Confirmed with Link: Avs Trade Jack Drury + Chase Bradley + '29 3rd to Nashville for Fedor Svechkov + Zachary L’Heureux

[Ceremony]

L'Heureux sounds like he'll be extremely entertaining for the 20 seconds Bednar allows him to play. If we're not going to win anything I'm quite happy having a lunatic to cheer on.

 

[NOTENOUGHRYJOTHINGS]

I guess I should explain this :

Jared Bednar's Crane Kick Offense
It's like when Daniel LaRusso asked Mr. Miyagi what was the defense for the Crane Kick and Miyagi answered "If do right, no can defense" and that in essence is bednar's system. If it's executed to 100% efficiency, it's incredibly effective.

Unfortunately for bednar, there are coaches out there who have ALSO seen Karate Kid Part II - where the Crane Kick CAN be defeated. Those coaches have devised a strategy that make the Crane Kick ineffective.

So a good 95% of fans on here are waiting for bednar to take out a little drum and start twisting it - so that this team can play a different way and overcome their enemies.

Been waiting a LONG f***ING TIME...

The crane kick technique was just kicking your opponent in the head wasn't it?

In this sense Bednar and Miyagi are correct. Daniel San didn't kick his opponent in the head. Therefore, he failed to execute. The problem was in the execution not the technique.

 

[Foppa2118]

Kinda knew this was coming, but it sucks seeing other teams find ways to get better, while the Avs lose guys again. Avs never learn their lesson. You have to keep the playoff dawgs if you want to win in the playoffs.

I don’t see how arbitration wasn’t an option for Jack. He wouldn’t have commanded that much money on a one year with his offensive numbers, and he probably would have had a career season for them in his contract year.

This has the potential to downgrade LOC, Kelly, and the effectiveness of the 4th line as a whole too, because Jack’s smart, hard working game did so much to help them just focus on the forecheck, and play their best offensively. The 4th line was, and will be, a big part of this team’s success. They were one of the best parts of last playoffs. If the whole line is worse, then it puts more pressure on perennial underperformers like Nelson, Marty, and everyone else to play better than they have recently.

I’ll keep an open mind about the guys in return. I don’t know much about them, but at least Fedor might be a defensively responsible 4C, and L’Heureux might fit the mold of the wingers they need, as a scrappy guy who will go to the net? Hopefully he's got some quickness to fit in well.

The concerns are obviously L’Heureux’s penalties under Bednar, Fedor’s potential to bolt for the KHL after one year like Bardakov, and the fact that both are 23 year old forwards with career highs of 17 pts in 70 games for Fedor, and 15 in 62 for L’Heureux, which puts into question whether they have enough offense to play above the 4th line. If L’Heureux is just a 4th line wing in the regular season, then he’s a scratch in the playoffs, and likely won’t stay long, because Kelly and LOC are obviously playing there in the post season.

Hope they at least have good plans for the cap savings.

 

[avalanche_country]

Kinda knew this was coming, but it sucks seeing other teams find ways to get better, while the Avs lose guys again. Avs never learn their lesson. You have to keep the playoff dawgs if you want to win in the playoffs.

I don’t see how arbitration wasn’t an option for Jack. He wouldn’t have commanded that much money on a one year with his offensive numbers, and he probably would have had a career season for them in his contract year.

This has the potential to downgrade LOC, Kelly, and the effectiveness of the 4th line as a whole too, because Jack’s smart, hard working game did so much to help them just focus on the forecheck, and play their best offensively. The 4th line was, and will be, a big part of this team’s success. They were one of the best parts of last playoffs. If the whole line is worse, then it puts more pressure on perennial underperformers like Nelson, Marty, and everyone else to play better than they have recently.

I’ll keep an open mind about the guys in return. I don’t know much about them, but at least Fedor might be a defensively responsible 4C, and L’Heureux might fit the mold of the wingers they need, as a scrappy guy who will go to the net? Hopefully he's got some quickness to fit in well.

The concerns are obviously L’Heureux’s penalties under Bednar, Fedor’s potential to bolt for the KHL after one year like Bardakov, and the fact that both are 23 year old forwards with career highs of 17 pts in 70 games for Fedor, and 15 in 62 for L’Heureux, which puts into question whether they have enough offense to play above the 4th line. If L’Heureux is just a 4th line wing in the regular season, then he’s a scratch in the playoffs, and likely won’t stay long, because Kelly and LOC are obviously playing there in the post season.

Hope they at least have good plans for the cap savings.

The caps savings are to fill out the rest of the roster they dont have cap room for currently and still dont.

 

[Miri]

LOC from last season

View attachment 1259214

Obvs LOC post surgery is no where near LOC pre surgery, but he was still very effective last season

I wouldn't say that I've done a massive deep dive into stuff, but from what I've seen, it sounds like the Avs might be banking on Svechkov being a LOC-esqe type player, maybe even one that they can slot into the 4C spot

I think they are banking on secretly swapping him with Svechnikov, hoping Carolina wont notice.

 

[Foppa2118]

I guess I should explain this :

Jared Bednar's Crane Kick Offense
It's like when Daniel LaRusso asked Mr. Miyagi what was the defense for the Crane Kick and Miyagi answered "If do right, no can defense" and that in essence is bednar's system. If it's executed to 100% efficiency, it's incredibly effective.

Unfortunately for bednar, there are coaches out there who have ALSO seen Karate Kid Part II - where the Crane Kick CAN be defeated. Those coaches have devised a strategy that make the Crane Kick ineffective.

So a good 95% of fans on here are waiting for bednar to take out a little drum and start twisting it - so that this team can play a different way and overcome their enemies.

Been waiting a LONG f***ING TIME...

L’Heureux:

 

[Perratrooper]

To me if you look at the suspensions that L’Heureux has received, he’s reduced the amount and the reasons for them are less absurd. He’s also reducing the severity and appears to be reducing the amount.

Professionally he’s been suspended once for fighting after the whistle, once for a sucker punch, and once for a slew foot. In junior he had suspensions for fan altercations, high sticking, and unsportsmanlike conduct. To me that’s showing a bit of maturing and understanding the lines better. He still will likely land in the dog house, but I think there’s the ability for him to continue to learn where the line is

 

[Foppa2118]

To me if you look at the suspensions that L’Heureux has received, he’s reduced the amount and the reasons for them are less absurd. He’s also reducing the severity and appears to be reducing the amount.

Professionally he’s been suspended once for fighting after the whistle, once for a sucker punch, and once for a slew foot. In junior he had suspensions for fan altercations, high sticking, and unsportsmanlike conduct. To me that’s showing a bit of maturing and understanding the lines better. He still will likely land in the dog house, but I think there’s the ability for him to continue to learn where the line is

Hopefully he can clean up his game, but that's still three suspensions as a pro, in three seasons.

Also, how bad do you have to high stick a guy to get suspended twice for 10 total games?

Did he just McSorley a guy twice?

 

[Lawrence Oates]

Standard Bednar HF-hate. Next thing you know we won the Cup in 22 in spite of him. And even though we won President Trophy and scored most goals out of all the teams, he is still bad coach, cause he would not win the Cup.
Mind-boggling.

Yeah, but a lot of people also blame Bednar for losses and exits prior to '22 as well.

I'm not saying Bednar is a bad coach. I am saying I believe he is the wrong coach for the Colorado Avalanche in 2026/27, but it ain't my call so you can relax.

[edit... I'd just like to add that big Z rarely took himself out of position to make a hit. He just got 2 minutes for being bigger. You know when that shit stopped? When Z got to Calgary and had a coach defend him. Bednar is not it.]

 

[Bender]

Yeah, but a lot of people also blame Bednar for losses and exits prior to '22 as well.

I'm not saying Bednar is a bad coach. I am saying I believe he is the wrong coach for the Colorado Avalanche in 2026/27, but it ain't my call so you can relax.

[edit... I'd just like to add that big Z rarely took himself out of position to make a hit. He just got 2 minutes for being bigger. You know when that shit stopped? When Z got to Calgary and had a coach defend him. Bednar is not it.]

Personally, I do not. I remember those years quite well and we just didn't have 'the horses' in those years especially on D prior to 2022.

2021 - Had a good team but lost #2C Kadri to a suspension in Round #1. Had Makar, Toews, Girard and 19 year old Byram was injured, EJ was injured and a bunch of crap on D after that. Not quite good enough.

2020 - Decent team but massive injuries to goaltenders in the playoffs (both Grubauer and Francouz) had us play the Hamburglar for 4 crucial playoff games - still came close but still not good enough. Makar and particularly Girard played very well in the playoffs giving hope for the future. D Core of Makar, Girard, EJ, Graves, Cole and Zadorov.

2019 - was Makar's first year in the playoffs - we certainly weren't a contender before he came on board.

 

[Pokecheque]

 

[Lawrence Oates]

Personally, I do not. I remember those years quite well and we just didn't have 'the horses' in those years especially on D prior to 2022.

2021 - Had a good team but lost #2C Kadri to a suspension in Round #1. Had Makar, Toews, Girard and 19 year old Byram was injured, EJ was injured and a bunch of crap on D after that. Not quite good enough.

2020 - Decent team but massive injuries to goaltenders in the playoffs (both Grubauer and Francouz) had us play the Hamburglar for 4 crucial playoff games - still came close but still not good enough. Makar and particularly Girard played very well in the playoffs giving hope for the future. D Core of Makar, Girard, EJ, Graves, Cole and Zadorov.

2019 - was Makar's first year in the playoffs - we certainly weren't a contender before he came on board.

Think both Bowness and DeBoer seriously outcoached Bednar in both 20 and 21. You might not think we had the horses. I think we did, but we had a donkey of a coach. I firmly believe the Avalanche could have and should have beaten both the Stars in 20 and Vegas in 21. I viewed those at the time as what I hoped would be a learning curve for Bednar.

It's not proven to have been such.

 

[Pokecheque]

Think both Bowness and DeBoer seriously outcoached Bednar in both 20 and 21. You might not think we had the horses. I think we did, but we had a donkey of a coach. I firmly believe the Avalanche could have and should have beaten both the Stars in 20 and Vegas in 21. I viewed those at the time as what I hoped would be a learning curve for Bednar.

It's not proven to have been such.

2020 had the Avs suffer massive injuries, including EJ, Landeskog (the same injury that would eventually lead to him missing three years), and Grubauer, leaving them with a Francouz so badly hurt he would literally miss over a year of hockey afterward, and Hutchinson, who somehow managed to win them a game but was a sieve in the final contest. They most certainly didn’t have the horses then.

2021 could better support your argument but again, goaltending was not good enough. Grubauer was straight shit after game 1 and the 1st period of game 2. The goal he gave up in game 6 might be the worst goal ever given up by an Avs goalie in the playoffs and that’s counting the Statue of Liberty gaffe and two years of Georgiev.

 

[Bender]

Think both Bowness and DeBoer seriously outcoached Bednar in both 20 and 21. You might not think we had the horses. I think we did, but we had a donkey of a coach. I firmly believe the Avalanche could have and should have beaten both the Stars in 20 and Vegas in 21. I viewed those at the time as what I hoped would be a learning curve for Bednar.

It's not proven to have been such.

I dunno... maybe.

To me still, it's :

2021 -> having a donkey like Graves in the Top-4, players like Nemeth and Soderberg actually playing - was just acting for trouble.

2020 -> bad luck with the goaltending situation - still believe we weren't good enough on D

For me, the moment it all went south with bednar was after the 2024 playoffs. Losing to a team that doesn't have it's top line winger and #1 minute munching D-Man was incredibly weak. The fact that Tanev was CLEARLY playing injured and he never took advantage made me question his ability.

I was still hopeful for the 2025 playoffs. Since it became extremely clear that we would play dallass again with like 8-10 regular season games to go, I even posted as much that "..all bednar has to do is analyze how the oilers beat them in the playoffs the year prior and adapt the Avs game to beat them this year"... nope, not even close.

The problem is philosophy and it's not just bednar, you hear the players talk about it all the time... "it's about how WE execute"... "it's not what the other team is doing, we're focused on how WE'RE playing...". The team is taught to "look inward" and make sure they are playing the game they want to play to the best of their ability INSTEAD of having the Avs coaches strategizing to key on their opponent's weaknesses to ensure they have success.

What happens is unless they play a flawless game (Game #2 vs Tampa Bay Lightning 2022 SCF) they are extremely predictable and other teams with smart coaches come up with a good gameplan to counter what the Avs are doing. It's like there's a game of chess going on but the other coaches know exactly the moves that bednar is going to make every single time.

I think he's a coach with a system that CAN work but he's been found out and will probably never win again with the Avs or with any other team.

 

[Lawrence Oates]

I dunno... maybe.

To me still, it's :

2021 -> having a donkey like Graves in the Top-4, players like Nemeth and Soderberg actually playing - was just acting for trouble.

2020 -> bad luck with the goaltending situation - still believe we weren't good enough on D

For me, the moment it all went south with bednar was after the 2024 playoffs. Losing to a team that doesn't have it's top line winger and #1 minute munching D-Man was incredibly weak. The fact that Tanev was CLEARLY playing injured and he never took advantage made me question his ability.

I was still hopeful for the 2025 playoffs. Since it became extremely clear that we would play dallass again with like 8-10 regular season games to go, I even posted as much that "..all bednar has to do is analyze how the oilers beat them in the playoffs the year prior and adapt the Avs game to beat them this year"... nope, not even close.

The problem is philosophy and it's not just bednar, you hear the players talk about it all the time... "it's about how WE execute"... "it's not what the other team is doing, we're focused on how WE'RE playing...". The team is taught to "look inward" and make sure they are playing the game they want to play to the best of their ability INSTEAD of having the Avs coaches strategizing to key on their opponent's weaknesses to ensure they have success.

What happens is unless they play a flawless game (Game #2 vs Tampa Bay Lightning 2022 SCF) they are extremely predictable and other teams with smart coaches come up with a good gameplan to counter what the Avs are doing. It's like there's a game of chess going on but the other coaches know exactly the moves that bednar is going to make every single time.

I think he's a coach with a system that CAN work but he's been found out and will probably never win again with the Avs or with any other team.

Meh. He has a system and a process and an unwavering faith in that process. Even when it repeatedly gets the team's collective shit pushed in.

 

[Pokecheque]

Meh. He has a system and a process and an unwavering faith in that process. Even when it repeatedly gets the team's collective shit pushed in.

There’s a reason the Avs didn’t truly go for it until 2022.