Speculation: Bednar's future

[Papa Francouz]

I’d prefer to not rid ourselves of the first decent coach we’ve had in nearly a decade. Let him and the team learn everything they can from this year, make aggressive moves in the summer to address the roster deficiencies, and start competing next year. Getting rid of Bednar won’t accomplish anything for this team.

 

[TruePowerSlave]

The Avs team has too many holes. Killer 1st line and not a single top 6 forward after that, bunch of useless depth forwards and a 4th line that belongs in the AHL. The defense does not have a top pairing guy and the goaltending looks awful.

The coaching deserves to be criticized but the roster is not good enough.

 

[Parker27]

Can we at least agree on getting rid of Pratt?

 

[expatriatedtexan]

At this point, i think i would break up the top line for another game or two. Gotta get something going.

Ideally, we'd have Greer up and playing wing in the bottom six but Joe apparently does think he's better suited than Jost, Dries, Kerfoot or Andrighetto for that role.

Bottom line is that yes, we are not expected to contend this season. But pissing another year away off MacKinnon's contract and allowing a large losing streak to go without adjustments is not going to help a young team learn that it's not okay to lose. The little bit of forward core we have need to know that Joe is willing to help them. He's just sitting back and watching them get their asses handed to them right now.

My opinion only, but waiting until the off-season to provide some help is the worst thing that can be done. Don't allow players like Landeskog, MacKinnon and Rantenen to become too used to losing or missing the playoffs. This season will be a huge failure if the Avs miss.

I've soured a bit on Bednar, but I sure wouldn't fire him unless I already had a contract with a better coach in pocket. Could you imagine how much worse the team would look if either Bennett or Pratt were a man down and in charge of the whole thing?

I'm still not sure how in the hell Frank hasn't gotten a start. If I was Joe, Frank would start Saturday against the Kings. Gives him a team we should be able to beat at home to get his first nod. Then go from there. I hated the three headed goalie debacle that Q had, but at this point the two we have just aren't doing much and I would hate to go into next season with serious question marks about our goalie situation.

 

[Avs_19]

For those who want him gone immediately, who are you replacing him with? Please don’t just say Q as if that’s a given to happen from both sides. Also, how is this new currently unknown coach going to improve goaltending and secondary scoring?

 

[CobraAcesS]

For those who want him gone immediately, who are you replacing him with? Please don’t just say Q as if that’s a given to happen from both sides. Also, how is this new currently unknown coach going to improve goaltending and secondary scoring?

I think it is possible to complain about the coach, and also not want him fired right now lol. Yeah I'd like Q, but aside from him, no I wouldn't fire Bednar in season.

I can still f***ing hate his choices lately though.

I also think it is pointless to fire him unless we're bringing in a legit top level experienced coach. f*** that shit with trying more new NHL coaches.

 

[klozge]

Looks like somebody bought himself a little time. I'm pretty sure the slump's over now. At least as long as everybody stays healthy.

Looks like somebody has no idea what to do with the bought time. All you need to watch to learn everything you need to know about Bednar and his systems is the first powerplay of the Ottawa game. He always preaches: "Stick to our game plan." How about 'no'? Because the game plan is Pejorative Slured.
Also, we already know Bednar won't find a way to get the team going again. We saw this two years ago for a full season. Find someone better now, Sakic, or kiss the playoffs and everything the team worked for last season goodbye.

 

[TruePowerSlave]

My opinion only, but waiting until the off-season to provide some help is the worst thing that can be done. Don't allow players like Landeskog, MacKinnon and Rantenen to become too used to losing or missing the playoffs. This season will be a huge failure if the Avs miss.

Huge failure? Maybe the expectations are way too high. There were quite a few who thought the Avs were more likely to miss the playoffs before the season started. Outside of the 1st line this is a bad hockey team.

 

[The Abusement Park]

Huge failure? Maybe the expectations are way too high. There were quite a few who thought the Avs were more likely to miss the playoffs before the season started. Outside of the 1st line this is a bad hockey team.

No the expectation for this team this year was playoffs. A wild card spot is where most people expected us.

 

[TruePowerSlave]

No the expectation for this team this year was playoffs. A wild card spot is where most people expected us.

That was the overall expectations of the fanbase. However, maybe too many posters were overrating what kind of a team the Avs really were. We are carried by one otherworldly line and there is not much after that.

Labeling the season a huge failure if we miss the playoffs makes it sound like the expectations are set way too high. Tampa Bay missing the playoffs in the 16-17 season was a huge failure, the same cannot be said of this Avs team.

 

[Avs91]

I think it is possible to complain about the coach, and also not want him fired right now lol. Yeah I'd like Q, but aside from him, no I wouldn't fire Bednar in season.

I can still ****ing hate his choices lately though.

I also think it is pointless to fire him unless we're bringing in a legit top level experienced coach. **** that **** with trying more new NHL coaches.

I've been hard on Bednar lately, this pretty much sums it up for me. So basically = rock - Avs - hard place

 

[the_fan]

The Avs team has too many holes. Killer 1st line and not a single top 6 forward after that, bunch of useless depth forwards and a 4th line that belongs in the AHL. The defense does not have a top pairing guy and the goaltending looks awful.

The coaching deserves to be criticized but the roster is not good enough.

That's all true accept I believe a better coach can get more out of this team. They showed early in the season that they can win games and play with anybody, then a sudden drop off.

Like I said in my previous post in GDT, even if this team doesn't have the roster to remain in the top 3 spot in central, they should at least play like a bubble team which they aren't for the past couple of months, they're playing like the worst team in hockey. The only reason they are still in a playoff spot is because teams chasing the Avs are also sucking, like the Ducks.

 

[Steerpike]

The Avs arent the worst team in hockey.

The Avs under Roy looked like headless chickens in a trash compactor on a regular basis. Teams could absolutely dominate us at will. The good teams would constantly outshoot us 40 to 20. We played a fun run and gun game, but it was delusional to think those teams would accomplish anything.

Under Bednar we have a competent game in all three zones. Our special teams are killing us right now, but that isn't Bednar's area of focus.

 

[henchman21]

The Avs arent the worst team in hockey.

The Avs under Roy looked like headless chickens in a trash compactor on a regular basis. Teams could absolutely dominate us at will. The good teams would constantly outshoot us 40 to 20. We played a fun run and gun game, but it was delusional to think those teams would accomplish anything.

Under Bednar we have a competent game in all three zones. Our special teams are killing us right now, but that isn't Bednar's area of focus.

I always find the Roy stuff interesting... his worst season was a .500 season where the Avs finished 5 points out of the playoffs. His 3 year average was 95 points. Bednar has a 48 and 95 point season under his belt, and is pacing to 87 now. To think that one is significantly better than the other seems crazy to me. Different and both have flaws... neither have set the world on fire.

Special teams are the area most impacted by coaching. I'm not saying Bednar is at fault here (I don't think he is), but that is the area he and his coaching staff have a direct impact on.

 

[the_fan]

It's easy to win when you have a good roster with many coaches behind your bench, just like it's easy to lose with the wrong coach when your roster isnt very deep.

The Avs with lack of depth up front need a defensive minded coach, or a coach that makes you play hard every single game from the 1st drop of the puck, like Gallant in Vegas.

Vegas doesn't have true elite superstars with the exception of maybe Fleury in net, but they play hard like they want to win every game and that has a lot to do with coaching

Edit: Listening to Bednar and the Avs players, they seem to be happy and proud that they can fall behind in games and make a come back, like it has become a normal thing for them, if that's not a coaches problem, I dont know who's problem it is. You're the coach, you gotta get that mentality out of your players heads or you're not gonna win games, just like it's happening with this team

 

[TruePowerSlave]

I always find the Roy stuff interesting... his worst season was a .500 season where the Avs finished 5 points out of the playoffs. His 3 year average was 95 points. Bednar has a 48 and 95 point season under his belt, and is pacing to 87 now. To think that one is significantly better than the other seems crazy to me. Different and both have flaws... neither have set the world on fire.

Special teams are the area most impacted by coaching. I'm not saying Bednar is at fault here (I don't think he is), but that is the area he and his coaching staff have a direct impact on.

Roy often benefited from sensational goaltending. The Avs gave out so many prime time scoring chances and still Varlamov kept them in it and the team won despite being completely outplayed. If Roy had the Varlamov of today it would have been a bloodbath.

 

[henchman21]

Roy often benefited from sensational goaltending. The Avs gave out so many prime time scoring chances and still Varlamov kept them in it and the team won despite being completely outplayed. If Roy had the Varlamov of today it would have been a bloodbath.

Roy's system inflated goalie stats... goalies under him out performed their career numbers. Varly, Picks, and Berra all had good numbers with Roy. The increased number of shots against, but from the outside pushed up sv percentage.

 

[dahrougem2]

I'm not the biggest Patrick Roy fan, but I do believe this roster as currently constructed would serve his man-on-man style much better than the ones he had. Now, he's also to blame for that roster along with Sakic, but defensemen like Girard, Zadorov, forwards like Compher/Kerfoot/Nieto/Calvert would probably be better suited for it than defensemen like Holden/Guenin/Benoit/Iginla/McLeod/Bordeleau/Cliche/etc.

 

[Hasbro]

Kevin Dineen is available.

 

[TruePowerSlave]

Roy's system inflated goalie stats... goalies under him out performed their career numbers. Varly, Picks, and Berra all had good numbers with Roy. The increased number of shots against, but from the outside pushed up sv percentage.

It did inflate stats. However, there were so many games where Varlamov stood on his head and stopped premium chance after premium chance. Varly was in his prime and he needed to be for Roy's system to work. It was a regular occurrence that the top teams would utterly demolish the Avs in scoring chances only to be denied by great goaltending. Teleport today's Varlamov to those Roy teams and they will get embarrassed on the ice.

Still kinda pissed that Rask won the 2013-14 Vezina over a vintage Varlamov season.

 

[kl35ha]

What Roy did was really *****, but as a coach I think he's way better than Bednar. Bedz first season, OK people can use the excuse of not having enough time to prepare and now in his third season what's the excuse? Still getting out coach badly, unable to make adjustment during games (except from randomly shuffling lines and d parings and hoping for the best), still using the same old system as this slump keep going, refusing to make changes till things completely get of hands. etc

 

[The Abusement Park]

Roy is a great man manager. He’s got his players backs and knows how to motivate. But his X’s and O’s we’re questionable at best. I’m not sure who the better coach is, but neither are clearly better than the other imo.

 

[henchman21]

It did inflate stats. However, there were so many games where Varlamov stood on his head and stopped premium chance after premium chance. Varly was in his prime and he needed to be for Roy's system to work. It was a regular occurrence that the top teams would utterly demolish the Avs in scoring chances only to be denied by great goaltending. Teleport today's Varlamov to those Roy teams and they will get embarrassed on the ice.

Still kinda pissed that Rask won the 2013-14 Vezina over a vintage Varlamov season.

The only season Varly was elite was under Roy. Varly looked best under Roy. Yet Varly saved Roy's ass? Doesn't it stand to reason that Varly looking worse under 2 other coaches mean Roy helped Varly than the other way around? The only time Varly has looked like a top 10 goalie was under Roy.

 

[TruePowerSlave]

The only season Varly was elite was under Roy. Varly looked best under Roy. Yet Varly saved Roy's ass? Doesn't it stand to reason that Varly looking worse under 2 other coaches mean Roy helped Varly than the other way around?

We do not know, even the goalie coaches are different so its not just Roy. Could also mean that Roy arrived just in time for Varlamov's prime. One thing I will say is that Varly often performs really well when he sees a ton of rubber in a game and during the Roy days he was under siege quite often.

 

[henchman21]

We do not know, even the goalie coaches are different so its not just Roy. Could also mean that Roy arrived just in time for Varlamov's prime. One thing I will say is that Varly often performs really well when he sees a ton of rubber in a game and during the Roy days he was under siege quite often.

All goalies play better when they have a lot of shots... advanced stats has been on that train for a while. A goalie that routinely faces 30-35 shots is going to have a better save percentage and more eye popping numbers than one that faces 25. Roy's system no doubt had a lot of pucks on net, but many of those were not dangerous. I'm not saying by any means Roy was a great coach, but he was average... much like Bednar is.