The entire NHL world is talking about the Colorado Avalanche one way or another. A lot of folks are still talking about what went wrong for the Avs in their Western Conference Final series against the Vegas Golden Knights. Others are talking about the possibility of the team moving on from head coach Jared Bednar.
I could see the pros to that move, but I also feel like it is an overreaction and therefore, it probably won’t happen. Even though the team moved their end-of-season press conference back a couple of days, and that being noteworthy to some folks who believe a Bednar decision is coming because of that particular event, it feels like a complete longshot in my opinion.
TNT analyst and former NHL player Paul Bissonnette appeared on Spttin Chiclets recently and brought up his feelings towards a potential head coach move for the Avalanche, among more in-depth discussions.
“Some years it’s just not your time. It’s like, everything for Vegas is going right right now, right? They’ve pretty much dodged the injury bug other than dealing with what (Mark) Stone has.”
“Sometimes you’ve got to let this group that you’ve assembled go through these types of experiences without always just having massive amounts of turnover. I didn’t think (Brock) Nelson was that good. That’s a learning experience from him. He’s the type of guy that—like he seems like he cares drastically. He’s going to go look in the mirror this offseason and make adjustments and come back and figure things out.”
Bissonnette also pointed out that he feels like the Avalanche are still going to be competitive in 2026-27, which isn’t a big surprise, but it adds on to the reasons why Bednar should not be let go.
He says that the bigger thing is what their competition is doing because those other teams should be better than they were this past season.
Here’s the meat of the interview, though. It relates to how Bissonnette feels about the Avalanche possibly letting go of Bednar.
“I would not change Bednar. I think Torts’ (John Tortorella) comments probably has a little influence, too, as crazy as that sounds, like ‘get off his a**.’“
Bissonnette also points out another thing that every Avalanche fan would agree on: Figuring out the power play, as well as add a big sixth or seventh defenseman to compete physically with other teams such as Vegas.
You’re not looking for top scorers for your third pair defensemen. Those guys are meant to get on the ice, rough up their opponents and make sure offenses don’t get behind them a lot. They’ll maybe play six of seven minutes a game.
Parker Kelly and Jack Drury feel like guys who would remain in the lineup over someone like Joel Kiviranta, so replacing him would probably be fairly easy. Kiviranta played in 51 games, totalling three goals and six assists with 50 shots.
Something Bissonnette didn’t touch on was the team’s future with Brent Burns. Burns just finished up a one-year contract and is 41-years-old, and he’s been called out a lot for his play. Perhaps the Avalanche get a younger big defenseman to take Burns’ place.
I understand some fans are restless regarding the Avalanche, but there really is no guarantee that whoever the Avalanche would bring in would be better than Bednar. As Bissonnette also pointed out, sometimes it is just not your year.
We’ll find out at some point in the near future what the Avalanche decide on for their future. I reckon there won’t be much change.
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