the most polished call-up option to provide low-risk depth minutes for a Coyotes team that fully intends to make noise in the Western Conference Wild Card race.
Atlantic Notes: Klingberg, McMann, Benoit, Korpisalo, Samuelsson
Maple Leafs defenseman John Klingberg will meet with a doctor in New York this week to determine whether surgery is required to correct his nagging hip injury, GM Brad Treliving informed the media Monday afternoon (via David Alter of Sports Illustrated/The Hockey News).
Klingberg, 31, has missed five out of the last six games with the injury and is currently on long-term injured reserve retroactive to November 11. The soonest he can return to the lineup is December 12 against the Rangers. However, all indications point to a more prolonged absence regardless of the clarity gleaned from his appointment this week. While Klingberg has reportedly been battling various hip issues for multiple seasons, Treliving confirmed Klingberg sustained a specific injury on October 19 versus the Panthers, keeping him out of the lineup. Klingberg did not miss any games immediately after sustaining the injury.
A free-agent signing by the Maple Leafs last summer, Klingberg’s presence in the lineup quickly deteriorated after a strong showing in the team’s season opener against the Canadiens. After notching two points, a +1 rating, and over 24 minutes of ice time in his Toronto debut, his defensive game again lapsed significantly. It caused head coach Sheldon Keefe to reduce his ice time gradually gradually. He has five assists through 14 games this season, and his 0.35 points per game mark is by far the worst of his NHL career. He is averaging under 21 minutes per game for a second straight season after skating over that mark in eight consecutive seasons to begin his career.
Other snapshots from the Atlantic Division:
- Sticking with Toronto, depth forward Bobby McMann and defenseman Simon Benoit took line rushes with the Maple Leafs at practice today, Alter reports. This suggests both players will be recalled from the AHL’s Toronto Marlies before tomorrow’s game against the Panthers. In recent days, McMann and Benoit have repeatedly been ferried between leagues to extend their waiver-exempt period. Both players were placed on waivers before the start of the season, allowing the Maple Leafs to assign each player to the AHL freely until each spends 30 days on the NHL roster or plays ten games. While McMann took reps as a healthy scratch in practice today, Benoit skated on the third pairing alongside Conor Timmins and could re-enter the lineup. The 25-year-old has played six games this season, recording a +2 rating, five shots on goal, and a strong Corsi share of 57.4% at even strength while averaging 13:13 per game.
- Senators goalie Joonas Korpisalo will be an option in goal against the Panthers tonight, Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch relays. After making 37 saves on 41 shots in the Senators’ first Global Series game against the Red Wings on November 16, Korpisalo sat out the second overseas contest against the Wild as well as last Friday’s game against the Islanders with a minor undisclosed ailment which the team described as general soreness. This was an expected development after the Senators returned top goalie prospect Mads Søgaard to the minors yesterday. The 29-year-old is improving after a rocky start to his Senators career, solidifying himself as the team’s number-one option with a 5-4-0 record, .906 SV%, and 1.3 goals saved above average through ten starts.
- Sabres defenseman Mattias Samuelsson will be a game-time decision tonight against the Rangers as he deals with an upper-body injury, head coach Don Granato told reporters this morning (via Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News). The oft-injured blueliner left Saturday’s blowout loss to the Devils after taking a stick to the face and receiving multiple stitches to repair a cut on his lower lip, which is still causing him significant pain. Per Granato, he was held out of the remainder of the contest to clear concussion protocol. If Samuelsson does not play tonight, it will be his second injury-related absence of the season. A lower-body issue cost him three games at the beginning of the month. The 23-year-old is averaging a diminished 19:27 per game this season through 18 games, recording one goal, two assists, a -1 rating, and a middling Corsi share of 47.6% at even strength.
Sharks Sign Justin Bailey To NHL Deal, Place Filip Zadina On IR
The San Jose Sharks have announced that they’ve signed forward Justin Bailey to an NHL contract and placed forward Filip Zadina on the injured reserve. Bailey has signed a one-year, two-way deal with the Sharks with an NHL salary of $775K and a salary of $300K at the AHL level.
Bailey had a professional try-out with the Sharks this season, which he converted into an AHL contract with their affiliate, the San Jose Barracuda. The 28-year-old dressed in 16 games in the AHL, posting six goals and five assists, which was good enough to lead the team in scoring. After signing his contract, Bailey was quickly recalled by the Sharks to replace the injured Zadina. Bailey has five goals and four assists in 82 NHL games with three different NHL teams.
The Sharks also announced today that Zadina has been placed on the IR. The former sixth-overall pick left the Sharks game on Friday night against the Montreal Canadiens and did not return. He reportedly was dealing with an upper-body injury and did not dress for San Jose’s game against the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night. Zadina signed a one-year deal with the Sharks in the offseason to ignite his NHL career after struggling through five seasons with the Detroit Red Wings. Thus far with San Jose, Zadina has been unable to find any traction, as he has just three goals and two assists in 20 games while posting a -19.
Metropolitan Notes: Haula, Fox, Rust
New Jersey Devils reporter Amanda Stein tweeted today that forward Erik Haula did not practice with the team today after suffering an injury on Saturday night. Haula was forced to leave the Devils 7-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres with an undisclosed ailment. The 32-year-old did not join the team on the bench for the third period leading to speculation about what might have happened to the native of Pori, Finland.
Haula has found a home in New Jersey after bouncing around to four different teams between 2019-2022. In 18 games this year Haula has six goals and six assists which is well above his average point production per game. His hot start can be credited to a shooting percentage of 17.1% which is well above his career average of 12%.
Star-Ledger reporter Ryan Novozinsky tweeted that Devils head coach Lindy Ruff told reporters that Haula probably won’t be available for the team’s game tomorrow night which would be another blow to a Devils team who have already sustained injuries to much of their forward group, including Timo Meier and Tomas Nosek who were also absent from practice this morning as they continue to deal with ongoing ailments.
In other Metropolitan notes:
- Mollie Walker of the New York Post is reporting that New York Rangers defenseman Adam Fox was an active participant in the team’s practice this morning and is eligible to return to the Rangers lineup on Wednesday night when they take on the Detroit Red Wings. The native of Jericho, New York was placed on the injured reserve after suffering an injury on November 3rd when he was hit by Carolina Hurricanes forward Sebastian Aho. Fox had been on a torrid pace to start the season with three goals and eight assists in the first 10 games of the Rangers season. The 2021 Norris Trophy winner will add a jolt to a Rangers team that sits tied for first in the league with a 15-3-1 record to start the season.
- Matt Vensel of Post-Gazette Sports is reporting that Pittsburgh Penguins forward Bryan Rust was a full participant in Penguins practice this morning and he attempts to work his way back into the lineup after missing the team’s last three games with a lower-body injury. Rust practiced on the team’s top line along with Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel and took reps of the Penguins’ first power play unit signalling that a return could come sooner than later. Shelly Anderson of Pittsburgh Hockey Now is reporting that Rust told reporters that he could play tomorrow night when Pittsburgh visits the Nashville Predators, but nothing is official yet. The Penguins could certainly use Rust back as they’ve had Drew O’Connor filling in during his absence. O’Connor did have an assist in Saturday night’s win over the Toronto Maple Leafs, but he lacks the offensive upside that Rust brings to the Penguins top-6 forward group.
Toronto Maple Leafs Loan Alex Steeves To AHL
The Toronto Maple Leafs have announced that they’ve loaned forward Alex Steeves to their AHL affiliate, the Toronto Marlies. Steeves was recalled last week and served as a health scratch for the Maple Leafs in their losses to the Chicago Blackhawks and Pittsburgh Penguins over the weekend.
The 23-year-old has yet to play in an NHL game this season but has six games of experience, all with the Maple Leafs. Steeves has suited up in three games in each of the past two seasons, notching a single assist over that time. The story has been much different in the AHL, as Steeves has proved to be a solid scoring option with the Marlies. In 14 games this season, he has 11 goals and seven assists and is +2. For his AHL career, Steeves has dressed in 137 games and has 115 points.
Steeves spent his NCAA career with the University of Notre Dame before he signed with the Leafs as an undrafted free agent in 2021. His return to the AHL means he will have an opportunity to build on an 11-game point streak that remains intact. Steeves has 11 goals and five assists during the streak, and if he can continue to pile on the offense for the Marlies, he may be able to force his way into the Maple Leafs lineup at some point this season.
The Maple Leafs have not received a ton of offensive production from their bottom six forwards thus far this year, and with how tight they are against the salary cap, they may have no other choice other than exploring internal options to try and improve the offensive production they get from their bottom two lines.
Islanders Place Sebastian Aho On Injured Reserve
The New York Islanders announced on Monday that defenseman Sebastian Aho has been placed on injured reserve, retroactive to last Friday. As of now, no corresponding recall has been made. Aho was injured early in the team’s Friday night game, along with fellow defender Adam Pelech. Both players have since been placed on IR, with Pelech being put on long-term injured reserve.
Aho has appeared in 19 games so far this season, netting four assists, four penalty minutes, and a -3. He’s also managed 18 shots and nine hits. This year becomes the fifth season that Aho has played in the NHL and follows up a strong 2022-23 season that saw the defenseman score 23 points and record a +9 in 71 games. Aho is in the last year of a two-year, $1.6MM contract extension signed last summer.
The 27-year-old Aho was originally drafted by the Islanders in the fifth round of the 2017 NHL Draft, after scoring 30 points in 50 SHL games in the 2016-17 season. He immediately came over to the NHL, playing in 22 NHL games in the following 2017-18 season. He’s managed 151 career games throughout his five-year career, scoring nine goals and 45 points.
This news knocks the Islanders down to just six healthy NHL defensemen, including recent waiver claim Mike Reilly. Reilly has yet to make his debut with the Islanders but did appear in two games with the Florida Panthers earlier in the year, going without a point while also recording two penalty minutes and a -2. The Islanders become the sixth NHL team that Reilly has been apart of. The 30-year-old defender originally signed a one-year, $1MM contract with Florida on July 1st, after being bought-out by the Boston Bruins.
Former Ducks Coach Dallas Eakins Signs As GM In Germany
Former Anaheim Ducks head coach Dallas Eakins has signed a deal with Adler Mannheim of the DEL, Germany’s top league. Eakins will serve as general manager of the team and assist with coaching through the end of the 2023-24 season, before reassessing the position next off-season.
This is an interesting career move for Eakins, whose entire professional hockey career has come in North America up to this point. The 56-year-old head coach previously played 609 career AHL games, and 120 NHL games, as part of a career that spanned from his 10th-round selection in the 1985 NHL Draft to his retirement in 2004. Eakins was never particularly productive, recording 134 career AHL points and nine career NHL points. He also recorded 1051 penalty minutes in the AHL and 208 in the NHL.
Eakins took on an assistant coaching role with the Toronto Marlies for the 2005-06 season and was promoted to an assistant role with the Maple Leafs in the year after. After a couple of years behind the Leafs’ bench, Eakins went back to the AHL to serve as the Marlies’ head coach for four seasons. It wasn’t until the 2013-14 season that Eakins finally took on an NHL head coaching role, joining the Edmonton Oilers. He would lose the role to Todd Nelson partway through the proceeding 2014-15 season and returned for another four seasons in the AHL, before joining the Anaheim Ducks for the last four seasons. It’s been a back-and-forth career for Eakins. His best years came with the Toronto Marlies, who he took to the AHL’s Calder Cup Playoffs Finals in 2011-12. He hasn’t been apart of the Stanley Cup Playoffs since his playing career in 1999.
Eakins is replacing Jan-Axel Alavaara as Adler Mannheim’s general manager. Alavaara was in the role for the last five seasons, after spending a couple of years as an amateur scout with the Buffalo Sabres. Eakins also relieves head coach Johan Lundskog, who has coaching experience in the GMHL, ECHL, SHL, and National League. Lundskog was in his first year with Adler Mannheim.
Five Key Stories: 11/20/23 – 11/26/23
The final full week of November is in the books and it was a stretch that was dominated by injury news. We recap the biggest headlines in our key stories.
Back On The Market: Jaroslav Halak’s time with the Hurricanes came to a quick conclusion with the veteran requesting and being granted his release from his PTO agreement. The 38-year-old was brought in a couple of weeks ago when Frederik Andersen was diagnosed with blood clots with the hope that he’d give Carolina some extra depth between the pipes. However, the team wasn’t prepared to offer him a contract at this point, likely prompting Halak to try to move on. Halak has done quite well for someone picked in the ninth round, putting together a 17-year NHL career so far. He’ll have to wait a little longer at least before he has a shot at making it 18.
Done For The Year: When the Blackhawks picked up Taylor Hall over the summer, the hope was that he’d be a capable top-six scorer to give top prospect Connor Bedard some support. Unfortunately, things haven’t gone as planned. Hall has dealt with multiple injuries already this year and his latest one, a torn ACL, will end his season prematurely as he’ll undergo surgery on Monday. Hall’s year comes to an end with just two goals and two assists in ten games, hardly the start to his time in Chicago anyone was hoping for. He has one year left on his contract after this one with a $6MM AAV.
Perry Gone Indefinitely: Still with Chicago, midway through the week, Corey Perry was a surprise scratch with head coach Luke Richardson calling it an organizational decision. Saturday, GM Kyle Davidson stated that the veteran would be gone for the “foreseeable future” while declining to provide further details or comment on any speculation. Meanwhile, soon after that, his agent released a statement stating that Perry has stepped away to attend to personal matters, somewhat contradicting Chicago’s assertion of his absence being an organizational decision. Perry has been relatively productive this season, sitting fourth on the team with four goals and five assists through 16 games but those totals won’t be getting added to for a while by the looks of it.
More Injury News: A tough start to the season just got a bit tougher for Columbus as they’ll be without one of their top defensemen for at least the next six weeks as Damon Severson is sidelined with an oblique injury. Columbus picked up the 29-year-old in a sign-and-trade with New Jersey who gave him an eight-year, $50MM contract; he was off to a decent start with eight points in 19 games while logging nearly 21 minutes a game. Meanwhile, the Maple Leafs will be without John Klingberg for a while as he has been placed on LTIR as his undisclosed injury is not healing as well as hoped. He had struggled when he was in the lineup and didn’t provide the offensive boost Toronto was expecting. It wasn’t all bad news on the injury front, however, as the Lightning welcomed back goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy as he has fully recovered from the back surgery he had in training camp. How did Tampa Bay celebrate? By becoming the first team in NHL history to score at least eight goals on 14 or fewer shots in a game since shots were first officially tracked in 1955-56.
Girard Enters Player Assistance Program: Avalanche defenseman Samuel Girard has taken a leave of absence from the team to enter into the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program. The blueliner stated that he “made a proactive decision to take care of my mental health, and will be entering treatment for severe anxiety and depression that has gone untreated for too long and led to alcohol abuse”. The 25-year-old has become an integral part of Colorado’s back end in recent years but will now be away from the team indefinitely as he works through the program.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.