Colorado Avalanche: Roy Coached Better than Bednar
Patrick Roy and the Players
In the next slide I’m going to talk about Patrick Roy’s style of coaching, which was as a fiery player’s coach. However, for now, I’m going to put forth something that’s as much a reality as Roy’s versus Bednar’s NHL coaching records. Indeed, the two are likely related.
Patrick Roy coached his best players to either match or exceed their best seasons. Under Jared Bednar, the majority of the core players had some of their worst seasons. And, yeah, I’m going to say it’s coaching.
For reference, Patrick Roy coached from 2013-16. Bednar coached the 2016-17 season.
Center Nathan MacKinnon won the Calder Trophy for rookie of the year during Roy’s first season of coaching with 63 points (24 goals, 39 assists) in 82 games. His second best points-per-game total came during 2015-16 when he earned 52 points (21 goals, 31 assists) in 72 games for .72 points per game. That’s his second best goal scoring year, too.
Center Matt Duchene had his best point year during 2013-14 with 70 (23 goals, 47 assists). He also scored 30 goals for the only time ever during the 2015-16 season under Roy.
Left wing Gabriel Landeskog had his best points total during the 2013-14 year at 65 (26 goals, 39 assists). His second best year was the next at 59 points (23 goals, 36 assists). His third best was the following year at 53 points (20 goals, 33 assists). All under coach Roy.
During the 2013-14 season defenseman Erik Johnson matched his best points year with 39, which was his best points year with the Colorado Avalanche. The following year marks his best goal-scoring year — 12. His third year under Roy was his second-best goal-scoring year, 11.
Most famously, goalie Semyon Varlamov excelled under coach Roy. His best season was 2013-14 when he recorded a 41-14-6 record with a .927 save percentage and 2.58 goals against average. That was good enough for him to be a Vezina Trophy finalist that year.
Nathan MacKinnon had his second-worst year under Jared Bednar. To be fair, his injury-plagued 2014-15 season was marginally worse.
Matt Duchene’s season under Bednar was second worst in his carer, surpassed only by his injury-plagued 2011-12 season.
Gabriel Landeskog had his second-worst points total and worst points-per-game season under Bednar. His worst season was his concussion year, 2012-13.
Erik Johnson had a worse year under Joe Sacco — 0 goals and 4 assists in 31 games. His 17 points in 46 games under Bednar is his second-worst season.
Semyon Varlamov had his worst win percentage (25%), goals against average (3.38) and save percentage (.898) under Bednar. Yes, he was injured. He was injured the previous season, too. His 2015-16 win percentage was 47%, goals against average 2.81, and save percentage .914. He was placed on injured reserve twice with the recurrent groin issue that season.
Even defenseman Tyson Barrie, who wasn’t exactly in the Patrick Roy mold, fared better under Roy. He recorded 53 points (5 goals, 26 assists) the 2014-15 season and 49 points (13 goals, 36 assists) the 2015-16 season. He also scored 13 goals during the 2013-14 season when he was still bouncing back and forth between the NHL and AHL.
Under Bednar, Barrie recorded his worst full season — 38 points (7 goals, 31 assists).
One or two players having a bad season under a coach, as some inevitably did under coach Roy, is normal. When your entire core under-performs in the same season, that’s coaching.
So let’s get into the coaching.