The Colorado Avalanche have signed head coach Jared Bednar to a contract extension for an additional four seasons. The team announced the move early Wednesday morning, just hours before they take on the Los Angeles Kings at Ball Arena.
Bednar has been the head coach of the Avalanche since 2016 following the resignation of Patrick Roy, and it has been one of the better head coaching moves in all of the NHL. They have consistently been in the postseason, and won the Stanley Cup in 2021-22.
This move was one of several the team had been looking to get done. First, the Cale Makar extension (finally) got done, and Avalanche fans are still waiting for the news that Artturi Lehkonen will be hanging around—if that move is to happen (which it should).
Bednar has a record of 445-262-75 as the Avalanche head coach. After a disastrous 2016-17 season coming into the organization in that major role, he has consistently led the Avalanche to winning ways. The team has only finished fourth or worst in the division three times, and those were the first three seasons of his head coaching tenure.
I feel like Bednar has been snubbed from winning the Jack Adams award for best head coach in the NHL a couple of times—none more glaring than last season, when Jon Cooper won it. Bednar led the team to the best record in the NHL and still fell well short of taking home the award. He wasn’t even a finalist, for whatever reason.
Cooper is currently the league’s longest-tenured head coach. Five years older than Bednar, Cooper could eventually retire before Bednar is no longer with the organization, which would give the Avalanche head coach the title of longest-tenured coach. That would be very cool given what Colorado went through before his arrival.
The Avalanche are hoping to not only maintain the regular season momentum, but also advance further into the postseason. They were not themselves during the Stanley Cup playoff series loss to the Vegas Golden Knights, as they lost 4-0 and were swept by the team that lost in the Final.
Things could be different for the Avalanche now that Bednar is locked in for an additional four seasons.
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