Confirmed with Link: Avalanche Adds Bennett, Parkkila to Coaching Staff

Foppa2118

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I thought about that, but I don't think he's had HC experience outside of Red Deer Community College (according to his bio). Maybe he'll do as an interim HC for a lost season, but I really hope their thought process isn't to have Bennett as a fallback just because he's been around a while.

And that was only two years in the mid 90's. He's actually the perfect interim type that there is no pressure to keep. Will give them time to make a long term decision if they want to pursue it that way.
 

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We knew about Parkkila, and that's obviously good news given his connection to Varly.

I'm borderline shocked they brought in such an experienced assistant coach. I'm assuming he'll be a bench coach, not the "eye in the sky" role that they mentioned him having experience with. That's usually a lesser role.

This is four years ago but it does not sound like much had changed.

Hodschayan: You joined the St. Louis Blues back in 2006 after spending six season with the Los Angeles Kings. When you were with the Kings, what were you primarily in charge of?
Bennett: My role changed and evolved over time there. I went as an assistant coach/video coordinator and left as the coach in charge of PP, team prep based on pre-scout and a full time bench coach.

Hodschayan: When you joined the Blues, how did your role change?
Bennett: I came with Andy Murray in a similar role to what I finished with in LA.

Hodschayan: You have seen your fair share of coaching changes in St. Louis during your tenure with the Blues. How has your role evolved since first joining the team.
Bennett: It has become much more focused on team preparation working with Coach Hitchcock on game planning, in game analysis and adjustments and post-game review of our Offensive Team Play.

More recently

“Andy (Murray) called me and said, ‘Listen, Ray is a great evaluator of game plans and evaluation of personnel and he can be a real asset for you as far as enhancing your preparation,’†Hitchcock said. “And he was right on the mark.â€Â

The reference call was hardly needed, but important to Murray.

My guess is he is on the bench, but regardless, that is exactly what Bednar needs. This is all in the context of coming from a team who has been competing at the top of the league in the West for a while obviously. Like him or not Hitch is one of the top coaches in the league.
 

Foppa2118

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There were rumors back in the day linking the Avs to Murray a bit. They seemed to always admire his coaching abilities, despite being more defensive than they like. Same can be said for Hitch.
 

CobraAcesS

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There were rumors back in the day linking the Avs to Murray a bit. They seemed to always admire his coaching abilities, despite being more defensive than they like. Same can be said for Hitch.

Hadn't seen that, interesting. I like that Bennett comes from a back ground where he had to mix in a competitive offensive game plan with a coach who heavily valued defense the way Bednar does. It just seems like a good fit in the style of coach hes used to working with.

I'd much rather have Bednar gone, but if you are going to give him another chance. You might as well try to fill in the weaknesses. I think this could do that. So it gives me a little more hope for our players offensive seasons.
 

LieutenantDangle

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Bennett carried on, but with a coach 17 years younger and without NHL experience, his approach as an assistant had to change.

“You got a sense, and I don’t want this to be disrespectful because it’s not, but you got a sense that this guy’s experience level is not what it was with the prior guy so I need to really dig in here and help him,†Bennett said. “Regardless of what your experiences are, if you’ve not been at the NHL level, it is different.â€

Sounds like someone who could really help Bednar out tremendously
 

CobraAcesS

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Bennett carried on, but with a coach 17 years younger and without NHL experience, his approach as an assistant had to change.

“You got a sense, and I donÂ’t want this to be disrespectful because itÂ’s not, but you got a sense that this guyÂ’s experience level is not what it was with the prior guy so I need to really dig in here and help him,†Bennett said. “Regardless of what your experiences are, if youÂ’ve not been at the NHL level, it is different.Ââ€

Sounds like someone who could really help Bednar out tremendously

Yeah maybe I am getting a bit too excited here over a assistant coach, but I really needed some sort of hope when it came to our coaching staff, and the offensive growth of our younger NHL players with this hire. I got what I wanted. Hopefully it has the impact that I think it can.
 

Foppa2118

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A few tidbits on Bennett.

He was with the Blues for EJ's entire tenure. At some point he took over the PP duties, though by his own admission he came in as a video coach.

Coincidentally or not, EJ's two best seasons on the power play were in St Louis his first two years. Both in goals and points.

If you accumulate the PP% for teams from 2007-08 to 2016-17, where Bennett was the assistant coach, and presumably ran the PP most years except early on, and probably 2010-11 when he moved upstairs under Mellanby, their power play ranks 9th in the league over that time with 18.8%.

Over the course of the last three seasons, they're 2nd in the league on the PP with 21.7%.

They've been in the top 10 on the PP each year of the last four seasons.

http://www.nhl.com/stats/team?aggre...20162017&filter=gamesPlayed,gte,1&sort=ppPctg
 
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EdAVSfan

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Honestly, other than a duchene trade, has this offseason not gone exactly how a majority of the fans wanted it to go?

From the draft, to the exodus of everyone we wanted gone that we could get rid of, to a more youth movement, with some sprinkling of low cost add ons. Good goalie coach hire, experienced, non-nepotistic assistant coach with a PP track record.
 

AMDZen

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That's actually really great news. It's been a bad offseason in a way of what HASN'T happened (Duchene), but the things that have happened have been great for this team.

Don't know how Avs fans can think this. The fact that Duchene hasn't been traded proves that if he had been, we wouldn't like the return.

You wanted Hamonic plus a first in 2019 for Duchene? Because that is what we are looking at if he had been traded.

This off-season has been nothing but good things so far.
 

tigervixxxen

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Honestly, other than a duchene trade, has this offseason not gone exactly how a majority of the fans wanted it to go?

From the draft, to the exodus of everyone we wanted gone that we could get rid of, to a more youth movement, with some sprinkling of low cost add ons. Good goalie coach hire, experienced, non-nepotistic assistant coach with a PP track record.

I think most people wanted an indicator of a "rebuild". If we accept that's not happening then yeah a few small moves is what we wanted.
 

AMDZen

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Honestly, other than a duchene trade, has this offseason not gone exactly how a majority of the fans wanted it to go?

From the draft, to the exodus of everyone we wanted gone that we could get rid of, to a more youth movement, with some sprinkling of low cost add ons. Good goalie coach hire, experienced, non-nepotistic assistant coach with a PP track record.

I suppose it's too much to ask for, but it's amazing that this fanbase (on this forum) never learns. In a few years when we're pushing out MacKinnon because he never lives up to his talent.

Stastny, RoR, and now Duchene. I would bet money we haven't seen the last of this idiotic trend. When will it be enough and maybe wonder if the problem isn't the player's?

Whatever though.
 

the_fan

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Honestly, other than a duchene trade, has this offseason not gone exactly how a majority of the fans wanted it to go?

From the draft, to the exodus of everyone we wanted gone that we could get rid of, to a more youth movement, with some sprinkling of low cost add ons. Good goalie coach hire, experienced, non-nepotistic assistant coach with a PP track record.

Things that have happened so far in the off season aren't exactly things that are hard to do for a GM, buying out players, signing depth UFA players, drafting, letting go older players, hiring coaches etc... this aren't exactly rocket science moves for a GM.

Now the Duchene situation is where a true work of GM comes in, and i for one am worried about Sakic is just gonna screw it up and that will set this team even further back. All i can say is the best thing to do right now is concentrate on resigning Duchene instead of dragging this thing until the end by asking for too much then end up losing Duchene for nothing.
 

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The only thing I hate about the Duchene situation is the continued uncertainty. Hopefully he plays well the Avs just up and decide to keep him. Of course that could boost his trade value so...:dunno:

Anyhow, I agree that this offseason has gone about as well as we fans have any right to expect. There's still some time to go before the puck finally drops in October, but so far...so good.
 

Avs44

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I think we had a right to expect a Duchene trade - and a good one. Sakic's let his name hang out there for years. Him finding a good deal after two years of this rot should be a mandate. Sakic's done the right small things this year, and some of them are encouraging, but he's 1) failed to fire Jared Bednar, and 2) Failed to trade (and get a decent return) for Duchene. 1 isn't going to happen. If 2 doesn't happen either, then I think this has been a poor off-season.
 

AMDZen

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Things that have happened so far in the off season aren't exactly things that are hard to do for a GM, buying out players, signing depth UFA players, drafting, letting go older players, hiring coaches etc... this aren't exactly rocket science moves for a GM.

Now the Duchene situation is where a true work of GM comes in, and i for one am worried about Sakic is just gonna screw it up and that will set this team even further back. All i can say is the best thing to do right now is concentrate on resigning Duchene instead of dragging this thing until the end by asking for too much then end up losing Duchene for nothing.

Seems to me that many around here just want Duchene gone and don't care about the return. Otherwise they would see that a good return just most likely isn't there this summer. If it had been, he would have been traded.

I reconcile the fact that Duchene will most likely be traded, but I also see that he most likely won't be this summer. I don't get why people are pushing him out the door with zero patience. If he does even a little better this coming season his value will be about the same even by next summer when the market will have changed and we could hopefully get a LHD we need.
 

AMDZen

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I think we had a right to expect a Duchene trade - and a good one. Sakic's let his name hang out there for years. Him finding a good deal after two years of this rot should be a mandate. Sakic's done the right small things this year, and some of them are encouraging, but he's 1) failed to fire Jared Bednar, and 2) Failed to trade (and get a decent return) for Duchene. 1 isn't going to happen. If 2 doesn't happen either, then I think this has been a poor off-season.

Then it's been a bad off-season since neither of those two things are happening.

Why is it so difficult to realize that the market wasn't there for Duchene? Sakic would have traded for a deal that helped the team. I am usually the Sakic hater and I am the voice of reason giving Sakic the benefit of the doubt?
 

Avs44

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Seems to me that many around here just want Duchene gone and don't care about the return. Otherwise they would see that a good return just most likely isn't there this summer. If it had been, he would have been traded.

I reconcile the fact that Duchene will most likely be traded, but I also see that he most likely won't be this summer. I don't get why people are pushing him out the door with zero patience. If he does even a little better this coming season his value will be about the same even by next summer when the market will have changed and we could hopefully get a LHD we need.

I'm sorry, seriously? Two years of Duchene rumors and people now saying "enough is enough" is impatient?


I can't even imagine how mentally frayed Duchene is right now. He's admitted he checks social media and online to see what's said about him before. He probably wakes up every day wondering if he's going to get the text message or phone call saying he's been moved - he's hoping he gets that. He's always been a somewhat mentally fragile player, that's always been his biggest hurdle - can you imagine what sort of stressful shape he's going to show up at camp in if this goes on for another two months, with endless media and fan speculation all day every day?


The charade needs to end. Duchene either needs to go, or if Sakic doesn't have the balls to do that then he should flat out publicly say, and soon, that Duchene is absolutely not getting moved. Sakic letting this circus go on and on and on is amateur hour.


And to answer your other post: why on earth should any of us give Joe Sakic the benefit of the doubt? If Sakic hasn't found a deal that helps the Avs in two years then he's an idiot.
 

the_fan

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Seems to me that many around here just want Duchene gone and don't care about the return. Otherwise they would see that a good return just most likely isn't there this summer. If it had been, he would have been traded.

I reconcile the fact that Duchene will most likely be traded, but I also see that he most likely won't be this summer. I don't get why people are pushing him out the door with zero patience. If he does even a little better this coming season his value will be about the same even by next summer when the market will have changed and we could hopefully get a LHD we need.

Well with the recent history of this team handling their bigger name players, i hope they resign Duchene, because as i mentioned before, they either gonna lose him to free agency like Stastny, or get a ROR type return. I mean Zadorov is a good player and all, but i much rather keep Duchene than get another Zadorov type of deal for him.

I just don't trust the Avs management when it comes to making big trades, it's inevitable something will go wrong. Just resign Duchene and get it over with, unless he really doesn't want to resign with the Avs, then they really need to trade him now, not next year, and stop asking for way too much.
 

AMDZen

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Well with the recent history of this team handling their bigger name players, i hope they resign Duchene, because as i mentioned before, they either gonna lose him to free agency like Stastny, or get a ROR type return. I mean Zadorov is a good player and all, but i much rather keep Duchene than get another Zadorov type of deal for him.

I just don't trust the Avs management when it comes to making big trades, it's inevitable something will go wrong. Just resign Duchene and get it over with, unless he really doesn't want to resign with the Avs, then they really need to trade him now, not next year, and stop asking for way too much.

Pretty much my thoughts exactly. Which is why I see him not being traded as a possible positive thing.
 

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I'm sorry, seriously? Two years of Duchene rumors and people now saying "enough is enough" is impatient?


I can't even imagine how mentally frayed Duchene is right now. He's admitted he checks social media and online to see what's said about him before. He probably wakes up every day wondering if he's going to get the text message or phone call saying he's been moved - he's hoping he gets that. He's always been a somewhat mentally fragile player, that's always been his biggest hurdle - can you imagine what sort of stressful shape he's going to show up at camp in if this goes on for another two months, with endless media and fan speculation all day every day?


The charade needs to end. Duchene either needs to go, or if Sakic doesn't have the balls to do that then he should flat out publicly say, and soon, that Duchene is absolutely not getting moved. Sakic letting this circus go on and on and on is amateur hour.


And to answer your other post: why on earth should any of us give Joe Sakic the benefit of the doubt? If Sakic hasn't found a deal that helps the Avs in two years then he's an idiot.

Agreed 100%. Joe doesn't deserve the benefit of the doubt after so much dithering and indecision and bad acquisitions led to the worst Avalanche season by a country mile. He will GET some benefit when we see some discernible results.
 

ArWKo

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How did yet another thread - this one about a assistant and goalie coach hiring - become Duchene trade/Joe Sakic GM legacy talk.
 

AMDZen

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I'm sorry, seriously? Two years of Duchene rumors and people now saying "enough is enough" is impatient?


I can't even imagine how mentally frayed Duchene is right now. He's admitted he checks social media and online to see what's said about him before. He probably wakes up every day wondering if he's going to get the text message or phone call saying he's been moved - he's hoping he gets that. He's always been a somewhat mentally fragile player, that's always been his biggest hurdle - can you imagine what sort of stressful shape he's going to show up at camp in if this goes on for another two months, with endless media and fan speculation all day every day?


The charade needs to end. Duchene either needs to go, or if Sakic doesn't have the balls to do that then he should flat out publicly say, and soon, that Duchene is absolutely not getting moved. Sakic letting this circus go on and on and on is amateur hour.


And to answer your other post: why on earth should any of us give Joe Sakic the benefit of the doubt? If Sakic hasn't found a deal that helps the Avs in two years then he's an idiot.

Maybe. Or because Duchene has basically no market. I personally think nobody offered a fair package, even remotely. Because he played like **** under a ****** coach last season. Also just because the rumors were there for two years doesn't mean that he was actually on the block that long. It was only during last season that he became officially on the block publicly.
 

AMDZen

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Agreed 100%. Joe doesn't deserve the benefit of the doubt after so much dithering and indecision and bad acquisitions led to the worst Avalanche season by a country mile. He will GET some benefit when we see some discernible results.

I don't give him the benefit in regard to Bednar. Or in regard to the season last year. Only in regards to the trade of Duchene this off-season.

I will freely admit that I might be wrong and Sakic may just be completely inept at his job in regard to Duchene, as he has shown in other areas absolutely.

The difference is that none of you will accept that you might be wrong also, and no return was to be found for Duchene. LHD is hard to find and very specific. You can see how it just wasn't on the market for a player that had the kind of season Duchene had last year
 

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