Since the Stanley Cup victory in 2022, Jared Bednar’s job has looked more like Mr. Fix-It, trying to hold his team together with duct tape and paper clips. In the 2022-23 season, the Colorado Avalanche spent many games with Nathan MacKinnon and/or Cale Makar out due to injuries as well as many other players. The uncertainty of Gabriel Landeskog’s injury situation also loomed over the locker room. Despite those challenges, the team still managed to win the division but fell apart in the playoffs to the Seattle Kraken, a disaster fueled by the announcement of captain Gabriel Landeskog’s knee surgery, the sudden loss of Valeri Nichushkin, and Makar’s one-game suspension. Despite helping them getting to a Game 7, Bednar was not able to get them past the cumulative effect of all of those events.
The 2023-24 season started with some clarity since the team knew that they would be without their captain for the duration, but it did not take long for them to start to fray at the edges. Coach Bednar had to help guide them through extended absences of Samuel Girard and Valeri Nichushkin to the Player’s Assistance Program, the ill-fit of new addition Ryan Johannsen at second line center, and the beginning of Alexander Georgiev’s unraveling. Despite limping into the playoffs having lost seven of their final eleven games, Bednar was able to steer the team to a series win in five games. It looked like the momentum was in their favor with an overtime win in Game 1, but it quickly disappeared as the team lost the subsequent games. The big blow came in Game 5 when the team learned that they would once again lose Nichushkin to suspension as well as Devon Toews to illness. Once they went down three games to one, it was a hole that Bednar could not pull them out of either physically or emotionally.
The Colorado Avalanche of 2024-25 started out the season already behind the 8-ball. The team knew coming in that they would be without Nichushkin as he served the remainder of his six-month suspension as well as Artturi Lehkonen, who was recovering from offseason surgery. Added to that was the uncertainty of when Landeskog would be able to rejoin the team as well as the problematic goaltending from both Georgiev and Justus Annunen. From the first game of the season, Bednar had to continually improvise with the lineup as additional injuries continued to pile up and many night the roster looked like some NHL/AHL mash-up.
Beyond the injuries, there was a lot of turnover in the roster as a result of the multiple trades made over the course of the season. Bednar had to account for the loss of players as well as help get the new guys integrated into the team’s systems. By the end of the season, the Avalanche had dressed 49 different players, which made it almost impossible for him to find any consistency with which to deploy his players. By the time the team reached the playoffs, it was as if they had hit a wall and Bednar was unable to coach them past the Dallas Stars in their Game 7 loss.
What was wrong has been set right…
The majority of what plagued the Avalanche and Jared Bednar over the past three seasons has been fixed. Aside from time missed for Logan O’Connor due to surgery, the Avs are starting the season with a healthy roster. The goaltending tandem of Mackenzie Blackwood and Scott Wedgewood is the most reliable one the team has had since they won the Cup in 2022. Their top six forwards are as strong as any in the league. The captain is back, a presence which is invaluable both on and off the ice.
With all of the circumstantial upheaval settled, Bednar is now under the microscope to see if he still has what it takes to lead the Avalanche on a deep playoff run. Many of his decisions will determine just how successful the team will be this season, especially in regards to deployment, consistency, and the power play.
Deployment comes down to who plays on each line or defensive pairing. It will be key to find chemistry early. Some decisions are easy like leaving Toews and Makar together as the top D-pair. Other decisions – like whether to play Martin Necas on the top line with MacKinnon or spread his zone entry abilities down to the second line – will require deeper thought and planning. Another essential element of deployment will be maximizing the stars’ opportunities in order to not overextend their time on ice. Especially with many of them participating in the Winter Olympics, it will be important to not foster burnout. This applies to the goalies as well and finding the best division of labor between Blackwood and Wedgewood.
Once the right combinations are decided on, it will be important for Bednar to give those lines and pairing time to gel. It is tempting to mix and match when production starts to dry up and the coach has come by the nickname “Blendnar” honestly. Now that the revolving door has slowed down, he needs to let those lines and pairings keep working together, even when – or especially when! – they are not perfectly clicking together. The process of working through those struggles will make them more formidable when bigger difficulties arise in the playoffs.
Finally, Jared Bednar needs to reimagine the power play to take advantage of the dual threat that exists in the form of MacKinnon and Necas together. He needs to use their speed and creativity to accelerate the pace of play and keep the defense on their heels. Makar, Lehkonen, and Landeskog are players that can read off them and put themselves in positions to capitalize on whatever opportunities the two of them produce. Where the power play had been at risk of stagnation in the past, Bednar now has the ability and resources to turn it into the top unit in the league.
No excuse for failure for Jared Bednar and the Colorado Avalanche
While there are many reasons that the Avalanche have come up short in the playoffs in the past three seasons, there is no longer any room for error for Jared Bednar this season.
He has all the tools he needs to guide this team not just to a postseason berth, but to a convincing division crown and a deep playoff run. Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar are in their primes. Key supporting pieces like Necas, Nelson, Lehkonen, and Nichushkin are poised to have big seasons alongside them. The defense is considered one of the best in the league. The goaltending is steady and capable of much more. All the ingredients are there, and Coach Bednar is expected to make them into a team who can go all the way. Anything less than that, and the Colorado Avalanche might have to decide whether they need a new voice to lead the way.