Despite a horrendous start that has the Wild near the bottom of the division, head coach Dean Evason doesn’t appear to be in “imminent danger” of losing his job, according to TSN’s Chris Johnston.
“Naturally those questions about Dean Evason are fair with the Wild languishing near the bottom-end of the standings, having lost five straight games,” said Johnston in a recent Insider Trading segment on TSN.
“At this point, the sense is he’s not in imminent danger. I think that’s mainly because management looks at this roster and says, ‘It’s not a trade away from being fixed. It’s not a coaching change away from being fixed. It’s up to the best players on this team to pull them through what’s been a difficult stretch.'”
The drop off this season has been quite stark for the team’s top players. Star winger Kirill Kaprizov scored 40 goals and had 35 assists last season, so far through 17 games this season he has just five goals and 10 assists. Matt Boldy had 31 goals and 32 assists last season but now has just one goal to seven assists through 10 games played this season.
“So, I think right now, when Bill Guerin had a pretty heated meeting with his players in the last week, the message is it’s up to them to get themselves out of it, rather than a change from up above,” said Johnston.”
After a weekend trip to take on Ottawa and Toronto in Sweden the Wild are back home to take on the Colorado Avalanche Friday at 7:30 p.m.
