Also, I know Jussi Parkkila has received mixed reviews thus far, so take it for what its worth when Andrew Hammond sings his praises, apparently they've worked together during his brief couple of callups.
Jared Bednar & Co. Discussion Thread
- Thread starter Pokecheque
- Start date
- Feb 24, 2012
- 62,990
- 47,259
I think it is important to not let improvement cloud too much. If this team was going from a 80 point team to a 90 point team, people wouldn't be as happy as a team that had the worst record in 15 years to a 90 point team. The team severely underperformed last year, and IMO, are slightly over performing now. Bednar should get the due credit if the team maintains this, but if the team finishes around 75-80... I don't think year over year should get influence much. There is also the emergence of MacKinnon here... now part of that, I think can be well argued that Bednar has helped push him forward. Another is MacK is finally playing up to his talent, and him doing so can hide a lot of flaws. MacK is currently directly connected to Avs goals to the tune of 39%... I'm sure he has another 4 or 5 percent that he has directly caused. Last year he was high at 32% and we are 7% above that now. It is good that he has broke out, but the Avs are completely dependent on him producing to produce consistent offense. We see signs of secondary scoring, but it has yet to really be consistent. To me, that is the next thing this team really needs to move forward.
Also, again, take it for what its worth because there's obviously a lot more at play than just the switching of a head coach, but the defending Calder Cup champion Cleveland Monsters missed the playoffs the year after Bednar left and John Madden took over and are currently dead last in the AHL.
I'd love nothing more than to be wrong about Bednar's potential as a coach. I have to admit, him and Sakic have both been able to learn from their mistakes.
Bennett was my big hope for balancing Bednar's approach to offense, and it seems to have paid off.
I still kind of get that puky feeling in the back of my throat when I have to praise Bednar though. lol
Bennett was my big hope for balancing Bednar's approach to offense, and it seems to have paid off.
I still kind of get that puky feeling in the back of my throat when I have to praise Bednar though. lol
Completely agreed.
The good news in this regard is that 3 of our expected to be secondary guys, are rookies. One of them is having a season far above expectations of just about everyone. And another is starting to show signs of figuring it out at the NHL level after a slow and tough transition period to the game.
It was Tim Army's fault the entire time.
Raucherhusten
Unselfish Gif Lover
We lost a big part of our secondary scoring when Duchene left and the "replacements" are young and need time. They will get there eventually (i hope)
a mangy Meowth
Ross Colton Fan
I think the lack of prep time legitimately screwed him over last year - strange player usage notwithstanding.
He's made good adjustments and I like how some of the systems look. I'd be okay with keeping him around.
He's made good adjustments and I like how some of the systems look. I'd be okay with keeping him around.
Foppa2118
Registered User
- Oct 3, 2003
- 52,347
- 31,518
I don't want to negate any credit that Bednar deserves for this turnaround season. I think the there are a few reasons aside from him, like the team being much better, and the addition of Girard and Z finding his game, getting much faster up front, and goaltending are big factors.
That said, he's got this group to play as a team, and even though I think his system is overly mechanical, he has this young group buying in, and working together like a machine.
He definitely deserves some credit for MacKinnon's season, and that's the biggest reason for the turnaround. Without that, this team is a bottom dweller again IMO. I don't think his emotionless even keel approach is good for a lot of players and teams, but it works for MacKinnon. He was a little too up and down before.
That said, I think Ray Bennett might be the secret part of this turnaround season. He's been a jack of all trades coach his entire career. Worked on the PP, on the PK, as a video coach, as an eye in the sky assistant coach, as a head coach, and as a bench assistant under some of the smarter coaches in the game like Andy Murray and Ken Hitchcock, who both spoke glowingly of him.
He's also known as a a master game planner, and I think this is something Bednar struggled with last year. He wouldn't adjust his approach much for the teams he faced.
Bennett is known to run the PP, but I have this sneaking suspicion he's played a big part in the PK success too. It just looks a little different than this year, and the player usage seems different.
Last year MacKinnon had the 2nd most PK time during the season among forwards, behind Comeau. Landy was 3rd. Duchene was 6th. They were using their top guys on the PK.
This year Comeau, Soda, Nieto, and Compher are their top 4 minutes leaders on the PK. Landy is 5th, and MacKinnon is 6th.
This is a fairly big strategic change, and I think Bennett is behind it. Arguably the biggest key to success on the PK is coaching, and breaking down the opposing team on video. He probably won't get credit, but I have a feeling he provably deserves a ton of it.
Bednar seems to consult with him a lot on the bench after whistle, and before line changes. He didn't do this as much with Army. He seemed to consult with Pratt a lot more. Now he's always talking to Bennett, and Bennett always looks stoic when talking like he knows he's in a mentor type role.
This comment about how he viewed his role as an assistant when an inexperienced Davis Payne took over in St Louis always stood out to me as well, as I think he probably had a similar mindset towards his role with Bednar.
Blues Insider: Assistant coach Bennett has staying power
That said, he's got this group to play as a team, and even though I think his system is overly mechanical, he has this young group buying in, and working together like a machine.
He definitely deserves some credit for MacKinnon's season, and that's the biggest reason for the turnaround. Without that, this team is a bottom dweller again IMO. I don't think his emotionless even keel approach is good for a lot of players and teams, but it works for MacKinnon. He was a little too up and down before.
That said, I think Ray Bennett might be the secret part of this turnaround season. He's been a jack of all trades coach his entire career. Worked on the PP, on the PK, as a video coach, as an eye in the sky assistant coach, as a head coach, and as a bench assistant under some of the smarter coaches in the game like Andy Murray and Ken Hitchcock, who both spoke glowingly of him.
He's also known as a a master game planner, and I think this is something Bednar struggled with last year. He wouldn't adjust his approach much for the teams he faced.
Bennett is known to run the PP, but I have this sneaking suspicion he's played a big part in the PK success too. It just looks a little different than this year, and the player usage seems different.
Last year MacKinnon had the 2nd most PK time during the season among forwards, behind Comeau. Landy was 3rd. Duchene was 6th. They were using their top guys on the PK.
This year Comeau, Soda, Nieto, and Compher are their top 4 minutes leaders on the PK. Landy is 5th, and MacKinnon is 6th.
This is a fairly big strategic change, and I think Bennett is behind it. Arguably the biggest key to success on the PK is coaching, and breaking down the opposing team on video. He probably won't get credit, but I have a feeling he provably deserves a ton of it.
Bednar seems to consult with him a lot on the bench after whistle, and before line changes. He didn't do this as much with Army. He seemed to consult with Pratt a lot more. Now he's always talking to Bennett, and Bennett always looks stoic when talking like he knows he's in a mentor type role.
This comment about how he viewed his role as an assistant when an inexperienced Davis Payne took over in St Louis always stood out to me as well, as I think he probably had a similar mindset towards his role with Bednar.
Blues Insider: Assistant coach Bennett has staying power
Not only that, he had bar none the slowest lineup in the NHL. The only legitimate slogger on the team this year IMO is Carl Soderberg.
By the way, while I still believe we are still in an evaluative period with Jared Bednar, one nonsense argument I'd like to put to rest once and for all is this idea that "he was given a bad roster, but not a 48 pts-bad roster." 
1. He was hired mere weeks before camp was set to open, and didn't even have a chance to hire his own assistants.
2. Sakic took a slow, soft roster and made it slower and softer, though I will later post something in the Sakic thread to defend these moves. I know, but it'll make sense later.
3. The team's best defenseman, Erik Johnson, went down with a broken leg, missing significant time, and Nikita Zadorov later in the season went down with injury.
4. The team's starting goaltender, Semyon Varlamov played 24 games, likely playing through injury that eventually required surgery to correct.
Do I think any coach would end up with 48 points? No. Do I think any coach could do demonstrably better under these circumstances? You tell me.
1. He was hired mere weeks before camp was set to open, and didn't even have a chance to hire his own assistants.
2. Sakic took a slow, soft roster and made it slower and softer, though I will later post something in the Sakic thread to defend these moves. I know, but it'll make sense later.
3. The team's best defenseman, Erik Johnson, went down with a broken leg, missing significant time, and Nikita Zadorov later in the season went down with injury.
4. The team's starting goaltender, Semyon Varlamov played 24 games, likely playing through injury that eventually required surgery to correct.
Do I think any coach would end up with 48 points? No. Do I think any coach could do demonstrably better under these circumstances? You tell me.
klozge
Avs
And he had never coached in the NHL before. Neither as head coach nor as assistant coach.By the way, while I still believe we are still in an evaluative period with Jared Bednar, one nonsense argument I'd like to put to rest once and for all is this idea that "he was given a bad roster, but not a 48 pts-bad roster."
1. He was hired mere weeks before camp was set to open, and didn't even have a chance to hire his own assistants.
2. Sakic took a slow, soft roster and made it slower and softer, though I will later post something in the Sakic thread to defend these moves. I know, but it'll make sense later.
3. The team's best defenseman, Erik Johnson, went down with a broken leg, missing significant time, and Nikita Zadorov later in the season went down with injury.
4. The team's starting goaltender, Semyon Varlamov played 24 games, likely playing through injury that eventually required surgery to correct.
Do I think any coach would end up with 48 points? No. Do I think any coach could do demonstrably better under these circumstances? You tell me.
a mangy Meowth
Ross Colton Fan
Another thing I’ve noticed this year is seemingly a lot fewer too many men on the ice penalties. I’m just going off the eye test here. But we just seem a lot more disciplined. Thanks coach!
- Apr 25, 2006
- 49,577
- 52,766
I'm glad that we no longer hear about this "Bednar needs to be more emotional" nonsense. Players and now fans are starting to embrace the boring yet reassuring personality of Bednar.
....how the critics have been silenced. The earlier criticism of the Soda line, PK, PP....happy to see some people at least acknowledge that Bednar is doing a great job.
Care to rethink this? (I know my hind sight is 20/20), but perhaps the coach had some foresight.
Playing as a team and getting everyone to “buy in” was what Bednar was touted for when they brought him in.
Well they certainly made me eat crow last night!
I still would like to see that line broken up later on and mixed in with the kids but for now I don’t blame Bednar for not messing with it.
10-game win streak comes to an end. I suppose it's nice that it was bookended by a season sweep of the Maple Leafs.
Praise all around to the players and staff, for the most part they were a well-oiled machine, and they absolutely demolished the Wylde during that time to boot. And I can't really pick a spot even being as nitpicky as possible as to how they could've done better.
Praise all around to the players and staff, for the most part they were a well-oiled machine, and they absolutely demolished the Wylde during that time to boot. And I can't really pick a spot even being as nitpicky as possible as to how they could've done better.
Ah, the true test of any NHL coach is coming up...The dreaded GOALIE CONTROVERSY.
Foppa Frossa
Registered User
)on Varly and ease him back into the lineup.
It's funny because Bednar was getting some flack about playing Bernier too much earlier in the season.
It's funny because Bednar was getting some flack about playing Bernier too much earlier in the season.
Not from me lol. If there has been one thing I didn't have a problem with it's how he handles the goalies. There was a clear mandate to give Varly a lighter work load, and Varly was not playing well enough where I was felt like it was worth it rescind that sentiment.
He also seemed to set weakly tentative schedules for them, so both knew ahead of time what was going on.
I refuse to give him props yet, but I'll admit when he did nothing wrong lol.
expatriatedtexan
Habitual Line Stepper
- Aug 17, 2005
- 16,727
- 12,251
It's funny because Bednar was getting some flack about playing Bernier too much earlier in the season.
I thought it was weird that Bernier was getting so many starts earlier but I don't think I threw any shade at Bednar over it. IMO, he was probably trying to see if one of them would just run away with the starter's job. At this point, I think Bernier has and would ease Varly back into things and challenge him to steal the #1 duties back.
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