Evason, who was an assistant under Boudreau before being promoted, waited a long time for his first opportunity as an NHL coach after playing 13 seasons as a forward for the Washington Capitals, Hartford Whalers, San Jose Sharks, Dallas Stars and Calgary Flames from 1983-96. He coached Milwaukee of the American Hockey League for six seasons and was an assistant with the Washington Capitals from 2005-12.
Having it cut short after 12 games would be disappointing, but Evason said he is trying not to think about that.
"I've talked a lot here since we took over that you just control what you can control, and I can't control any of that now," he said. "What we did, we did, and hopefully we get another opportunity to continue to prove that we can get the job done going forward."
Evason said he has appreciated the support from Guerin, who said he was pleased with the direction the Wild were headed before play was halted. As a result, Guerin said any potential coaching search will wait until after the season ends.
"If we come back, hopefully we do, we already went through one coaching change," Guerin said April 1. "I want to give the guys the consistency of Dean's thoughts and give Dean that opportunity too. And I'm very happy with him."
With forward Kevin Fiala leading the way, the Wild were surging before the season was paused. The 23-year-old forward was third in the NHL with 26 points (14 goals, 12 assists) in 18 games since Feb. 4, and he leads Minnesota with an NHL career-high 54 points (23 goals, 31 assists) in 64 games.
Forward Zach Parise scored nine points (four goals, five assists) in his past seven games, and forward Eric Staal was heating up with five points (two goals, three assists) in his past five games.
The Wild penalty kill, which was 30th in the NHL at 74.4 percent through Feb. 13, is fourth at 91.2 percent (31-for-34) under Evason, and Minnesota is third in the NHL at 3.58 goals per game during the same span (tied for 16th at 3.07 goals per game prior).
"We were excited where our group was," Evason said. "We were excited where our game was. We thought that we were playing really well. We thought we played with a lot of excitement, a lot of energy, a lot of speed and we were playing the right way. Clearly everybody's disappointed -- as we were -- that it got shut down with being one point out of a playoff spot and really feeling good about our game."
There is little Evason can do to strengthen his case to remain Wild coach other than to make sure he's done everything possible to have them ready if play is resumed. With that in mind, Evason said he and his staff initially mapped out a plan for a three- or four-day training camp if the season was resumed quickly. Now they have a plan in place for a 10-day camp that he believes will have the Wild prepared if the opportunity arises.
"It's day by day and we'll see what happens," Evason said. "If they tell us tomorrow that we're going to play or start in a week or so, we're ready, and I think that's what's positive for us as a coaching staff. I'm sure all the staffs have done the same thing, but we're very confident that we're ready to go as soon as they let us know."
