The Admirals are looking for a new coach. That’s because Dean Evason, who spent the past six seasons with Milwaukee, has been hired as an assistant by the NHL’s Minnesota Wild.
According to the Admirals, the search for a new head coach will begin immediately.
Hired in 2012, Evason leaves as the Admirals' all-time winningest coach during their time in the AHL and second-most successful in the franchise’s 40-year hockey history. Evason, a native of Manitoba, Canada, accumulated a 242-161-29-24 record (.600 winning percentage) during his tenure. Milwaukee finished with at least 80 points in all six of his seasons, surpassing 90 three times, including a 101-point season in 2015-16 when the Admirals won the Central Division title.
"We would like to thank Dean Evason for his contributions to the Milwaukee Admirals and Nashville Predators over the past six seasons and wish him the best of luck as he enters the next chapter of his career in Minnesota," Nashville Predators President of Hockey Operations/General Manager David Poile said in a statement. "That said, we look forward to speaking with candidates both within the organization and externally as we begin our search for Milwaukee’s new head coach, which will start immediately."
Last season, the Admirals went 38-32-4-2, finishing with 82 points and tied for fifth place in the Central Division. In Minnesota, the 53-year-old Evason will serve as an assistant under Wild head coach Bruce Boudreau.
Evason, who played in the NHL from 1983 to '96, oversaw the promotion of 43 different players to the Predators during his time with the Admirals. That number included 15 who were on Nashville’s President’s Cup-winning team this season, such as Filip Forsberg, the Predators' leading scorer, as well as Viktor Arvidson, Kevin Fiala, Mattias Ekholm, Calle Jarnkrok, Ryan Ellis, Colton Sissons, Austin Watson and Juuse Saros.
"We are very happy for Dean and wish him nothing but the best of luck as he moves back to the NHL," said Admirals Owner/CEO Harris Turer. "The road to the NHL goes through Milwaukee is true for both players and coaches as well. We are lucky to have had a person of Dean’s character to help mold our players and show them how to be a professional both on and off the ice."
Evason is now the seventh Admirals coach in the past 13 years to move on to the National Hockey League coaching ranks, joining Claude Noel, Todd Richards, Brad Lauer, Lane Lambert, Kirk Mueller and Ian Herbers. Noel, Richards and Mueller all held head coaching positions in the NHL, while Lambert is currently an assistant with the Washington Capitals, who are one game away from winning the Stanley Cup title.
The Admirals’ 2018-19 schedule will be released later this summer. For more information on the team and tickets, click here.
Born in Milwaukee but a product of Shorewood High School (go ‘Hounds!) and Northwestern University (go ‘Cats!), Jimmy never knew the schoolboy bliss of cheering for a winning football, basketball or baseball team. So he ditched being a fan in order to cover sports professionally - occasionally objectively, always passionately. He's lived in Chicago, New York and Dallas, but now resides again in his beloved Brew City and is an ardent attacker of the notorious Milwaukee Inferiority Complex.
After interning at print publications like Birds and Blooms (official motto: "America's #1 backyard birding and gardening magazine!"), Sports Illustrated (unofficial motto: "Subscribe and save up to 90% off the cover price!") and The Dallas Morning News (a newspaper!), Jimmy worked for web outlets like CBSSports.com, where he was a Packers beat reporter, and FOX Sports Wisconsin, where he managed digital content. He's a proponent and frequent user of em dashes, parenthetical asides, descriptive appositives and, really, anything that makes his sentences longer and more needlessly complex.
Jimmy appreciates references to late '90s Brewers and Bucks players and is the curator of the unofficial John Jaha Hall of Fame. He also enjoys running, biking and soccer, but isn't too annoying about them. He writes about sports - both mainstream and unconventional - and non-sports, including history, music, food, art and even golf (just kidding!), and welcomes reader suggestions for off-the-beaten-path story ideas.
