“Running it back” is popular with our local professional sports teams. The Denver Broncos have famously brought back almost the entire roster from a season ago to give themselves another run that the Super Bowl. The Denver Nuggets have made a few changes to their reserve unit, but the starting five from last season will return intact this fall as they try to return to the top of the NBA. And don’t expect a roster overhaul from the Colorado Rockies next season, either. That’s not what they do.
As for the Colorado Avalanche, over the past couple of offseasons (and in-season, too) the 2022 Stanley Cup champs have made a few subtle roster alterations while keeping their vaunted core together. That core, led by Nathan MacKinnon – arguably the best player in hockey – and the newly minted highest paid player in the game in Cale Makar, will share the ice for a considerable amount of time in 2026-27. They will have several other All-Stars in the room as well. So the 2026 President’s Trophy-winning roster returns pretty much intact for another Stanley Cup run.
That includes the one spot where most of the other NHL teams would have already made a significant change: Behind the bench.
With all the Avs’ crucial talent returning, anything short of the Stanley Cups Finals would be a (another?) failure of coaching. Maybe it’s strategy, maybe it’s motivationally. But something with Jared Bednar hasn’t worked when it counts the most.
That means that going into this season, Bednar’s seat should already be icy hot. It should be “Parade or Bust” with the Avs. But is it?
Old allegiances die hard.
The Avalanche recently announced that team president and general manager Joe Sakic will no longer be the organization’s interim GM, but take over the position, full-time, for the foreseeable future. That was always going to be good news for Bednar, who obviously has developed a great relationship with the Avs’ head man – and there’s been good reason for that. Colorado under Bednar’s stewardship has been one of the very best NHL regular season squads of the past decade, going 445-262-75 in his 10-season tenure as Avalanche coach, with an additional 60-41 record in the postseason during that span.
On Wednesday, Bednar was rewarded with a four-year contract extension that keeps him with the Avalanche through the 2030-2031 season. By far, the organization’s winningest coach already, Bednar could break into the NHL’s top 25 ranks in all-time coaching wins by the end of the extension. But should he? Despite all the roster upgrades over the years, this talented group has just one Stanley Cup championship. In fact, that was their only time even reaching the Cup finals. Regardless of regular-season success, Colorado losing early in the postseason has become a regular occurrence.
Last season, after posting the best regular-season record in the NHL, Colorado reached the conference finals before being swept by Las Vegas. Other than that and the 2022 Cup win, the Avs have been ousted seven times in the first or second round in their last nine playoff appearances.
That’s not all of the head coach, of course. But ultimately, the guy who finalizes the lineup each time bears ultimate responsibility when expectations aren’t met. Hockey, more than any other North American professional sport, changes head coaches with ease and regularity. Remember, last season those same Golden Knights – the ones who ended Colorado’s season in that four-game sweep – changed head coaches from highly regarded Bruce Cassidy to vagabond John Tortorella in late March… and still ended up in the Stanley Cup Finals.
And Tortorella – who led his second team to a playoff sweep over the President’s Trophy winner – was still not retained after the season ended.
That should be the same bar that the Avs – who have arguably the best roster in the NHL going into the season – have in regards to their head coach. Win the Cup or bust, contract extension or no.
While the loyalty shown to Bednar has been unwavering to this point, keep in mind that Sakic did end up part ways with his Stanley Cup winning teammate and former Avs head coach Patrick Roy back in August of 2016. So it’s possible. Let’s hope a similar parting with Bednar doesn’t become necessary.
