Dean Clement Evason (born August 22, 1964) is a Canadian professional ice hockey coach and former player. He most recently served as head coach of the Minnesota Wild of the National Hockey League (NHL). Evason was selected by the Washington Capitals in the fifth round (89th overall) of the 1982 NHL Entry Draft. Evason was born in Flin Flon, Manitoba, but grew up in Brandon, Manitoba.
Selected by the Capitals in the 1982 NHL Entry Draft, Evason played in the NHL from 1983 to 1996 for the Capitals, Hartford Whalers, San Jose Sharks, Dallas Stars, and Calgary Flames. He was most successful as a member of the Hartford Whalers, where he compiled career highs with the team with 87 goals and 165 assists for 261 points. Evason was a 20-goal scorer twice with Hartford and was well known for his ability to get the puck to other players for goals during difficult situations on the ice.
Evason also played in Switzerland, for the Canadian National Team, and in the German Hockey League before retiring as an active player. In 803 NHL games, playing primarily as a defensive-minded forward, he had 139 goals and 233 assists.
Evason first played for Canada at the 1984 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships while during a terrific campaign for the Kamloops Junior Oilers. His selection to the squad was somewhat of a surprise,[1] but he proved to be a productive player, recording six goals and nine points in seven games for the fourth-place Canadian squad.[2] The Canadians narrowly missed out on a medal to the third-place Czechoslovakian team, losing 6-4 in their match against them that decided the medals. It would be thirteen additional years before Evason was again selected to represent his country.
His final opportunity occurred in 1997 when Canadian national team coach Andy Murray offered him a spot on the roster and the captaincy in exchange for playing a full season for the national team, which was then together for ten months per year.[1] Evason was the only non-NHL player on the Canadian roster that won their first World Championships in three years, beating Sweden in the finals, scoring two goals and adding three assists during the tournament.[3]
Before joining the Capitals as an assistant coach, Evason spent many years in the Western Hockey League in various coaching capacities, starting in 1999 as an assistant with the Calgary Hitmen. He then became the head coach of the Kamloops Blazers from 1999 to 2002 and the Vancouver Giants from 2002 to 2004. He returned to the Hitmen for the 2004–05 season as a co-coach.
In 2005, he was hired by the Washington Capitals as an assistant coach. In 2012, he was hired by the Milwaukee Admirals as head coach, where he served for six seasons to become the team's second-winningest coach in their history. In 2018, he was hired by the Minnesota Wild as an assistant coach.[4] On February 14, 2020, Evason was named interim head coach of the Wild.[5]
On July 13, 2020, the Wild dropped the "interim" tag from Evason's title and named him the fifth full-time head coach in franchise history.[6]
After parts of five seasons with the team, the Wild fired Evason on November 27, 2023, after a 5–10–4 start capped by a seven-game losing streak.[7][8]