Admirals look for next coach after Minnesota Wild hire Dean Evason

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) —The Milwaukee Admirals announced that head coach Dean Evason will be leaving for a job with the Minnesota Wild as an assistant coach.

Evason spent six seasons with the Admirals and leaves as the team’s all-time winningest coach during their time in the AHL and second in the franchise’s 40-year history. He accumulated a 242-161-29-24 record in that time, good for an impressive .600 winning percentage. Milwaukee finished with at least 80 points in all six of his seasons, cracking the 90-point barrier three times with a high-water mark of 101 points in 2015-16 when the Ads won the Central Division title.

“We would like to thank Dean Evason for his contributions to the Milwaukee Admirals and Nashville Predators over the past six seasons and wish him the best of luck as he enters the next chapter of his career in Minnesota,” Nashville Predators President of Hockey Operations/General Manager David Poile said. “That said, we look forward to speaking with candidates both within the organization and externally as we begin our search for Milwaukee’s new head coach, which will start immediately.”

“We are very happy for Dean and wish him nothing but the best of luck as he moves back to the NHL,” said Admirals Owner/CEO Harris Turer. “The road to the NHL goes through Milwaukee is true for both players and coaches as well. We are lucky to have had a person of Dean’s character to help mold our players and show them how to be a professional both on and off the ice.”

Evason becomes the seventh Admirals coach in the past 13 seasons to move on to the National Hockey League coaching ranks, joining Claude Noel, Todd Richards, Brad Lauer, Lane Lambert, Kirk Mueller, and Ian Herbers. Noel, Richards, and Mueller all held head coaching positions in the NHL, while Lambert is an assistant with the Washington Capitals who are one game away from capturing the Stanley Cup Title.