After a seven-game losing streak and a 5-10-4 start to the season, the Minnesota Wild fired head coach Dean Evason and assistant coach Bob Woods on Monday.
The Wild later announced that John Hynes would take over for Evason. The moves come in advance of the club’s home game against the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday.
Minnesota is 0-5-2 over its seven-game skid and 3-4-2 at home this season.
Hynes, 48, is 284-255-63 across eight seasons as an NHL head coach, spending time with the New Jersey Devils (2015-19) and Nashville Predators (2020-23).
During his time with Nashville, Hynes led the team to three consecutive playoff appearances before missing out on the postseason in 2022-23. The Predators fired Hynes on May 30.
Evason, 59, departs with a 147-77-27 record since he was named head coach in February 2020. The Wild advanced to the playoffs in each of the past four seasons under Evason but never got past the first round. They lost a qualifying-round series in 2020.
Only the rebuilding Chicago Blackhawks are worse than the Wild in the Central Division, and Minnesota is the third-worst team in the NHL. The Wild’s 77 goals allowed are fourth-worst in the league they are the NHL’s worst team with a 66.7 penalty-kill percentage.
“We need to understand what is at stake here,” Wild forward Pat Maroon said after a 4-1 loss Sunday to the Detroit Red Wings. “We’re losing points by the sack.”
–Field Level Media
