“Through the process, the thing that Don did is he communicated everything with me right from the start… same as i’m going to communicate with the players,” Evason said. “That's the building part and the trust and the communication that we have already.”
Communication is what drives the team to success according to the new boss of the bench. Now that he’s hired, he plans to immediately start forming relationships through face-to-face conversations, even hoping to travel in the coming months to make those conversations with players occur.
Working with what the team already has extends far beyond just the basis of communication though. Taking over a Blue Jackets team that’s a mix of veteran players and young prospects, Evason plans to make sure the focus stays with the core of the team.
“A lot of people talk about the young group, but what about the core group that we have here and that have been here a while, they are good too,” Evason said. “Everything excites me right now because I don't know exactly what we have in this room, but I do know from the outside looking in that it's fantastic on paper. It's my job and the coaches' jobs to get the best out of them and play hard every night, and I have no doubt that we will do that and do that very quickly.”
Strategy is next. Finding ways to get the players to play at their highest potential and work for the common goal of winning isn’t always easy, but for Evason, he has a plan.
“I believe that you have to have a structure, you have to have how you are going to to play the game as far as your systematic stuff, but then it needs to be tweaked by who the personnel is and how your team is built,” Evason said. “But you have to have a foundation and know how you are going to play.
“Our team will play with great detail and great structure, but will also give them the opportunity to be creative in the offensive zone and through the neutral zone. The game is made of mistakes. You have to build your system to allow the players to make those mistakes and still give them the chance to have success.”
Utilizing every player on the roster, despite their age, experience or anything in between, Evason hopes the team will do whatever it takes to win each and every game. He wants opponents to know that they will have to outwork an already hard-working team in order to stand any chance. If one thing is non-negotiable, win or lose, the team will do it as one.
“A big thing for me is building a team first mentality,” Evason said. “I mean you have to have guys who are selfish buggers to score goals, but it has to be within the team and you have to do it with your teammate. I think that's a strength of mine - I know it is - to build a team-first mentality and play hard for each other, not for me, not for Don, but for each other. We will try to get after that immediately.”
Through this, eyes are set on the goal of hoisting a Stanley Cup for not just the fan base, but also the coach himself. With missing out on the chance to earn the Cup with skates on, he still seeks the feeling of lifting it with a suit on, noting it will be just as rewarding.
Despite the end goal, it starts with the early games. And with the first game set to be against Evason’s prior team, the Minnesota Wild, the season opener will be a high priority.
“I dislike when ex-coaches say, 'These games mean nothing to me,' ” Evason said. “Of course this game means something to you, right? They just fired me last year. Of course it means something. Do we want to win any more than we want to win game two? No. You want to win every game. But does it mean something to you? Yeah, absolutely.
“Fortunately or unfortunately I can't put skates on anymore, so we will do our best to get the team prepared to play that game one and definitely get off on the right foot.”
