Blue Jackets and Flames Head Coaches Land New Jobs Amid Missing Playoffs

Both the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Calgary Flames were in the playoff landscape during most of the season. At the beginning of the year, nobody would've thought these teams would make it that far, but they did.

A big part of that success can be attributed to their head coaches: Dean Evason and Ryan Huska. The two of them had great seasons in their first year behind the Blue Jackets and Flames' benches.

The Blue Jackets and Evason had a 40-33-9 record this past season, his first with the team, while Huska and the Flames finished the year with a 41-27-14 record.

Evason also had NHL experience prior to that job, notably leading the Minnesota Wild to the playoffs for three consecutive years, from 2020 to 2023, with a 147-77-27 regular season record between 2020 and 2024.

As for Huska, he was the Flames' assistant coach for the past five years before being promoted to head coach last year.

With that in mind, it's not surprising to see that they were hired in other functions in the offseason.

Darren Dreger revealed that Evason and Huska were hired as head coach and assistant coach by Team Canada for the 2025 Men's World Hockey Championship, set to begin on May 9th, in Sweden and Denmark.

He posted the news on X:

Team Canada will look to bounce back from last year's disappointing 4th place finish and will likely be able to count on many talented players, such as Sidney Crosby, Connor Bedard, and Macklin Celebrini, even though nothing has been confirmed as of now.

Players who will be eliminated in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs could also join their countries in the tournament, which is always interesting to follow at that time of the year.

Stay tuned for updates.