Evason Thrives Behind the Bench

The Caps enjoy a rare luxury on their bench by boasting an assistant coach that played for 13 years in the NHL. After being selected by the Caps in the fifth round (89th overall) of the 1982 Entry Draft, Dean Evason played 803 NHL games for the Caps, Hartford Whalers, San Jose Sharks, Dallas Stars and Calgary Flames. Overall, he recorded 139 goals and 233 assists.

Evason joined the Caps' staff on July 18, 2005 and remained behind the bench when Coach Bruce Boudreau took over for Glen Hanlon last November.

"Your biggest role is to be a buffer between the players and the coach," Evason told STC. "Fortunately, I got to play in the league so I'm able to know what they go through on a daily basis and how they feel in different situations. Hopefully, I can take that back to Bruce and let him know what the feeling of the team is on that day."

Evason's first foray into coaching came in 1999, when he served as an assistant with the Western Hockey League's Calgary Hitmen. He subsequently served as head coach of the WHL's Kamloops Blazers from 1999 to 2002 and the WHL's Vancouver Giants in 2003-04. His final coaching stint in the WHL came as co-coach (with Kelly Kisio) of the Hitmen in 2004-05.

"To have that experience to have run the bench, to put your practice plans together and all that kind of stuff," he said. "I think as an assistant coach you have to have to think on a daily basis as if you were a head coach. What would I do today? And then you get that in your head and then you come in and you talk to Bruce. He says this is what we want to do and then you support him and you assist him."

"We agree a lot as a coaching staff, but there are times when you have to disagree," he added. "I think it's good and it's healthy for the staff to disagree. We all have different opinions and then we work it out and, by the time we bring it to the players, we're all united in what we want to do."

Evason has seen the Caps' progression from right before his eyes. And there's no better way to measure it than through the size and fervor of the crowds at Verizon Center.

"When we first got here four years ago, [the crowds were] indifferent. Now, it's spectacular," he said. "The feeling when you come into our building or come into that tunnel, to see the sea of red and then the energy that the guys get from it. Our home record obviously this year tells it alone. We're so excited to play in front of our fans. It's a credit to the fans to have the ability to pick a team up when they're down. A lot of times the fans wait for the team to pick them up, but our crowd has the ability to pick us up at different moments throughout the year."

A native of Flin Flon, Manitoba, Evason is a member of the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame alongside such hockey legends as Scotty Bowman and William (Bill) Masterton.

"To get drafted by Washington was obviously a special thing. To have the opportunity to coach in the NHL is amazing in itself," he stated. "I don't forget how fortunate, how lucky I am to play here, to coach here. Definitely being a Washington Capital as a player and a coach is something that I take special pride in."