MINNEAPOLIS | Layoffs of coaches are commonplace in professional sports. Given this reality, players tend to pay little attention to it. Unless that coach is the one who helped you climb the ladder to the NHL. At this moment the shock is felt a little more strongly.

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That’s what Frédérick Gaudreau experienced when Minnesota Wild management fired Dean Evason on November 27th.

“It was sad to see him go. Dean and I had a great relationship for several years. Since my season in Milwaukee, in the American League,” said Gaudreau, reached by phone Tuesday afternoon.

“He is the coach I have played for the most. And I’m probably the player he looked after the most. “She’s a person I really like,” he continued.

Evason was at the helm of the Milwaukee Admirals, the Nashville Predators’ farm club, when Gaudreau began his American League career in 2014-2015.

Fascinated by his determination and work ethic, Evason took him under his wing and gave him the tools he needed to make it to the playoffs and Stanley Cup Finals three seasons later.

The little details

Photo credit: Getty Images via AFP

He is also the one who lured the Bromontois to Minnesota in the summer of 2021 and thus gave him a new status.

“I know Fred found it difficult,” admitted Marc-André Fleury. There was no direct path for him to reach the NHL. He followed Dean to Minnesota and became a regular player for him. He must have felt sorry for him.”

A status that gave him a personal high in points (44) in the 2021-2022 season and in goals (19) last winter.

This time his statistics are more modest (2 goals and 3 assists in 20 games). It has to be said that the 30-year-old center player had to sit out ten games due to an upper body injury.

But the main sufferer isn’t too worried.

“People look at stats when they don’t watch the games. I don’t attach any importance to that, he claimed. I believe more in how important it is to play correctly and how important the little details are. In that regard, my game continues to improve.”

And John Hynes, his new coach, seems to trust him. On Tuesday evening he sent him into the three-on-three duel in overtime in Boston.

Well done

Furthermore, the coaching change had the effect that general manager Bill Guerin had hoped for. Since Hynes took over, the Wild have had a record of eight wins and three losses.

“It’s actually getting better, but it’s not like things didn’t work out with Dean,” Gaudreau emphasized. If the snowball rolls in the wrong direction, it will be difficult to stop it. We have been there. There was an energy that was hard to break.”

With the wheel now back on the right side, Gaudreau and his teammates try to make up for the accumulated delay. Since they are only four points out of eighth place in the Western Conference, anything is still possible.

Let’s assume the turnaround happened on time.

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