The message was similar, even if Sakic\u2019s role has now changed. He sat next to Kroenke Sports & Entertainment vice-chairman Josh Kroenke this time, but belief in the Avalanche players and coaches was again a central theme.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s disappointing. It stings,\u201d said Sakic, now the president and general manager of the Avs with MacFarland in Nashville. \u201cBut we\u2019ve got a great hockey team here, and this team was built for a 2-3 year run. We still got most of the guys coming back, and their expectations, our expectations, I know the fans\u2019 expectations, is to try and win a (Stanley) Cup.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd we\u2019re hopefully going to accomplish that next year, but it really was, overall, an incredibly fun year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Colorado ran the league for more than six months, leading the NHL standings from Nov.\u00a0 1 through the conclusion of the regular season. The Avs rolled past Los Angeles and Minnesota to reach the second half of the postseason tournament for the first time since 2022.<\/p>\n
![\"Nazem](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/TDP-L-AVS-KNIGHTSAO1_7654x.jpg\")
Nazem Kadri (91) of the Colorado Avalanche reacts after the the Vegas Golden Knights\u2019 2-1 win in Game 4 of the NHL Western Conference Final at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on Tuesday, May 26, 2026. Vegas finished the series with a 4-0 sweep and will advance to the Stanley Cup Final. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz\/The Denver Post)<\/p>\n
But the Avalanche express derailed at full speed<\/a>, a stunning, fiery crash of a four-game sweep by the Vegas Golden Knights<\/a> in the Western Conference Final. MacFarland is gone, but Sakic and Kroenke preached belief in the group and continuity throughout a nearly 30-minute press conference.<\/p>\n Sticking with Bednar<\/p>\n Not only will Jared Bednar return for an 11th season as head coach, but his assistants will also return. Bednar is entering the final year of his contract, but Sakic alluded to a potential extension coming later in the offseason.<\/p>\n \u201cWe haven\u2019t thought about [that]. Right now, the priority is getting through the draft, free agency,\u201d Sakic said. \u201cTry and make our team as good as possible going into the summer. The rest of the stuff we will push that down the line. We\u2019ll figure out later in the summer on all that stuff, but I don\u2019t think he\u2019s worried about it. He shouldn\u2019t be worried about it. The contracts will come when they come.\u201d<\/p>\n When asked why Bednar is returning, compared with title-winning coach Mike Malone, who was fired from the KSE-owned Denver Nuggets late in the 2024-25 season, Kroenke was succinct.<\/p>\n \u201cI think he has absolute belief of the dressing room,\u201d Kroenke said.<\/p>\n Sakic is now the GM of this franchise, and there is no acting or interim qualification. The structure from the past two seasons remains the same, just with MacFarland out and Sakic back in the GM chair.<\/p>\n While Sakic said he\u2019s enjoyed the increased workload shifting back over the past couple of weeks, what his long-term future is and the front-office structure are still to be determined.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m taking over being GM right now,\u201d Sakic said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got a great staff. Really confident in our group. It\u2019s business as usual from our end. We\u2019re going to try and, as a staff, make this team as good as possible so we can try and be a contender again.\u201d<\/p>\n Colorado currently has 17 of its top 20 players from last season under contract for next year. No. 4 center Jack Drury is a restricted free agent. Two defensemen, Brett Kulak and Brent Burns, are unrestricted free agents.<\/p>\n The Avs do not have much room below the salary cap ceiling \u2014 a touch shy of $3 million, per PuckPedia \u2014 so just retaining those players is not an option. There is also work to be done filling out the depth beyond those 20 \u2014 extra forwards Joel Kiviranta (UFA) and Zakhar Bardakov (RFA) plus next-up defensemen Nick Blankenburg (UFA) and Jack Ahcan (UFA) all need new deals or replaced.<\/p>\n Sakic and Kroenke both spoke more about marginal changes than drastic ones.<\/p>\n \u201cWe could panic and try and blow everything up and start all over, but this team, what they\u2019ve done over the course of the year was pretty remarkable,\u201d Sakic said. \u201cNow we want to give them an opportunity to try and do it again. I mean, the last two trade deadlines were meant for not just that year \u2014 to try and compete for a few years with this group and try and bring home a Stanley Cup. That\u2019s the goal.\u201d<\/p>\n Upgrades off the ice<\/p>\n This was the first time Kroenke spoke at an Avalanche-specific press conference since Nathan MacKinnon signed an eight-year, $100.82 million contract Sept. 20, 2022. Sakic addressed the next mega-contract Colorado expects to complete with co-franchise player Cale Makar this summer, and Kroenke had updates on a couple of other long-term franchise-building items.<\/p>\n One was progress on a new practice facility. The Avs currently practice at Family Sports Center in Centennial, where the team\u2019s offices are also based. Both they and the Nuggets hope to have new spaces of their own downtown as part of KSE\u2019s 55-acre development project around Ball Arena.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s one final hurdle that we\u2019re in,\u201d Kroenke said. \u201cWe hope to have some information relatively soon. We\u2019re dealing with the city, and we\u2019re working on pedestrian access over Speer (Blvd.) in and around that. So hopefully once we are able to iron out and finalize that with the city, we\u2019ll be able to announce something. I don\u2019t have an exact time frame, but we\u2019re very close.\u201d<\/p>\n Another was the future of the Avalanche payroll. The NHL\u2019s salary cap ceiling is in an era of unprecedented, rapid growth. The ceiling was $95.5 million this season, but will rise to $104 million for 2026-27 and is expected to spike to $113.5 million the following year with future, similar hikes also expected.<\/p>\n That has led to speculation in the NHL that far fewer franchises will be willing to spend up to or near the cap ceiling. Twelve teams, including the Avalanche, spent up to or within $1 million of the cap ceiling this year, and half the league \u2014 16 clubs \u2014 spent more than $93 million, or within $2.5 million of the ceiling.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we\u2019ve been a cap team for how many years now?\u201d Kroenke said. \u201cI think with the core players that we have, we\u2019re going to keep being as aggressive as possible. I think that some of that stuff can kind of go in cycles, but I think if you have a core of Nathan McKinnon and Cale Makar, led by Gabe Landeskog, and then the depth that we have. I think you better be pushing it, trying to go for Cups.<\/p>\n \u201cI think going for Cups means you are spending as much as you can when you can, and using your resources as smartly as possible as well.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Right](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/TDP-L-AvsVsKnightsGame2-20260522-TH-50.jpg\")
Right wing Cole Smith (22) of the Vegas Golden Knights gets a lick in on center Jack Drury (18) of the Colorado Avalanche during the first period of Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals of the Stanley Cup Playoffs on Friday, May 22, 2026, at Ball Arena in Denver. (Photo by Timothy Hurst\/The Denver Post)<\/p>\n