Avalanche Would Be Foolish to Move on From Jared Bednar

The Colorado Avalanche, definitive favorites to win the Stanley Cup at the beginning of the playoffs, have been shown the door. It is easily one of the most painful, disappointing losses in Avalanche playoff history and it has some wondering if it might be time to move on from head coach Jared Bednar.

While coaches certainly have a shelf life in the NHL, a finite number of games in which players will fall in with the message, Bednar hasn’t hit that number yet. In fact, moving on from him would be foolish for the Avalanche.

He’s Won Before

As the Avalanche figure out what comes next, it shouldn’t be too quick to forget where it has been. And, yes, there have been some seriously disappointing playoff exits in the past, this year perhaps being one of the worst in a long time.

The simple fact of the matter is that this team has won with Bednar before. They dominated en route to the 2022 Stanley Cup, overcoming a plethora of internal pressures and failures to do so. Bednar was an important piece of that puzzle.

It might be one thing if it were disappointment after disappointment with nothing to show for it. Among active coaches, Bednar’s .594 winning percentage is the highest in the playoffs. And unlike the two coaches following him – Kris Knoblauch and Rod Brind’Amour – he has a championship to show for it.

The Playoff Failure Wasn’t Due to Coaching

There were a lot of things that went wrong for the Avalanche against the Vegas Golden Knights. Secondary scoring withered. Goaltending became human after a season in which it was one of the best tandems in the league. The Golden Knight simple came to play.

It also doesn’t help that injuries clearly caught up to the Avalanche. All-world defenseman Cale Makar missed Games 1 and 2 due to injury. It’s highly doubtful that he was himself even after re-entering the lineup. Superstar center Nathan MacKinnon injured his knee in Game 3 and was clearly limited in Game 4.

There were several factors that kept the Avalanche from advancing. There are only so many things a coach can do before a team simply needs to step up and get the job done. From top to bottom, the Avalanche failed against the Golden Knights.

The Pieces are Still in Place to Win a Championship

At the end of the day, the Avalanche are still on the shortlist of contenders to win in 2026-27. There is no one available with more Stanley Cups than Bednar. His .617 points percentage is seventh-best among active coaches and only Bruce Cassidy – who was fired by the Golden Knights, ironically enough – has a championship to show for it.

There are certainly things you could question Bednar about but Golden Knights coach John Tortorella put it best: “Get off Bedsy’s ass.” If he returns, he will no doubt have the Avalanche ready to contend once again.