The Columbus Blue Jackets announced that they have parted ways with head coach Dean Evason, making him the first NHL head coach fired of the 2025-26 season.
In his place, the team has named long time executive Rick Bowness as their new bench boss. Columbus has also fired assistant coach Steve McCarthy as well in their attempt to dig their way out from the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings.
“This season has been a frustrating one for all of us and the bottom line is we are not performing at a level that meets our expectations,” Blue Jackets president of hockey operations and general manager Don Waddell said in a statement. “We all share in that responsibility, me included, and while this was not a decision that was made lightly it is one that needed to be made at this time. Dean did a tremendous job last year under extremely difficult circumstances,” Waddell continued. “And I thank him for that.”
Evason wraps up his time in Columbus after just 127 games, posting a 59-52-16 record along the way.
Meanwhile Bowness will come out of retirement in attempt to help stabilize things within the Blue Jackets organization. The 70 year old helped guide both the Stars and Jets to playoff appearances in his last stints behind the bench, with the hope in Columbus that he can do the same for the club.
“Rick Bowness is a tremendous coach with invaluable experience and knowledge, and he will bring a steadiness to our team at an important juncture in our season,” Waddell said. “He is a good communicator whose teams play with structure, are sound defensively and we believe he is the right person to bring out the best in our group.”
A hockey lifer, Bowness sports a 310-408-37 record, with 48 ties as a head coach at the NHL level. He’s split time between Winnipeg, Dallas, Phoenix, New York, Ottawa and Boston since making his coaching debut in the 1988-89 season.
“I appreciate the opportunity to come to Columbus because it is a good organization with good people and this is a team that I think I can help improve,” Bowness said. “I’m thankful to Don and (Blue Jackets president) Mike Priest, and I’m really excited to work with our players and coaching staff to help get us where we want to go.”
Bowness and the Blue Jackets will get their first chance to turn the page on Tuesday night when they host the visiting Calgary Flames in a 7pm ET showdown.
Photo: The AHL. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.