{"id":676468,"date":"2026-10-02T02:27:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T02:27:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/676468\/"},"modified":"2026-10-02T02:27:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T02:27:13","slug":"avs-core-is-getting-older-and-jared-bednar-keeps-getting-more-years-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/676468\/","title":{"rendered":"Avs’ core is getting older, and Jared Bednar keeps getting more years. Why?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Four more years<\/a>. For what?<\/p>\n

By giving coach Jared Bednar<\/a> a new deal Wednesday in the wake of the franchise\u2019s most embarrassing playoff exit since moving to Colorado, Joe Sakic <\/a>revealed how much comfort is valued over results.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

Everyone loves Bednar. The media appreciates his disarming personality and availability. The players believe, as captain Gabe Landeskog said, that he is a \u201cgreat coach and a great human.\u201d And Sakic trusts him.<\/p>\n

The problem? He is becoming the Avalanche\u2019s version of Atlanta Braves manager Bobby Cox. Starting in 1991, Cox guided the Braves to 14 division titles in 15 years. And he won a single World Series with teams speckled with Hall of Famers.\n<\/p>\n

Bednar\u2019s lone title looks lonelier than a left-out sock.<\/p>\n

Since 2022, when the NHL playoffs featured an explosion of scoring that fit the Avs\u2019 strengths perfectly, he hasn\u2019t been back to the Stanley Cup Final.\n<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t mean he isn\u2019t a heck of a coach. It just doesn\u2019t match the championship-or-else mentality ingrained by former general manager Pierre Lacroix.<\/p>\n

Marc Crawford, or \u201cCrow\u201d as he answered to, raised the organization\u2019s first banner in 1996. He was gone in two years. Same goes for Bob Hartley, who won a ring in the 2000-2001 season and was coaching the Atlanta Thrashers less than two seasons later. \t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Was this ruthless? Perhaps. But it was not pointless. The goal was singular.<\/p>\n

That no longer seems the case. Under Lacroix, the Avs were the equivalent of Kellogg\u2019s Frosted Flakes with Tony the Tiger roaring, imploring, \u201cThey\u2019re gr-r-reat!\u201d Under Sakic the past four seasons, the Avs are Timmy the Tiger, sheepishly saying, \u201cThey\u2019re goo-ood.\u201d<\/p>\n

At a press conference to celebrate Bednar\u2019s new deal, I played devil\u2019s advocate. I know Bednar\u2019s resume, how he is the Avs\u2019 most successful coach and boasts nine straight playoff berths. <\/p>\n

But I asked, \u201cSince winning the Stanley Cup, the team has been one of the favorites and not made it back. Why will it be different, why is he the right man to get this team across the finish line again?\u201d<\/p>\n

Sakic, gracious and professional as always, provided a revealing answer.<\/p>\n

\u201cFair question, I guess. But I will say we haven\u2019t reached it for different reasons. I would also say that you don\u2019t always look at the coaching staff. They aren\u2019t the ones on the ice. They aren\u2019t the ones that score the big goals or get that big save,\u201d Sakic explained. \u201cIn certain situations, we haven\u2019t been able to get it done, but as a group, the coaching staff and the players, they know what is expected. And their goal is to win the cup together, and hopefully we have another great regular season to put ourselves in a good spot and try to do it again. It\u2019s not always one person. When we don\u2019t get the job done, it\u2019s a team thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first part makes sense. Each postseason tells its own story, and in the case of Valeri Nichushkin, many mysteries. But the more he talked, the more Sakic appeared to be letting Bednar off the hook.<\/p>\n

He seems to be accepting of sour puck luck, player disappearances and injuries as reasons, even if they tread close to excuses. Sakic seems to think really good is good enough. And he definitely believes the lack of extension would have become a distraction.<\/p>\n

The choice, then, was easy. Add years. Case closed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s everything\u2026 he\u2019s the one who gave me the opportunity in the first place and stuck with me through some hard times,\u201d Bednar said. \u201cThat\u2019s my driving force. Trying to reward him, our owners, our players.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is no question that another downtown parade provides motivation. But the platitudes offered by Sakic for Bednar and Bednar for Sakic ignore the Avs\u2019 20-18 playoff record since winning the cup.\n<\/p>\n

It is like Sakic has this idea that a solid Avs team that continues to sell out games is enough. That the President\u2019s Cup made last season a success.<\/p>\n

I guess I just expect more. The Avs have been Colorado\u2019s Yankees since they arrived. They have won three Cups, and, perhaps we are spoiled, but that is how they are judged: that the core of Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar and Gabe Landeskog will get another one.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are one of the favorites (since 2022), for sure, and that\u2019s where we want to be. Is it Stanley Cup or bust? I guess you could say that internally. But it\u2019s also about having a great year. And last year we had a great year,\u201d Sakic said. \u201cAnd hopefully we do that again this year, where we have a good seed and put ourselves in position to make a run in the playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Forgive me. I thought the postseason was everything. A team this talented is playing 84 exhibitions. The referendum of Bednar and his contract starts in mid-April. The first game of the playoffs is Opening Night.<\/p>\n

That is when the schedule starts. The hope is they are healthy. We know they will be hungry. And, in a dot that connects back to Bednar, they must get lucky.<\/p>\n

The NHL playoff format is stupid. On this, we can all agree. It leads to bullies playing each other way too early. And if the seeds don\u2019t fall a certain way, fans fear the Avs will get knocked out yet again.<\/p>\n

That is why I followed up with Sakic. His thumbnail knows more about hockey than I ever will. But in extending Bednar, I wondered if he completely forgot how those series ended against Dallas and Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

Did he not detect a pattern of how the neutral zone trap left the Avs as so many mice caught in peanut butter on a plastic pedal?<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t want to go back to the last couple of years, but two years ago really it was speciality teams because in 5-on-5 hockey we were really good. Then last year, we had two great rounds, then we had a bad week of hockey. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s systems,\u201d Sakic said. \u201cThere are always adjustments to be made, but yeah, at the end of the day it\u2019s the guys on the ice who have to find a way to get it done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maybe Wednesday\u2019s power play will provide a cheat code for seven months from now. Maybe Mackenzie Blackwood will emerge as the elite goalie that Bednar has never had.<\/p>\n

But the truth is that the Avs\u2019 core keeps getting older, and Sakic responded by giving Bednar four more years. Whether it was the right move does not depend on the regular season.<\/p>\n

It hinges on Bednar winning another championship during the term of his contract, or Wednesday\u2019s decision will be considered disappointing.<\/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":"Four more years. For what? By giving coach Jared Bednar a new deal Wednesday in the wake of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":676469,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5116],"tags":[193,3014,1116,192,144,5277,147,1035,5,1371,910,1117,4444,1326,1180,1123,38,560,517,4,60,43,350,14,3978,3922,7562],"class_list":["post-676468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-colorado-avalanche","tag-avalanche","tag-braves","tag-cale-makar","tag-colorado","tag-colorado-avalanche","tag-coloradoavalanche","tag-dallas-stars","tag-gabe-landeskog","tag-hockey","tag-ice","tag-injuries","tag-jared-bednar","tag-joe-sakic","tag-las-vegas","tag-latest-headlines","tag-mackenzie-blackwood","tag-minnesota-wild","tag-mlb","tag-nathan-mackinnon","tag-nhl","tag-nhl-playoffs","tag-sports","tag-sports-columnists","tag-stanley-cup","tag-troy-renck","tag-valeri-nichushkin","tag-world-series"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/117368956086199452","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676468","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=676468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676468\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/676469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=676468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=676468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=676468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}