{"id":556818,"date":"2026-04-20T18:30:43","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T18:30:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/556818\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T18:30:43","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T18:30:43","slug":"is-nuggets-david-adelman-or-avs-jared-bednar-under-more-pressure-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/556818\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Nuggets’ David Adelman or Avs’ Jared Bednar under more pressure?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Troy Renck: Jared Bednar must keep his black-and-blue eyes<\/a> on the prize. David Adelman has to focus all his attention on the Larry O\u2019Brien<\/a>. Last weekend, Colorado became a sports mecca as the Nuggets<\/a> and Avs<\/a> opened the postseason, Lionel Messi electrified Empower Field<\/a> and the Rockies reeled in the Dodgers<\/a>, winning back-to-back games that were more spicy than fishy. But let\u2019s not bury the lede. The Nuggets and Avs have a shot to win championships. So, who is under more pressure to deliver: Adelman or Bednar?\n<\/p>\n

Sean Keeler: Friday, when you toss in the snow and the USWNT<\/a>? So cool. Literally. Saturday? Electric. Sunday? TCB. As in, Take Care of Business.<\/a> And, by golly, the Avs better. When it comes to the first two rounds of the playoffs, there\u2019s more pressure on Bednar to not get upset, because a.) He\u2019s been here longer and everyone\u2019s opinion on the big guy \u2014 pro or con \u2014 is pretty well set in stone by now; b.) You\u2019re the No. 1 seed; c.) Bednar\u2019s contract is up after next season.<\/a> The Kings are the kind of first-round opponent the Avs should dispense of quickly \u2014 but they\u2019re also the kind that are going to make you absolutely work for it. The Kings are going to hit you late. Hit you early. Hit you coming off the dang bus. Ugly hockey with a hot goaltender is Plan A for any underdog, and Bednar has to prove for the next eight days or so that he can win 3-2, 2-1, 1-0 kind of slugfests. So far, so good.<\/p>\n

Renck: Outcomes microwave expectations. The Nuggets shot poorly and still smashed the Timberwolves in Game 1. It cemented the notion that Denver is capable of reeling off 16 victories over the next two months. But it is not likely. Having to go through the Spurs and Thunder creates a path more suited for a mountain goat. This is the first reason Adelman has less at stake. The second? Injuries provided him cover all season. The Nuggets secured the No. 3 seed because of his dynamic offense and ability to help role players reach their potential. But if Denver loses to the Spurs, for instance, it will be viewed as a disappointment, not a crash out. The same cannot be said for Bednar if the Avs fail to reach the Stanley Cup Finals.\n<\/p>\n

Keeler: The outside noise will be louder for whatever the Nuggets do (or don\u2019t do) this spring. The road\u2019s tougher. The tension\u2019s higher. Adelman\u2019s regular season<\/a> had more twists and turns than Twister III across the street.<\/a> Nikola Jokic\u2019s over 30 now, and everybody knows we\u2019re unlikely to see his kind of NBA greatness in Denver gold, for this long, ever again. Josh Kroenke loves all his assets equally (wink), but let\u2019s also be real: He\u2019s a hoopster, not a puck head. The highest-up in KSE have the last word on Nuggets business. When it comes to the Avs, they\u2019re more likely to defer to Joe Sakic and Chris MacFarland and admit they know what they don\u2019t know. Unlike the end of the Michael Malone Era, Bednar\u2019s led a comparatively calm, steady ship. Sakic digs that. C-Mac digs that. So do Josh and Stan.<\/p>\n

Renck: Bednar has shown growth this season. He seems more willing to experiment, and demonstrated common sense by sticking with Scott Wedgewood in goal. Management has always exercised patience with Bedsy. But fans will not. In the recent ESPN top 50 ranking of players in the postseason, the Avs featured three in the top 10 \u2014 MacKinnon (first), Cale Makar (fourth) and Martin Necas (10th). And Wedgewood came in at No. 34. It is impossible to have this kind of star talent and steady third-and-fourth-line grinders and not be favored. Bednar is under more pressure, but must remain aggressive. Adelman, in some ways, has nothing to lose after the first round. Bednar must see his situation as everything to gain.<\/p>\n

Keeler: And as much as we harp on Joker\u2019s window, the Avs have long since pushed all their chips to the middle of the table. They\u2019re bringing nine players who are 31 years or older into the postseason grind. Gabe Landeskog is 33. Naz Kadri is 35. Brent Burns is 41. If it\u2019s not now, is it never? Should Bedsy get bounced before the second round, Stan Kroenke might have no choice but to change horses in a race he\u2019d prefer to leave alone.<\/p>\n

Want more sports news? Sign up for the Sports Omelette to get all our analysis on Denver\u2019s teams.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Troy Renck: Jared Bednar must keep his black-and-blue eyes on the prize. David Adelman has to focus all…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":556819,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5116],"tags":[193,1650,1772,1116,1651,192,144,5277,3975,556,573,266,7145,1035,5,24858,1117,4444,8473,1180,24843,513,4348,1262,3977,517,555,2088,4,60,2464,557,4458,20138,2565,1653,4929,43,350,4350,14,3978,4930,62851],"class_list":{"0":"post-556818","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-colorado-avalanche","8":"tag-avalanche","9":"tag-avalanche-takes","10":"tag-brent-burns","11":"tag-cale-makar","12":"tag-chris-macfarland","13":"tag-colorado","14":"tag-colorado-avalanche","15":"tag-coloradoavalanche","16":"tag-david-adelman","17":"tag-denver","18":"tag-denver-nuggets","19":"tag-espn","20":"tag-front-range","21":"tag-gabe-landeskog","22":"tag-hockey","23":"tag-japan","24":"tag-jared-bednar","25":"tag-joe-sakic","26":"tag-josh-kroenke","27":"tag-latest-headlines","28":"tag-lionel-messi","29":"tag-martin-necas","30":"tag-michael-malone","31":"tag-more-avalanche-news","32":"tag-more-nuggets-news","33":"tag-nathan-mackinnon","34":"tag-nba","35":"tag-nba-playoffs","36":"tag-nhl","37":"tag-nhl-playoffs","38":"tag-nikola-jokic","39":"tag-nuggets","40":"tag-nuggets-takes","41":"tag-rockies","42":"tag-scott-wedgewood","43":"tag-sean-keeler","44":"tag-sean-keeler-versus","45":"tag-sports","46":"tag-sports-columnists","47":"tag-stan-kroenke","48":"tag-stanley-cup","49":"tag-troy-renck","50":"tag-troy-renck-versus","51":"tag-uswnt"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=556818"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556818\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/556819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=556818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=556818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=556818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}