The Wild formally introduced John Hynes as their new, and seventh, head coach Tuesday morning, hours before the team was set to play host to the St. Louis Blues at Xcel Energy Center.

General manager Bill Guerin fired fifth-year coach Dean Evason on Monday, hours after a lackluster loss in Detroit dropped the Wild to 5-10-4 overall and into the basement of the Western Conference and Central Division standings.

Guerin, who built the team and this fall signed veterans Mats Zuccarello, Marcus Foligno and Ryan Hartman to contract extensions, said he’s not giving up on this season and that he believes Hynes — a veteran NHL coach he first met when Guerin was a player for the New Jersey Devils — will get the team back on track.

“I know these players really well. Their buy-in level is really high,” Guerin said of his team. “If they can make this team better, or be better, they’ll do it. Their buy-in is incredible, and I think they’ll listen to John right away. I think the buy-in will be right away.

“You just feel like a weight’s been off your shoulders. It’s tough because it comes with a tough message, a tough decision, but it’s a new chapter.”

Hynes has been head coach of the New Jersey Devils and, most recently, the Nashville Predators, where his teams went 134-96-18 in parts of four seasons from 2019-23.

The Wild enter Tuesday’s 7 p.m. puck drop on a seven-game losing streak, five regulation wins — better than only the San Jose Sharks’ four — and a league-high 29 first-period goals-against. The penalty kill is the NHL’s worst, with a league-high 23 goals-against and league-low 66.7 percent success rate. Guerin also fired assistant coach Bob Woods, who was in charge of the Wild’s kill.

“It’s unfortunate,” Hynes said. “I’m a coach and I have a lot of respect for Dean and Bob, but I think when you come into these situations, the team is hurt in certain ways — whether that’s individual players’ confidence, whether it’s belief and execution of what you want to do.”

Guerin said Hynes has a multiyear deal but declined to elaborate, saying only, “This is not a one-year thing.”

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