Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason, who was hired July 22 to replace Pascal Vincent, has decided on his coaching staff for the upcoming season.
Assistants Steve McCarthy, Jared Boll and goaltending coach Niklas Backstrom all have a year left on their contracts and will remain with the Blue Jackets, who announced Thursday that assistant Scott Ford will join the staff from the AHL's Milwaukee Admirals and assistant Mike Haviland has been promoted from AHL Cleveland.
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Former assistant Josef Boumedienne's contract wasn't renewed and assistant Mark Recchi was fired with a year left on a contract he signed to join Vincent's staff last September.
"Working with Dean, we identified Mike and Scott as two well-respected, energetic and personable individuals to join our club," Blue Jackets president of hockey operations/GM Don Waddell said in a statement. "Along with Steve, Jared and Nik, we believe that we have a staff that will be incredible assets for our players. We also want to thank Josef and Mark for their contributions to the organization and wish them all the best in the future."
Haviland, 57, spent the past two years as the Cleveland Monsters' associate coach, working in a developmental role with defensive prospects and helping the team advance this past season to the Eastern Conference final of the Calder Cup playoffs. Haviland's previous stops included four years as an NHL assistant with the Chicago Blackhawks ― where he won the 2010 Stanley Cup as an offensive assistant ― plus head coaching roles in the AHL, ECHL and NCAA (Colorado College).
Ford, 44, spent the past eight seasons as an assistant with the Milwaukee Admirals, the AHL affiliate of the Nashville Predators. Before starting his coaching career during Evason's tenure as Milwaukee's head coach, Ford played 11 seasons as a defenseman in the AHL and ECHL.
"I'm excited to work with the assembled group,' Evason said in a statement. "They bring a lot of playing and coaching experience with a deep understanding of the game along with the passion and strong work ethics that will help push our team forward."
Evason conducted interviews with the entire staff before making decisions on which to keep, promote and hire from outside the organization. Specific roles for McCarthy, Haviland and Ford will not be decided until Evason meets with his full staff next week.
Boll is going into his second season as the NHL skills coach, while Backstrom is heading into his second season as an NHL goaltending guru. McCarthy has run the Jackets' defensive pairings and coordinated the penalty kill the past three years after getting an unexpected promotion from AHL Cleveland in 2021 to replace Sylvain Lefebvre — who was fired for refusing the NHL's required Covid-19 shot. Lefebvre joined the Florida Panthers in 2022 and hoisted the Stanley Cup in June.
Haviland ran the defensive pairs and coordinated the penalty kill in Cleveland the past two years, while Ford's roots also reside on the defensive side. Recchi became the latest Blue Jackets assistant to be saddled with a bad power play he couldn't fix.
After accepting a two-year contract as part of the fallout from the Mike Babcock debacle, the hall-of-fame forward spent one season working with a forwards group that included several young players, including rookie Adam Fantilli, and barely included Patrik Laine due to injuries, an illness and his entry into the NHL/NHL Players Association assistance program.
The Blue Jackets again struggled on the power play, much like they have for the majority of their NHL existence. Since entering the league in 2001, Columbus has finished among the NHL's top 10 power-play teams just once (2015 T-5th) and has only finished in the top 15 four times.
Under Recchi, the Blue Jackets finished 31st with a 15.1% success rate that topped only the Philadelphia Flyers' 12.2%. McCarthy's 26th-ranked penalty kill (76.3%) didn't fare much better, but did have an impressive start that crumbled after captain Boone Jenner was lost for five weeks with a broken jaw.
The Blue Jackets hope to improve on last year's 27-43-12 record when they start the regular season Oct. 10 on the road against the Minnesota Wild, the team that fired Evason last November in his fifth season there.
bhedger@dispatch.com
