Coaches Dean Evason, Jay Woodcroft to interview with Columbus Blue Jackets this week
After Todd McLellan wiggled off the hook last week, the Blue Jackets may be approaching the final stages of their coaching search.
Dean Evason and Jay Woodcroft remain as finalists, and sources say both are scheduled to visit Columbus this week to meet with the Blue Jackets. All interviews prior to this week were conducted via teleconference, including discussions with McLellan.
Related reading: Todd McLellan no longer a candidate to coach Columbus Blue Jackets
A source said the Blue Jackets first contacted McLellan in early June, before new president of hockey operations/general manager Don Waddell fired Pascal Vincent with a year left on a two-year contract. McLellan became the Jackets’ top target but was never offered the position, according to a source.
He backed out last week following contract discussions that stalled because agreement couldn't be reached on a potential buyout for a fourth-and-final year. The focus has now shifted to Evason and Woodcroft, who were fired early last season by their former NHL teams.
Evason, 59, and assistant Bob Wood were replaced by the Minnesota Wild in November. Woodcroft, 47, and assistant Dave Manson were fired by the Edmonton Oilers three weeks later. Waddell said Monday there was still no set timetable on hiring a coach.
Woodcroft started his NHL career as a video coach in 2005-6 with the Detroit Red Wings, who were coached by Mike Babcock and had McLellan on staff as a bench assistant. He followed McLellan to San Jose and Edmonton as an NHL bench assistant for 10 years before shifting to the AHL with the Bakersfield Condors in 2018-19 for his first professional stint as a head coach.
Woodcroft is 14-14 in the playoffs and had a .643 winning percentage as the Oilers’ head coach before he was replaced. He has built a reputation as a developmental coach who’s also a strategic tactician capable of relating well with younger players.
Vincent has a similar career arc, right down to shifting from an NHL assistant in Winnipeg to becoming the Jets’ AHL head coach prior to joining the Blue Jackets in 2021 as Larsen’s associate coach.
Evason originally took over in Minnesota for Bruce Boudreau late in the COVID-19 shortened 2019-20 season.
After shedding the interim tag, he coached the Wild into the postseason that year in the NHL’s Edmonton pandemic “bubble,” but Minnesota was ousted in the qualifying round. Evason also coached the Wild to three straight postseason appearances following that season, bowing out in the first round each time. His postseason record is 8-15, but his .639 points percentage in the regular season ranks sixth among active NHL coaches with at least 200 games coached.
Should neither of the remaining finalists become the Blue Jackets’ 11th coach in franchise history, it will be back to the drawing board for Waddell. He began the process with a list of 12 names that was whittled to McLellan, Evason and Woodcroft.
Another name to consider is Bob Hartley, 63, whom Waddell acknowledged having interest in the job. Hartley last coached in the NHL in 2016 with the Calgary Flames but won the Stanley Cup in 2001 with the Colorado Avalanche and coached four-plus years for Waddell with the former Atlanta Thrashers, who moved to become the Winnipeg Jets.
Hartley has more recent experiences coaching Blue Jackets goalie Elvis Merzlikins with Latvia’s national team and won the Kontinental Hockey League’s Gagarin Cup in 2021 with Blue Jackets forward Yegor Chinakhov winning the KHL’s top rookie award.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Coaches Dean Evason, Jay Woodcroft set to visit Columbus Blue Jackets
