GDT: Colorado Ambulanche vs Nashville Predators | 6pm MT | Early Emergency GDT

[AllAboutAvs]

Some people calling for Bednar to be fired.....Really?

Show me one team that would fire its coach when missing the equivalent of:
Landy
Nuke
Drouin
Lehky
Colton
Woods

Four of these are our best defensive forwards that can ALSO produce offensively at a high rate. The Avs will always have injuries but you put just the bottom four guys on that list and I am convinced their record would be looking a lot better.

Oh and in quite a few of these losses the Avs have outplayed the opponent.

Bednar is not going anywhere until they are much healthier and still losing.

 

[Miri]

Some people calling for Bednar to be fired.....Really?

Show me one team that would fire its coach when missing the equivalent of:
Landy
Nuke
Drouin
Lehky
Colton
Woods

Four of these are our best defensive forwards that can ALSO produce offensively at a high rate. The Avs will always have injuries but you put just the bottom four guys on that list and I am convinced their record would be looking a lot better.

Oh and in quite a few of these losses the Avs have outplayed the opponent.

Bednar is not going anywhere until they are much healthier and still losing.

100 percent. If anything, the performance against Nashville is credit to Bednar, despite them being healthy and us with so many injuries, we actually were outplaying them - and only lost due to powerplays and our young goalie inexperience.

Bednar is as vital to our success as MacK or Makar.

 

[TruePowerSlave]

Who would even replace Bednar? It would need to be an upgrade

 

[Pokecheque]

Who would even replace Bednar? It would need to be an upgrade

They'd probably promote Bennett in an interim role, I can't imagine they'd promote anyone else.

Here's the thing though, the Avalanche have never, ever had an interim head coach.

 

[SirLoinOfCloth]

They'd probably promote Bennett in an interim role, I can't imagine they'd promote anyone else.

Here's the thing though, the Avalanche have never, ever had an interim head coach.

This comment lead me to a quick google search and I found this absolute gem of an article than aged extremely well.

Colorado Avalanche Coach is for the Interim

The Colorado Avalanche's new coach, Jared Bednar, is just an interim choice until the team can select from a more viable pool of candidates.

milehighsticking.com

The closing comment:
"After that, we’ll see who the team really thinks is going to lead them to the Stanley Cup. Sorry, but it isn’t Jared Bednar."

Love it.

 

[The Merchant]

Some people calling for Bednar to be fired.....Really?

Show me one team that would fire its coach when missing the equivalent of:
Landy
Nuke
Drouin
Lehky
Colton
Woods

Four of these are our best defensive forwards that can ALSO produce offensively at a high rate. The Avs will always have injuries but you put just the bottom four guys on that list and I am convinced their record would be looking a lot better.

Oh and in quite a few of these losses the Avs have outplayed the opponent.

Bednar is not going anywhere until they are much healthier and still losing.

Oh there's plenty to criticize Bednar for, particularly the fact that he has been consistently outcoached when not gifted with arguably the deepest, most talented roster of the cap era. But no, the injuries are not on him.

 

[Pokecheque]

This comment lead me to a quick google search and I found this absolute gem of an article than aged extremely well.

Colorado Avalanche Coach is for the Interim

The Colorado Avalanche's new coach, Jared Bednar, is just an interim choice until the team can select from a more viable pool of candidates.

milehighsticking.com

The closing comment:
"After that, we’ll see who the team really thinks is going to lead them to the Stanley Cup. Sorry, but it isn’t Jared Bednar."

Love it.

Oh my God, I already knew who wrote that slop before I even clicked the link. I remember saying something mildly critical on Twitter about Jost's skating ability and she went after me like I had punched her cat.

Oh there's plenty to criticize Bednar for, particularly the fact that he has been consistently outcoached when not gifted with arguably the deepest, most talented roster of the cap era. But no, the injuries are not on him.

I don't think this is remotely true. He has his flaws but "being outcoached" in every game outside of 2021-2022 is not one of them.

 

[The Merchant]

Oh my God, I already knew who wrote that slop before I even clicked the link. I remember saying something mildly critical on Twitter about Jost's skating ability and she went after me like I had punched her cat.


I don't think this is remotely true. He has his flaws but "being outcoached" in every game outside of 2021-2022 is not one of them.

"Every game" is a bit much, to be sure. But you only have to look at the Tampa game for a recent example. That game was over in the 3rd minute because Bedsy allowed himself to be outsmarted on home ice, straight up. The glaring examples are the various playoff runs. Dallas and Vegas in particular. Once he encounters a coach that knows how to to put the clamps on his system we rarely ever see a guy who is capable of making the adjustments to overcome it.

Let me be clear that I do not advocate for his firing. But he is a player's coach that was more useful when this team was still coming into its own. He's a smart guy, insightful and a good coach in the NHL. Could the Avs do better? Certainly, but they won't for a multitude of reasons. And that's fine, until it's not. The team gets healthy and bounced early again? Wellllll, maybe you start to see what's out there.

 

[henchman21]

I think Bednar gets out coached a decent amount, but he's far from the worst coach. But this better or worse makes it a black and white situation when these things are not black and white. Frequently, messages just get stale. Players in the room tire of coaches no matter how good they are. Details get lost or they may just want a change. That has nothing to do with quality of a coach and more to simply do with time. Alongside that, different teams with different makeups have different strengths and weaknesses. Bednar does need to prove that he can have his gameplan work with a dramatically different and thinner team. And not just in the regular season, at this point the regular season doesn't really matter... it's the playoffs that matter. Can he beat DeBoer? Can he tailor the system of the team to win 3 or 4 rounds on a team that is thinner and less skilled? Can he not run MacK, Mikko and Makar into the ground?

There is just so much more to it than nobody out there is better than Bednar so don't make a change sort of mentality.

 

[Pokecheque]

"Every game" is a bit much, to be sure. But you only have to look at the Tampa game for a recent example. That game was over in the 3rd minute because Bedsy allowed himself to be outsmarted on home ice, straight up. The glaring examples are the various playoff runs. Dallas and Vegas in particular. Once he encounters a coach that knows how to to put the clamps on his system we rarely ever see a guy who is capable of making the adjustments to overcome it.

Let me be clear that I do not advocate for his firing. But he is a player's coach that was more useful when this team was still coming into its own. He's a smart guy, insightful and a good coach in the NHL. Could the Avs do better? Certainly, but they won't for a multitude of reasons. And that's fine, until it's not. The team gets healthy and bounced early again? Wellllll, maybe you start to see what's out there.

I think we all agree that Bednar is a little too slow when it comes to adjustments but he's also had to deal with his star Russian winger bailing at the worst possible time two years in a row, subpar goaltending for the entirety of his coaching tenure, and depth/injury issues up and down the lineup. Switch the goalies in that second round and I guarantee you'd see two things--Bednar looking a lot smarter and DeBoer's head exploding Cronenberg-style at the postgame pressers.

If he gets bounced in the first round, it's a pretty good bet he'll be gone. If he doesn't make it past the second round (again), I still think there's a not-small chance he's still turfed. And maybe at that point it will be time, I don't know. But I still don't think he's been outcoached even consistently outside of their Cup run season. It happens, yes, I'd even say it's happened a few times this year. But I still wouldn't say consistently.

 

[Balthazar]

Can he beat DeBoer? Can he tailor the system of the team to win 3 or 4 rounds on a team that is thinner and less skilled? Can he not run MacK, Mikko and Makar into the ground?

I'd have loved to see those guys in their prime under a new coach. I like Bednar but it's kind of a shame that he was there basically for their entire prime so we have no clue what another coach would have done. (Yes, I know he won a cup).

 

[Pokecheque]

I'd have loved to see those guys in their prime under a new coach. I like Bednar but it's kind of a shame that he was there basically for their entire prime so we have no clue what another coach would have done. (Yes, I know he won a cup).

MacKinnon: Cup, Hart
Makar: Cup, Norris, Calder, Conn Smythe
Rantanen: Cup, back-to-back seasons of 100+ points

Really? You think another head coach could've done better?

 

[Balthazar]

MacKinnon: Cup, Hart
Makar: Cup, Norris, Calder, Conn Smythe
Rantanen: Cup, back-to-back seasons of 100+ points

Really? You think another head coach could've done better?

No, that's not what I said.

 

[Pokecheque]

No, that's not what I said.

Then what are you saying?

 

[Balthazar]

Then what are you saying?

"I'd have loved to see those guys in their prime under a new coach"

 

[Pokecheque]

"I'd have loved to see those guys in their prime under a new coach"

Why? What would that other coach have done?

 

[The Abusement Park]

Why? What would that other coach have done?

A cup, hart, and Norris but while playing less minutes

 

[Pokecheque]

A cup, hart, and Norris but while playing less minutes

Or none of that but still fewer minutes!

 

[AllAboutAvs]

I said it before and I'll say it again about replacing Bednar:

Be very, very careful what you wish for.

It seems to me that the majority of teams that replace a very good coach because he has been there too long end up with a worst coach most of the time. I am not saying it shouldn't be done but like somebody else said it needs to be for an upgrade. The problem with that is the team always thinks it is an upgrade and it ends up not being true.

 

[henchman21]

I said it before and I'll say it again about replacing Bednar:

Be very, very careful what you wish for.

It seems to me that the majority of teams that replace a very good coach because he has been there too long end up with a worst coach most of the time. I am not saying it shouldn't be done but like somebody else said it needs to be for an upgrade. The problem with that is the team always thinks it is an upgrade and it ends up not being true.

This is where I feel things go astray. There are probably 20+ coaches out there that can win a Cup, and not all of them would be upgrades. They don't have to be though. If Bednar can't adjust his style and system to fit the current roster to have playoffs success, then a coach who could be a downgrade but runs a system that fits the roster better... could end up a better choice for this team's success.

Frankly, I think there is more risk in holding on to a former Cup winning coach holding out for an upgrade that never comes. This is the Sullivan/Pittsburgh issue. He's a fantastic coach, but his system is not a fit for the talent there anymore nor where they need to go. But they hold onto him because he won two Cups and there isn't a clear upgrade. Cooper will have the same fate in Tampa.

 

[sethro109]

This is where I feel things go astray. There are probably 20+ coaches out there that can win a Cup, and not all of them would be upgrades. They don't have to be though. If Bednar can't adjust his style and system to fit the current roster to have playoffs success, then a coach who could be a downgrade but runs a system that fits the roster better... could end up a better choice for this team's success.

Frankly, I think there is more risk in holding on to a former Cup winning coach holding out for an upgrade that never comes. This is the Sullivan/Pittsburgh issue. He's a fantastic coach, but his system is not a fit for the talent there anymore nor where they need to go. But they hold onto him because he won two Cups and there isn't a clear upgrade. Cooper will have the same fate in Tampa.

So basically you're saying;

 

[CobraAcesS]

So basically you're saying;
View attachment 926717

Haha, that player definitely wants a system that requires less skating.

 

[henchman21]

So basically you're saying;
View attachment 926717

Doesn’t look like I’m saying that.

(Though if the Avs struggle in the playoffs again, I may lead the charge)

 

[CobraAcesS]

Doesn’t look like I’m saying that.

(Though if the Avs struggle in the playoffs again, I may lead the charge)

When the team struggles Bednar has the roster as an excuse. He pretty much always has an excuse.

Someone in the organization is going to have to tell him to play the top players less or risk his job, and then follow through on that threat.