Yeah, I would agree with that. He improved quite a bit from last season, but still leaves quite a bit to be desired.
Jared Bednar & Co. Discussion Thread
- Thread starter Pokecheque
- Start date
It's a weird thing with Bednar. I think one day he'll be a good head coach, but not here. However Bednar this season vs last season seems to be better, as has the whole team so it's hard to pin point things.
Freudian
Clearly deranged
- Jul 3, 2003
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In some ways having a first line as good as Avs have hides a lot of problems but to be fair it's also a team with poor depth (especially considering Jost, Kerfoot and Compher are rookies) so the whole team has weird balance.
There are some promising signs with the coaching. Special teams have improved, especially the PK (adding Nemeth helps a lot). They are much better at playing with a lead in the third period. Probably the best Avs team in a decade, even though Roy had an insane win percentage when leading after two periods in 2013-14. Much of it was Varlamov handling being absolutely shelled back then. It's not the case now.
There are some promising signs with the coaching. Special teams have improved, especially the PK (adding Nemeth helps a lot). They are much better at playing with a lead in the third period. Probably the best Avs team in a decade, even though Roy had an insane win percentage when leading after two periods in 2013-14. Much of it was Varlamov handling being absolutely shelled back then. It's not the case now.
klozge
Avs
It's absolutely killing me right now that Bednar refuses to break up that 2nd line despite the fact that the bloom is clearly off the rose, and tries putting some of those veterans with some of the rookies instead of continuing to pile all the kids onto the same line, which hasn't worked. I also thought the Ghetto-Compher-Wilson line, which seemed to be clicking well for a while, had a really bad night against Toronto. Mix it up, put Kerfoot back where he belongs on the wing, preferably alongside a veteran center like Soderberg, and maybe try Jost with Comeau and Nieto. Small sample size of course, but there was one shift that those three were together last night, and not surprisingly, they did well.
Overall I think he is doing a fairly good job, but he's also making some bad tactical decisions that are holding the team back. I'm also getting really irritated with his defensive rotations. Nemeth and Lindholm should never, EVER be on the ice at the same time. Ever. There's no excuse to have the two worst puckhandling defensemen out there at the same time when the other four guys have that skill in spades.
If there was one guy I'm really not enamored with at all it's Nolan Pratt.
Overall I think he is doing a fairly good job, but he's also making some bad tactical decisions that are holding the team back. I'm also getting really irritated with his defensive rotations. Nemeth and Lindholm should never, EVER be on the ice at the same time. Ever. There's no excuse to have the two worst puckhandling defensemen out there at the same time when the other four guys have that skill in spades.
If there was one guy I'm really not enamored with at all it's Nolan Pratt.
You are slowly but surely building your frustration with Bednar. Before you know if you'll be on the hate wagon for sure.
That's pretty hilarious to me.
Last year the huge gripe with Bednar was the fact he jumbled lines far too much(He's not nicknamed the Blednar for no reason). This year, he finally has two solid lines that are playing well on a regular basis and we want to break one of them up already?
I mean for Christ sake. Just look at the usage Soderberg and that line is getting. They're the go to defensive unit that has to play the oppositions top lines way more then we want them to.
They're still playing solid despite the offense being a little dried up.
Last year the huge gripe with Bednar was the fact he jumbled lines far too much(He's not nicknamed the Blednar for no reason). This year, he finally has two solid lines that are playing well on a regular basis and we want to break one of them up already?
I mean for Christ sake. Just look at the usage Soderberg and that line is getting. They're the go to defensive unit that has to play the oppositions top lines way more then we want them to.
They're still playing solid despite the offense being a little dried up.
tigervixxxen
Optimism=Delusional
The Soderberg line is getting routinely caved in other than vs Arizona in the last while. It really isn't working and the other two lines of mixed parts really isn't either. They aren't losing in horrifying fashion so I guess it's ok. A little consistency is nice yes but crafting 4 lines that work would be nice too. It's basically the top 2 lines plus blender anyway.
I think people who honestly think the Soderberg line is still playing great are simply seeing what they want to see instead of seeing what's actually happening. That line hasn't been great for quite some time now, apart from the occasional spark of brilliance.
I'll say this--he still isn't frustrating me anywhere near as bad as Mike Babcock is frustrating Leafs fans right now. Overall I still think he's doing quite well. My fear is that he gets sacked and the Avs get some old-school grinder-happy coach, like Babcock but without the actual coaching ability.
One other thing I'm gonna take a stab at the haters over is this nonsense notion that a coach has to engage in over-the-top histrionics in order to be effective. Like we have to have a Boucher or Tortorella screaming at the refs when they make a bad call, otherwise he can't fire up the players, right? Such ridiculousness. Just because Bednar isn't a fiery guy doesn't mean he can't be an effective NHL coach or motivate players. And I think he's displayed his anger after bad losses plenty of times.
Freudian
Clearly deranged
- Jul 3, 2003
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Avs are leading the league in power play opportunities. If only we had a coach that knew how to work the refs...
Yeah I don't care about that, but the other stuff he does or fails to do is enough.
quesosauce
Registered User
you gotta coach in the league for a while before you can work the refs, bednars personality doesnt help tho
Anyone notice any strategic changes with the injuries? Losing Andrighetto, Compher, and Barrie is huge in that all three are big-time shot generators. While there have been obvious changes to the lineup I haven't seen much different. Not saying it should be, either.
I think the backend is more engaged in the offense, at least that's the case with Nemeth, he is jumping into play quite steadily.
22FUTON9
Registered User
- Jun 30, 2010
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Cousin Eddie
You Serious Clark?
- Nov 3, 2006
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Structure. Everyone is on the same page. It's beautiful. It took some time. He had a group of individuals who all wanted to play to their own strengths. He got everybody to learn to play the same structured system and then from there he has expanded to allow everyone to incorporate their strengths, but with the support of 4 other players on the ice playing to that players strengths as well.
The Avalanche transition game is a thing of beauty. I wanted Jared Bednar gone last year. I didn't see any possible way a coach of such failure could ever be allowed to return. Especially after losing a dressing room. But very quickly into this season I could see the structure Bednar had been trying to put in place. About 3 months later and it's fully in place and it's paying off.
So glad to eat my words on wanting him gone because Jared Bednar is doing a terrific job.
The Avalanche transition game is a thing of beauty. I wanted Jared Bednar gone last year. I didn't see any possible way a coach of such failure could ever be allowed to return. Especially after losing a dressing room. But very quickly into this season I could see the structure Bednar had been trying to put in place. About 3 months later and it's fully in place and it's paying off.
So glad to eat my words on wanting him gone because Jared Bednar is doing a terrific job.
CalderKing21
Darth Calder
Bednar is about where I expected him to be. I didn't like the roster construction nor the coaching staff alignment for him last season.
The team was set up for Roy, not Bednar.
Now this season we are getting to see him develop as a coach and the team developing with him as the structure is better and he has his own coaching staff.
The team was set up for Roy, not Bednar.
Now this season we are getting to see him develop as a coach and the team developing with him as the structure is better and he has his own coaching staff.
This is pretty apt. I'm still not a Bednar fan, but adding to CE's point, on the ice he has done a good job of meeting players halfway this season. Last year it was his way or the bench on playing within his structure. He was FAR too rigid and didn't allow the talent to show through. This year, he is still forcing them to play within the idea of what he wants, but allowing some creative freedom to his talented players. Barrie and MacK really have their own rules with the puck, and players will key off them but stick within the base of what Bednar is doing. It is allowing MacK and Barrie to predict where their teammates will be and make plays based upon that. It is also giving them guidance to where they can take their chances and know they have backup. I think taking the reins off those two has really helped the offense out quite a bit. One other big adjustment from last year to this year has been the use of the wings from the top of the circle to the blue line in the offensive zone. If you look back at last year, you see the wings were very lane disciplined and expected to stay within their structure. What you have now is a read by the low wing to attack the zone and the high wing keys off that. It allows the same lane discipline, but gives players like Rants the ability to attack open ice if they see it. I'm going to guess this came from Bennett as St Louis implemented similar ideas when Tank was taking off.
The PK has been very effective this year as well. Perhaps the biggest surprise for me as I thought watching it earlier in the year, what they were trying to do with the the wingers switching sides to apply pressure all the time seemed very poorly designed and was going to lead to a terrible year on the kill.
It had it's struggles at the beginning, but the Coaching Staff stuck with it, the players continued refining it and working on execution, and now it works extremely well.
They dont give teams a lot of time with the puck from the point and it forces guys to make decisions a lot quicker then they're used to on the PP. This leads to mistakes a lot more and makes it easier for the Avs to read a poor play before it happens and break it up.
No PK will be perfect forever and the highly skilled, quick thinking guys in the league are still capable of opening up the lanes and finding seems against our PK at times. But overall it's significantly improved from last year and even from the start of the season.
It had it's struggles at the beginning, but the Coaching Staff stuck with it, the players continued refining it and working on execution, and now it works extremely well.
They dont give teams a lot of time with the puck from the point and it forces guys to make decisions a lot quicker then they're used to on the PP. This leads to mistakes a lot more and makes it easier for the Avs to read a poor play before it happens and break it up.
No PK will be perfect forever and the highly skilled, quick thinking guys in the league are still capable of opening up the lanes and finding seems against our PK at times. But overall it's significantly improved from last year and even from the start of the season.
dahrougem2
Registered User
The PK is SO, SO, SO refreshing. How many years did we have to witness the Avs just stand passively in a 4-man box and allow the opposition to pass the puck around and in between the lanes at will? Now they actually attack the puck. It's like a light switched on or something and they realized "maybe we should try to kill this penalty off instead of survive it"
I may have to eat some serious crow on Bednar, me thinks.
McMetal
Writer of Wrongs
I'm also not ready to call Bednar a good coach, I think Bennett deserves credit for taking Army's offense and making it modern, but the PK is really refreshing. Lots of sticks in lanes, keeping everything to the outside, smart pressure to the points. That's all Bednar and Pratt, both of whom I have to admit did a good job there.
Believe it or not I'm still not ready to call Bednar a good coach either. I remain cautiously optimistic, however.
