{"id":531912,"date":"2026-03-30T23:40:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T23:40:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/531912\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T23:40:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T23:40:14","slug":"extend-jared-bednar-only-if-avalanche-get-past-second-round","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/531912\/","title":{"rendered":"Extend Jared Bednar? Only if Avalanche get past second round"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Avalanche made this Bednar.<\/a> Now they\u2019ve got to lie in it.<\/p>\n

\u201cResults are \u2014 they come as they come,\u201d Jared Bednar said before his Avs took on Calgary at Ball Arena on Monday night. \u201cAnd whether they\u2019re good or bad, other people make decisions based on what they\u2019re seeing and hearing. But I can always walk out of here every day with my head held high if I know I\u2019m doing my best. And that\u2019s how I kind of approach it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Life comes at you fast. Bednar\u2019s contract comes up at the end of next season. This year has been fantastic \u2014 so far. No coach wants to be a lame duck. If you\u2019re Avs owner Stan Kroenke, it won\u2019t be long before all parties are staring at two expensive forks on a long and winding road.<\/p>\n

Longtime NHL insider Pierre LeBrun posited a few days back<\/a> that short of a first-round exit in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the best team in the league, \u201call signs\u201d point to Bednar landing an extension from Kroenke Sports and Entertainment.<\/a><\/p>\n

Win a playoff round? One? That\u2019s it? That sounds like an awfully low bar for a team on pace to rack up at least 120 points during the regular season. Especially one that features Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Martin Necas, Nazem Kadri, Brock Nelson, Val Nichushkin and Nicolas Roy, all at the same time, a legitimately scary roster that goes four lines and two goaltenders deep.<\/p>\n

Bednar has taken the Avs to eight straight postseasons. He\u2019s failed to get past the second round in seven of them.<\/p>\n

So let\u2019s make it two rounds, at least. No Western Conference final? With this much firepower at your disposal? No contract extension. Period.<\/p>\n

And we know that the Battle For Lord Stanley\u2019s Cup can be an untamed, unpredictable sort of beast. But in Avs franchise history, it\u2019s the only beast that matters. Or, at least, it\u2019s the only beast that\u2019s supposed to.<\/p>\n

Or does KSE aspire for the Avs to be to the NHL of the \u201920s what the Atlanta Braves were to the baseball of the \u201990s? The Braves notched 14 playoff berths from 1991-2005 and came away with one World Series title to show for it. If the Cowboys were America\u2019s Team, Atlanta was America\u2019s Bridesmaid.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor sure, it\u2019s a volatile league (for coaches),\u201d Avs sparkplug Logan O\u2019Connor told me Monday after morning skate. \u201cI think Bedsy, his work ethic and his preparation is something (where) there is zero complacency in what he does day-to-day, I think.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow he operates, the meetings he runs, the message he delivers, what he expects from players, having good relationships with players \u2014 I think he creates a clear picture of how he wants us to play.<\/p>\n

If the Avs extend Bednar after, say, another second-round playoff exit, we\u2019ll know exactly the expectations the Kroenkes have for him, too.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Bedsy\u2019s current three-year extension runs through the end of the 2026-27 season. Which means that clock\u2019s already ticking. It doesn\u2019t sound as if KSE wants to leave him dangling, the way CSU did with former football coach Jay Norvell last fall. An awkward summer internally and externally in FoCo went south quickly, and Norvell wound up being fired in mid-October after a 2-5 start.<\/a><\/p>\n

And we get it. On one hand, why rock the boat? The Avs have 12 seasons of 100 points or more in their Denver history \u2014 and Bednar has been in charge for five of those. (Marc Crawford is next-highest on the list, with two.)<\/p>\n

Colorado had already piled up 106 points before Monday night\u2019s Flames tussle and started the week on pace for 121 points on the season. That would shatter the old single-season record, also held by Bednar, of 119 \u2014 set by the Cup champs of \u201921-22.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, the other bullies in the West aren\u2019t exactly standing pat. Dallas canned Pete DeBoer last June after three straight losses in the conference finals and a 149-68-29 record during the regular season. On Sunday, Vegas fired Bruce Cassidy at the tail end of his fourth season after a 178-99-43 record, two division titles, and a Stanley Cup title in 2023.<\/p>\n

So are they the crazy ones? Or is it the Kroenkes?<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, well, different ownership, different management beliefs, I guess, in some situations,\u201d Bednar said. \u201cSo, I\u2019m very grateful to still be here and trying to accomplish the same goals we\u2019ve had when I first came. So, I don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n

\u201cI work with great people that I like. Ultimately, I\u2019m trying to come to the rink every day with a positive attitude and do the absolute best job I can do to help our team win, right? Being respectful of the players, developing those relationships that so when I go to a player with something that they know, I don\u2019t have to yell and scream at them to get a message across, that they understand what I\u2019m saying, how important it is. And I\u2019m certainly willing to hear them out on things too \u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think that you can ask a player to do anything else but to just give his absolute best and get dialed into what he\u2019s doing. And I don\u2019t know \u2014 that\u2019s what I expect from myself on a daily basis (in) leading this team. And then I don\u2019t worry about anything else.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Connor harasses opponents the way a biting terrier harasses trouser legs. Since \u201918-19, the winger has served valiantly as a bottom-6 high motor, a plugger who refuses to downshift during big moments. The DU alum was arguably Colorado\u2019s second-best contributor after MacKinnon during that soul-crushing playoff series against Dallas last spring. Through thick, thin, and parades, he\u2019s an unabashed Bednar guy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s on us to go out there and execute (his) expectations,\u201d O\u2019Connor said of his coach. \u201cBut I think he just has the utmost respect from us players. And it\u2019s no surprise that he\u2019s had as great of a run as he has, given the volatility in the market. And we all love playing for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Avs can prove it next month. Because if Colorado goes out in the second round again, Avs fans are going to look and vent as if they woke up on the wrong side of the Bedsy.<\/p>\n

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