Dean Evason ready for Wild to take next step

In his first full season without the interim tag, Dean Evason proved he was ready for the opportunity to lead an NHL team.
The players have clearly bought into what Evason is saying, taking on the same identity as the man in charge.

The hardworking, gritty, team-first effort was shown all season. Especially in the playoffs, as the Wild sacrificed their bodies, leading the League in blocked shots per game.
"Our guys were so committed and so dedicated," said Wild General Manager Bill Guerin. "Dean-o and I were talking upstairs, I think we had more blocked shots in the first round than anybody and that shows commitment. Guys were sacrificing."

For his performance this season, Evason was named a finalist for the Jack Adams Award on Friday, an award given to the coach "adjudged to have contributed the most to his team's success."
He was one of four Wild players/staff to be named a finalist for this year's NHL Awards (Kirill Kaprizov -
Calder Memorial Trophy
, Jared Spurgeon -
Lady Byng Memorial Trophy
, Matt Dumba -
Bill Masterson Memorial Trophy
). The four nominees are the most in any season in franchise history.
"I'm extremely proud of our coaching staff," Evason said. "We are proud of the stuff that we've started to instill in our group. Whenever those things happen -- the individual awards or whatever -- it means that you're doing the right things as a franchise. There's so many different pieces to getting an award and the same with a coaches award. There's so many people that are involved in that.
"But it says that we did some really good things this year. We're excited about what we did this year as far as the regular season. Extremely disappointed that we're not still playing. Every season when we go in our goal is to win the Stanley Cup. That's it. So in that sense it was a failure. But we had a good regular season and we can build on that. We're looking forward to that next year."
Evason could become the second Wild coach to receive the Jack Adams; Jacques Lemaire won the award in 2003. He could also become the 12th coach to win the award in their first season as a head coach.
The final result of the season is not the way anyone wanted the season to end, but Evason and Wild players are optimistic there is a lot to build off for next year.
"We're going in the right direction," captain Jared Spurgeon said. "I thought we had a great work ethic as a team this year and with Dean and the coaching staff, just with their game plans and the systems that they put in place for us, to play a bit more offensive game but still at the same time having our systems in place, so we're all very excited."
Evason repeated a very similar message when he spoke to the media after the completion of the season.
"The players just need to continue to grow. We've seen the individual growth in so many players," he said. "That just has to continue to get better and better. The way that we played as a group and as a team on a nightly basis, with a team first mentality, was very exciting to us as a coaching staff and as a franchise. We just want to continue to build on that."

Evason will have an extremely young core to grow with in the near future, especially on the offensive end. Kirill Kaprizov, Kevin Fiala, Joel Eriksson Ek and Jordan Greenway are all key contributors younger than 25 years old.
Nico Sturm also had a superb rookie season. His 11 goals were the 10th most amongst NHL rookies and his plus-10 was tied with Kirill Kaprizov for the third highest for rookies.
Then there is the expected arrivals of Matt Boldy and Marco Rossi, who are 20 and 19 years old and are former first-round draft picks.
"We've got such a good core and a good leadership core that whoever comes in from wherever, if it's a young player, or whatever it is that we need that's going to come in, we feel very comfortable that our leadership group is leading in the right direction and doing the right things to allow us to continue to have success," Evason said.
Defenseman Calen Addison, 21 years old, will compete for a top-6 defender role after having a terrific season for the Iowa Wild, recording 22 points in 31 games. His plus-7 was tied for the second best on the roster. Addison recorded his first (unofficial) NHL point on May 24, in Game 5 of the Wild's series against Vegas.
Rookie goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen also had a very good season, recording a 16-8-0 record in 24 games this season. His 16 wins were tied for the third highest for rookie goaltenders. His season was highlighted by a nine-game winning streak, winning every game he started from Feb. 18 to March 16.
"We had a real good meeting with him," Evason said about Kahkonen. "The exit meeting was great. It was a learning experience for him, too, right? He comes in. Didn't play a whole lot and then all of a sudden he played a ton in a row. Just the learning process that he went through and the development of being a goaltender, either being a starting goaltender or being a backup goaltender.
"But we were very comfortable with either guy that we put in. Obviously, Cam played majority down the stretch. But we would have felt very comfortable if Kahkonen did get in."
Evason may now only have one year of head coaching experience at the NHL level, but with his 803 games of NHL playing experience and decades of coaching experience, there is little doubt that Evason will only grow and succeed in his current role.
"You go through all the experiences and it's no different for a player," he said. "You go through different levels and you learn and grow and watch and you develop as a head coach. That's what I've tried to do and continue to do obviously each and every day that we're doing the job. But I don't think there's anything specific that I learned that was different than any other head coaching position at any other level."
Related:
- Wild Head Coach Dean Evason named Jack Adams Award finalist - Kaprizov's rookie season smashed Wild's tempered expectations - Eriksson Ek takes strides in contract season - In his first season with the 'C,' Spurgeon is rightfully recognized - Season wrap up: What Guerin and Evason had to say - Season wrap up: What was said around the locker room