The Colorado Avalanche Nathan MacKinnon’s brutal admission following the team’s Game 7 loss to the Dallas Stars signals that change could be coming this offseason.
By now, I’m sure you’ve heard the sound bites and commentary surrounding what MacKinnon called:
“The worst loss of my career.”
But it wasn’t just losing the game. That’s a part of life. It was the way in which the Avalanche lost it.
They were up 2-0 with about half of the third period to play. And then, splat. Former Avalanche Mikko Rantanen led the Stars to victory. In fact, it was like the plot of any good mafia movie. The longtime best friend was the one who delivered the death blow to the story’s main protagonist.
Only this wasn’t a betrayal. It was a loss resulting from the Avalanche’s own doing. In the coming weeks, we’ll be dissecting what went wrong for the Avalanche. We’ll be piecing the epic collapse much the same way accident investigators pull bits from wreckage to determine what went wrong.
Now, check out MacKinnon's comments following the game:
Mackinnon’s admission signals that a major change is coming. What that change could be remains to be seen. But like Occam’s Razor, the simplest answer is usually the right one.
Colorado Avalanche could look for a new voice behind the bench
I don’t want to point the finger at anyone. But looking at it from a purely business perspective, Occam’s Razor would dictate that Jared Bednar will be the one to take the fall.
The Colorado Avalanche already invested a great deal of resources into overhauling the team. They brought in Martin Necas, MacKenzie Blackwood, Charlie Coyle, Ryan Lindgren, and Brock Nelson all at the expense of the team’s farm system and draft capital.
So, it would be pointless to gut the team and keep Bednar.
The simplest answer would be to move on from Bednar and find a new voice. It’s a tough decision. Bednar is the Avalanche's winningest coach. But there comes a time when a new voice is needed to right the ship.
This situation is a like company changing a department manager as a warning shot to the rest of the employees. If the rest of the department doesn’t get their act together, then wholesale changes could come.
That’s what the Avalanche are staring at. The Avs have one more season to turn the corner before were start talking about a rebuild.
Yes, even with MacKinnon and Cale Makar in their primes, we could be discussing what a roster overhaul for the Colorado Avalanche could be like.