Jared Bednar Discussion

[McMetal]

OT is gimmicky and it's designed to make it impossible to play defense, but I agree that other coaches manage to find ways to grab two points there despite lesser talent. I feel like he doesn't cover 3 on 3 in practice enough and just relies on the creativity and talent of his top guys to make things happen there, when he really should focus on it. I get that as a coach you want to win in regulation, but not practicing 6 on 5 and 3 on 3 really puts the team at a disadvantage.

Otherwise though, I think he's an above average coach in the league, he gets the most out of his players and I hope we hang on to him, someday he's going to become the first coach to win championships at the ECHL, AHL, and NHL level, I'm sure of it.

 

[Metallo]

It took ages for Bednar to implant the most basic notion in OT: puck possession. With the skill we have our OT record is beyond awful.

 

[Pokecheque]

Last night felt like a time when the opposition managed to stifle them really well and Bednar didn't make any adjustments. In the second, the Wylde came in with a HARD forecheck and really pinned the Avs back. They also did that thing that some teams do and pounce on that short outlet pass the Avs like to make from the d-man to the forward sitting near the edge of the blue line. I feel like when the opposition takes a hyper-aggressive tack like that though, you can get pucks behind their D and utilize the speed the team has. I know some teams are all about chipping it out of the zone, I kinda wish Bednar would utilize it more. Of course this is coming from a guy who hasn't coached a game since he was 16 so what do I know...

 

[Northern Avs Fan]

What are we thinking about Jared Bednar?

 

[CharlesPuck]

Boring hockey that isn’t getting results

 

[redacted]

What are we thinking about Jared Bednar?

Same book as always. Elite X’s and O’s guy... terrible at adjustments

 

[Balthazar]

What are we thinking about Jared Bednar?

Was listening to Bergevin's presser today and he was explaining that after a certain length of time, the coach's message is still good but the players are just no longer listening. It's a normal thing in hockey.

Bednar has been there for a long, long time now. Maybe the locker room needs to hear a new voice.

 

[Spleenless Wonder21]

Was listening to Bergevin's presser today and he was explaining that after a certain length of time, the coach's message is still good but the players are just no longer listening. It's a normal thing in hockey.

Bednar has been there for a long, long time now. Maybe the locker room needs to hear a new voice.

Pretty common in all professional sports after a while. Years ago my dad relayed a saying about coaching at that level that stuck with me: “Get hired to get fired.”

 

[Northern Avs Fan]

Same book as always. Elite X’s and O’s guy... terrible at adjustments

Is he an elite X’s and O’s guy, though?

 

[Balthazar]

Julien isn't a good fit for this team (at all) but Gallant sure is.

I'd love to see what Gerard could do with this team.

Also I like Bednar a lot as a human being and would hope that he'd find a job real quick somewhere in the east.

 

[redacted]

Is he an elite X’s and O’s guy, though?

Yeah... his system is very good and when things click the Avs are near unstoppable. The best coaches are good to great system wise, but are great at adjusting. Bednar won’t be great until he can adjust.

 

[AnimalMother73]

Yeah... his system is very good and when things click the Avs are near unstoppable. The best coaches are good to great system wise, but are great at adjusting. Bednar won’t be great until he can adjust.

And Sakic’s roster is heavily biased toward skill which means they struggle w more tight checking physical teams. This limits the coaches ability to adapt.

 

[Northern Avs Fan]

I’m not at the point where I’d move on from Bednar, yet. The team is still winning the chances side of things, which tells me they haven’t quite on him.

I agree with @Balthazar above though, that at some point the coaches message stops getting through. Bednar’s on his 5th season, that’s a pretty long shelf life for a NHL coach.

Hopefully he can get the team to shake out of this.

 

[Foppa2118]

I feel like literally every coach has had the same "can't adjust" rep until their team finally wins in the playoffs. It's a little overused IMO.

Feels like the same argument about Landy/Yzerman/Sakic not being good leaders, until the latter two won the Cup. Hopefully the story plays out the same with Landy and Bednar.

 

[Richard88]

Yeah... his system is very good and when things click the Avs are near unstoppable. The best coaches are good to great system wise, but are great at adjusting. Bednar won’t be great until he can adjust.

He needs some help behind the bench, in the form of an experienced voice who can make those adjustments during the game. There's nothing wrong with getting help. The best leaders bring in people who are better than them at certain things, that's why they're great leaders. Bednar needs to bring in a second voice who can balance his weaknesses.

 

[The Abusement Park]

I feel like literally every coach has had the same "can't adjust" rep until their team finally wins in the playoffs. It's a little overused IMO.

Feels like the same argument about Landy/Yzerman/Sakic not being good leaders, until the latter two won the Cup. Hopefully the story plays out the same with Landy and Bednar.

I’m not sure I agree with that. I think Roy was the exact opposite in a sense, I don’t think he was a great X’s and O’s guy, but he was a great man manager and seemed to be able to get the team going when the team was down way better than Bednar. But Bednar tactical nous is so much better than Roy’s it’s not even funny.

 

[Foppa2118]

I’m not sure I agree with that. I think Roy was the exact opposite in a sense, I don’t think he was a great X’s and O’s guy, but he was a great man manager and seemed to be able to get the team going when the team was down way better than Bednar. But Bednar tactical nous is so much better than Roy’s it’s not even funny.

I don't know, it just feels a little too speculative and cherry picked to me.

Bednar gets blamed for not adjusting well when they lose, but no one gives him credit for adjusting well when they win. Even though we have as much information about his competency to adjust in both situations.

 

[AvsCOL]

First time in a long time I’ve been worried about our coach. Not because of the last two losses, but because of how they play when they’re down.

I don’t have the stats on hand, but I guarantee if you looked you’d find that the Avs have had more late game comebacks in one season under Patrick Roy, than the entire tenure of Bednar. Not to mention those teams were garbage.


I’m at a loss for how disappointed I am with tonight’s performance. Someone needs to be held accountable, and I think it starts with the PP coach. It’s been going on for far too long.

 

[The Abusement Park]

I don't know, it just feels a little too speculative and cherry picked to me.

Bednar gets blamed for not adjusting well when they lose, but no one gives him credit for adjusting well when they win. Even though we have as much information about his competency to adjust in both situations.

How? This team has been the worst in the league when it comes to comebacks since Bednar took over. Whenever this team doesn't score first it's almost a guaranteed auto loss and that speaks to Bednars lack of ability to make in game adjustments.

 

[Boulder Avalanche]

As long as Gerard Gallant is on the market you can make an argument that his new voice would be better. Bednar is the 6th longest tenured coach in the NHL and even the all time greatest coaches have their message go stale.

 

[Spleenless Wonder21]

I’m not at the point where I’d move on from Bednar, yet. The team is still winning the chances side of things, which tells me they haven’t quite on him.

I agree with @Balthazar above though, that at some point the coaches message stops getting through. Bednar’s on his 5th season, that’s a pretty long shelf life for a NHL coach.

Hopefully he can get the team to shake out of this.

That’s the rub. Most notable coaches who’ve lead teams to a Cup do so early in their tenure with that franchise, with a conference final or 2 as a precursor keeping their message fresh.

I feel like literally every coach has had the same "can't adjust" rep until their team finally wins in the playoffs. It's a little overused IMO.

Feels like the same argument about Landy/Yzerman/Sakic not being good leaders, until the latter two won the Cup. Hopefully the story plays out the same with Landy and Bednar.

Sometimes it takes multiple stops for a good coach to finally lead a team to the mountain top, though (i.e. off the top of my head: Trotz, Q, Sutter, Julien). Also, sometimes an in season change is the shot in the arm a team needs- Pens in 2016, St Louis 2019. That’s not to say I want Bednar fired this instant, but Colorado’s struggles have been consistent under his watch, which is a growing concern for me.

 

[James G]

How? This team has been the worst in the league when it comes to comebacks since Bednar took over. Whenever this team doesn't score first it's almost a guaranteed auto loss and that speaks to Bednars lack of ability to make in game adjustments.

Is that a fact or just wild speculation on your behalf? Last year we were 12-14-1 when the opponent scored first. So basically we won nearly 50% of the games when the other team scored first. Doesn’t strike me as “worst in the league” type stats. But please explain.

 

[Foppa2118]

How? This team has been the worst in the league when it comes to comebacks since Bednar took over. Whenever this team doesn't score first it's almost a guaranteed auto loss and that speaks to Bednars lack of ability to make in game adjustments.

That sounds like a very misleading stat though, given how bad they were that first year.

Bednar coached the Stingrays in the ECHL to the conference finals in 2008 and won the Kelly Cup championship in 2009. He also won the Calder Cup championship in the AHL with Lake Erie in 2016.

Adjustments are just as important, if not more so in the ECHL and AHL, as they are in the NHL, and Bednar was good enough at them to win championships in two different leagues.

Also, lets just look at the last few years when the Avs have been good. Since 2018-19, the Avs are 15th in league in winning % when trailing after 1 period, and 20th in winning % when the opposition scores first.

The Blues who won the Cup recently, are worse than the Avs during that time at 19th when trailing after 1 period, and 11th when the opposition score first.

Not great numbers but the Avs definitely aren't the worst in the league. It's also not the end all be all if you don't trail that often, which the Avs don't.

If you look at the Avs last year though, the Avs were the 4th best team in the NHL in winning % when trailing first, and the 6th best team when trailing after 1 period.

So this seems like a non issue to me when Bednar has a good team.

NHL Stats
NHL Stats

 

[Drij]

I don't think they can win the cup under him b

 

[The Abusement Park]

Is that a fact or just wild speculation on your behalf? Last year we were 12-14-1 when the opponent scored first. So basically we won nearly 50% of the games when the other team scored first. Doesn’t strike me as “worst in the league” type stats. But please explain.

@henchman24 posted the stats in a thread the other day and they were very bad.