Ok, so I'm not saying I wholly disagree with anything/everything you wrote, but I wanted to comment on the bolded.
There are a number of posts in this thread (including the one directly preceding yours), people want to blame Grubauer and Varly for the mid-season skid, and hold Bednar to little (or even no) accountability. Whereas they want to praise him for the end of the season.
I think the coach shares just as much of the blame when the team falters as they did (the second such horrendous skid in his coaching tenure) JUST as the coach will share in the successes of the team as a whole.
I suspect that he'll be back next season, after all he has 1 more year left on his contract. However I would not extend him before the season.
Well to be fair, I’m not really a person who’s advocated that Bednar is not to blame for the bad and only responsible for the good.
Undoubtedly he had a hand in both.
But when I look at the skid, I also remeber the Avs, in general playing a strong game. They were outshooting and outchancing in most games.
All coaches look good when they get good goaltending, and all coaches look bad when goaltending stinks.
However, I’m taking the goaltending out the equation. The Avs have improved on the ice every season. He’s been, IMO, prob the best coach they’ve had in a decade. Now, that’s not necessarily that great an accomplishment, but, it seems odd to want to remove the guy who’s had the most success of all our recent coaches.
If they continue to be, for the most part, the better team game by game, you’re not going to get complaints from me.