It\u2019s only been a week since the Colorado Avalanche were eliminated in the Western Conference Final, and changes are already underway.<\/p>\n
Most notably, general manager Chris MacFarland departed the organization on Tuesday to accept a promotion with the Nashville Predators. Even before his departure, one of the bigger questions surrounding the Avalanche\u2019s offseason was whether it would have any impact on the future of head coach Jared Bednar.<\/p>\n
It doesn\u2019t appear that it will.<\/p>\n
Bednar will remain behind the Avalanche bench for the 2026-27 season, according to Sportsnet NHL insider Elliotte Friedman.<\/p>\n
The news isn\u2019t entirely surprising given that players\u2019 exit interviews were four days ago and nothing had been announced. Bednar is entering his 11th season as Avalanche head coach this fall, having been hired in 2016 \u2014 one year after MacFarland joined the organization. Under Bednar, the Avalanche have been one of the top contending teams nearly every season, highlighted by their Stanley Cup championship in 2022.<\/p>\n
The real takeaway from Friedman\u2019s report isn\u2019t that Bednar will coach the Avalanche next season. It\u2019s that the organization must now decide whether he\u2019s entering the final year of his tenure in Colorado or the beginning of another long-term commitment.<\/p>\n
Bednar signed a contract extension in March 2023 that runs through the 2026-27 season. With just one year remaining on that deal, the Avalanche must decide whether to extend him before the season begins.<\/p>\n
Teams generally prefer to avoid having a head coach enter the season as a lame duck, making an extension a logical topic of discussion this summer. The question is whether the Avalanche view Bednar\u2019s body of work as enough to warrant another deal now, or if they prefer to evaluate him and the team\u2019s success through the final year of his contract.<\/p>\n
Another factor worth considering is the uncertainty surrounding the front office. While Joe Sakic is assuming GM duties for now, the Avalanche have not indicated whether that arrangement is permanent. If the organization eventually hires a new GM from outside the organization, that person may prefer to have a say in the head coach rather than inherit one already signed to another multi-year extension. It\u2019s one more variable that could influence the decision. <\/p>\n
The timing of all of this is also notable because the Avalanche remain firmly in their Stanley Cup window, with most of their roster already under contract for next season.<\/p>\n
Bednar\u2019s resume includes a Stanley Cup championship, something only six active NHL head coaches can claim. At the same time, the Avalanche have struggled to replicate that playoff success. This spring\u2019s eight postseason victories were the highest total Colorado has recorded in any season outside of its 2022 Stanley Cup run under Bednar\u2019s watch.<\/p>\n
Bednar returning for 2026-27 may not be the biggest takeaway from Friedman\u2019s report. Whether or not the Avalanche choose to extend the longest-tenured coach in franchise history before training camp could be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s only been a week since the Colorado Avalanche were eliminated in the Western Conference Final, and changes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":681628,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[1223,385,99],"class_list":["post-681627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-colorado-avalanche","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=681627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681627\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/681628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=681627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=681627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=681627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}