Columbus Blue Jackets announce their new head coach.

The Columbus Blue Jackets finally have a new head coach.

After quite an extensive coaching search on the part of Blue Jackets general manager Don Waddell, the Blue Jackets have hired former Minnesota Wild bench boss Dean Evason. Waddell announced that Evason has been signed to a multi-year deal, the terms of that deal were not officially disclosed by the Blue Jackets.

Evason is coming off of what has to largely be considered a successful run as head coach of the Minnesota Wild, making the playoffs in 4 of the 5 years he served in that role. That is all the more impressive when you consider that Evason was dealing with what would have to be considered significant roster limitations at times, given that the Wild were severely constrained by the cap penalties from the buyouts of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter when it came to filling out that roster.

In spite of this, Evason would amass a record of 147-77-27 as head coach of the Wild over a span of 251 games, once again very respectable under challenging circumstances.

The Blue Jackets reportedly had targeted former Los Angeles Kings coach Todd McLellan as their first coach, but those talks hit a snag either with McLellan or the Kings who technically still have McLellan under contract. This in turn led to both former Edmonton Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft and Evason being brought in for in-person interviews last week, with Evanson seemingly beating out Woodcroft for the job.