Speculation: Bednar's future

Sea Eagles

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Feb 7, 2012
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I've always been a big believer in him. He has a great hockey mind and always says all the right things. Even after his 48 pts season I wanted to give him another chance. Safe to say it has paid off!

Sacco and Roy got the team to the playoffs in only their first season. Bednar has done the opposite lol. Never judge a coach after 1 season I tell ya.

But more importantly, in a sustainable way in my opinion.
 

MarkT

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Nov 11, 2017
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I think if nothing else this series win has finally made this fanbase believe in Bednar. I think with the first two seasons it was one bad and one good so nobody seemed to know which to judge him on. Now with not only a second playoff season but a very well coached series win, there can be no doubt that the first season was indeed the outlier here, and we do in fact have an excellent coach. Heck, even his roster decisions that many (including myself at times) complained about, now seem to have all worked out, as we miraculously have solid 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th lines with guys who all seem to fit in their role.
 

missionAvs

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“Awful coach. Can’t make adjustments”.

Hopefully I’ll never have to hear that garbage again. Especially since every time I questioned it all I heard were crickets because nobody even knew what they meant when they said that.

I’ll admit. I wanted the guy gone after his 48 point season but ever since I caught on to his full unit system about 5 games into the 17/18 season I’ve fallen in love with him and have defended him continuously even through the Dec-Feb patch this season.

Phenomenal head coach. He’s going to be a top head coach in this league for a very long time.

tenor.gif
 

Ararana

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Sep 22, 2013
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Credit to Sakic for giving him a longer leash after the 48 point season. Bednar has been impressive, if he keeps outsmarting opposing coaches like that he'll be in Colorado a while.

Did anyone else notice last night on the NBCSN with around 8 minutes left in the game MacKinnon was standing up on the bench talking shit with someone on Calgary bench? Bendar came over and calmly got in Mack's ear and got him focused back in on the game. Mack needs that, he can be a bit of a hot head from time to time and needs someone to refocus him.
 

MarkT

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Nov 11, 2017
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Credit to Sakic for giving him a longer leash after the 48 point season. Bednar has been impressive, if he keeps outsmarting opposing coaches like that he'll be in Colorado a while.

Did anyone else notice last night on the NBCSN with around 8 minutes left in the game MacKinnon was standing up on the bench talking **** with someone on Calgary bench? Bendar came over and calmly got in Mack's ear and got him focused back in on the game. Mack needs that, he can be a bit of a hot head from time to time and needs someone to refocus him.

Not only that, but he did it in a way that the Calgary bench wouldn't see that he was talking to MacKinnon, which would have given them another avenue to go at him. Told MacKinnon basically to shut up, but did it in a respectful way that helped MacK maintain face. Bednar is pure class.
 
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Spleenless Wonder21

Done like dinner
Jun 29, 2009
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Did anyone else notice last night on the NBCSN with around 8 minutes left in the game MacKinnon was standing up on the bench talking **** with someone on Calgary bench? Bendar came over and calmly got in Mack's ear and got him focused back in on the game. Mack needs that, he can be a bit of a hot head from time to time and needs someone to refocus him.

You think he calmly told MacK to, “Do your f***ing job.”?:sarcasm:
 

Balthazar

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Liked him from day #1 and thought he was the right coach for this team. The only major decision I didn't like (at all) was him sticking with Varly when everything was going to shit even though Varly was clearly no longer in the team's long term plans and he couldn't stop a puck to save his life.

In the back of my mind I still wonder if the players respect him in the room though (due to the Mackinnon thing). Other than that I really like him as a person and as a coach and I hope he sticks around if the players like/respect him.
 
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Foppa2118

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Oct 3, 2003
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I also wanna give credit to Ray Bennett, what a good hire that was. He's so much better at running the power play than Tim Army it's not even funny. PP was ranked 8th in 17/18 and now 7th in 18/19 with Bennett.

He’s been a great addition to the staff. Helped Bednar out a lot last year too.

Really improved the PP with lots of different setups too. Game 1 against the Flames they really had the PP figured out and stifled all their chances. Bennett needed to make some big time adjustments and he did.

The success of the PP was one of the biggest reasons they were able to eliminate the Flames. It’s so integral to their success.
 

Freudian

Clearly deranged
Jul 3, 2003
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CBC gave Bednar credit for letting the players (Landeskog, MacKinnon, EJ) run the room. If you have the players who can handle it, it adds to the lifetime of a coach.
 

Pokecheque

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CBC gave Bednar credit for letting the players (Landeskog, MacKinnon, EJ) run the room. If you have the players who can handle it, it adds to the lifetime of a coach.

Hell, he sometimes lets them in on decisions. He reportedly flat-out asked them if they should pull the goalie in game 2, they all said yes, and that's when Compher scored.

I'd play for a guy like that for sure.
 

AllAboutAvs

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Even after everybody wanted him gone after the 48 pt season I wanted to see what he could do with his type of players instead of the old slow guys we had. Am I glad I stuck with him. Same during the bad stretch we had this season. I always felt he had the guys playing very well but the goalies were killing us. The major thing I blame him for was his personnel choice during 3v3 OT. I always said that Mack, Rants and Barrie was too dangerous together and that they needed to be much more patient with the puck. Once Bednar finally corrected those two things they started to win in 3v3 OT.

He is a great coach and the guys obviously love to play for him.
 
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MarkT

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Nov 11, 2017
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I don't even blame him much for the 3v3 OT stuff, because honestly those are supposed to be not only your best players, but your team leaders, and they should always be given a chance to play with the game on the line. Only when they proved beyond a doubt that they're not capable of playing together in that situation did Bednar make a change. As much as people criticize how quick he is sometimes to mess with the lineup, he's also shown a good kind of stubbornness when it comes to playing our top guys in key situations.

Another thing I've been thinking about with Bednar: unlike a lot of (especially older) coaches, he's not afraid to play young guys and put them in a situation where they can succeed. As long as he's pretty confident that you're not going to completely screw up defensively, he'll give you minutes in concert with how well you're playing rather than how many seasons you've been playing. We saw it when Girard got here, and now we're seeing it with Makar. We also saw it to some extent with Kerfoot, Jost and Compher.

I think that's an underrated positive trait of Bednar, because it's a frequent complaint I hear about other NHL coaches - look at Babcock in Toronto playing Matthews middle six minutes as an example.
 

AvsFan29

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Mar 15, 2018
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I like Bednar, but assumed he would be fired after the season, due to missing the playoffs.

He's doing a solid job, but with success, comes problems. You'd think coaching would be easier with a better team...it's not.

This season is pretty much "do the best you can", and the second round is just a bonus.

Next season he will have expectations. The pressure will be turned up, and I can't imagine that Sakic would want anything less than the Avs competing for the division title.

Also, with a more complete, and successful roster, comes more difficult line up decisions.

To many good D? Well now a legit bottom 4 guy is going to be sitting, and he better choose wisely lol

He also won't have the luxury of letting players "work through" their slumps. Kerfoot isn't going to be able to score 1 goal in 25 games or whatever it was.

I think he can perform at this level, and I think he wants to perform at this level.

Obviously coaching is infinitely more complicated than the 2 examples I gave, but you get the point.

I'd extend him ASAP.
 

AvsRobin

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Every coach is eventually gonna lose to the room or naturally have his time run out. And every coach is occasionally or frequently gonna do things that drive you crazy.

But to me who sounds really smart and I have a good feeling about him. He has definetly earned a couple more years on a contract. In a few years things might have changed after a dreadful year or so.. But, that's hockey.
 

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