Rumor: Choose your coach from the final four (six?)

[tigervixxxen]

New poll on our supposed final 4 (5?) head coach candidates. Let's try to keep this on the narrowed group, if it gets too general I'll close the other thread. Or if the Avs were lying I'll close this one.

Lambert is a Trotz guy through and through. Players that I know that have played under him at various levels have raved about him as a teacher and with his schemes. Probably one of the brightest PK minds out there (he is seriously good in that area). Typically he has coached forwards. His teams in Milwaukee might have been slightly boring offensively, but they were lights out defensively. He doesn't like players straying from their lanes and responsibilities (not a fan of roaming wings at all). A conservative, very structured style of coach, but he will get results (prepare for many 2-1 or 3-2 games with him).

Bednar is a much more aggressive coach. He teaches relentless forechecking and aggression. His D will pinch a lot and the forwards are expected to extra responsible because of this (I can see this being an issue with some of the Avs forwards). Compared to a team in the NHL, think Winnipeg. Aggressive, fast, physical. Players will have a good amount of creativity available to them as long as they play the right way. Extremely structured breakouts with multiple short passes.

I don't think Green is that dissimilar to Bednar. More structure in the offensive zone (wings don't help out on off side as much) and the D don't activate nearly as much in the offensive zone. His teams are more prone to take chances on home run passes and the D rushing the puck though... forwards also exit the zone quicker. This makes his style probably the most offensive out of the group. I think he tends to be harder and more demanding of his players (he isn't Iron Mike, but he is tough). There isn't any doubt that he is a good developer of young talent. Players consistently improve under him and it is clear. I'm not sure how that translates to the NHL though... I think he could be too demanding and try to teach too much to veteran players. I think the message would get stale fairly quickly. As a pure Xs and Os coach, Green or Bednar are probably the two top choices. I'm not one to think that is the end all be all of NHL coaching though.

Who do you prefer? Who do you predict will get the job? And when will we get the announcement?

Click to read more...

 

[CalderKing21]

Bednar, perfect fit for the outlined goals of Sakic.

I think Lambert will end up with the job as he is an experienced NHL assistant and will likely help the defense being a Trotz disciple.

 

[Lonewolfe2015]

Is this list based on some insider? Just curious.

I don't know enough about them to make this a very good vote, but I like the idea of getting Lambert from Washington after everything he's had the chance to learn.

 

[tigervixxxen]

Is this list based on some insider? Just curious.

I don't know enough about them to make this a very good vote, but I like the idea of getting Lambert from Washington after everything he's had the chance to learn.

I just randomly made them up!

Kidding, it was from an article from the DP as they were given the finalists. Frei then tweeted that Larsen was also in the mix.

http://www.denverpost.com/2016/08/18/colorado-avalanche-interviewing-candidates/

 

[Tweaky]

Voted Bednar, but it was close. Arniel is my least favorite of that bench, but any of them would be fine. It is like 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d, 2 for me. There are a few others I would put in that 1 group as well, but they donot seem to be finalists. There are also some guys that have been mentioned that would be in the 9-10 range, but thankfully have not made the cut.

 

[PAZ]

I'd be happy with either Bednar or Lambert, not too interested in the others but I don't know too much about any of them besides the little tidbits here and there.

 

[raistlin76]

Bednar will be my choice

 

[CobraAcesS]

Lambert is a Trotz guy through and through. Players that I know that have played under him at various levels have raved about him as a teacher and with his schemes. Probably one of the brightest PK minds out there (he is seriously good in that area). Typically he has coached forwards. His teams in Milwaukee might have been slightly boring offensively, but they were lights out defensively. He doesn't like players straying from their lanes and responsibilities (not a fan of roaming wings at all). A conservative, very structured style of coach, but he will get results (prepare for many 2-1 or 3-2 games with him).

Bednar is a much more aggressive coach. He teaches relentless forechecking and aggression. His D will pinch a lot and the forwards are expected to extra responsible because of this (I can see this being an issue with some of the Avs forwards). Compared to a team in the NHL, think Winnipeg. Aggressive, fast, physical. Players will have a good amount of creativity available to them as long as they play the right way. Extremely structured breakouts with multiple short passes.

I don't think Green is that dissimilar to Bednar. More structure in the offensive zone (wings don't help out on off side as much) and the D don't activate nearly as much in the offensive zone. His teams are more prone to take chances on home run passes and the D rushing the puck though... forwards also exit the zone quicker. This makes his style probably the most offensive out of the group. I think he tends to be harder and more demanding of his players (he isn't Iron Mike, but he is tough). There isn't any doubt that he is a good developer of young talent. Players consistently improve under him and it is clear. I'm not sure how that translates to the NHL though... I think he could be too demanding and try to teach too much to veteran players. I think the message would get stale fairly quickly. As a pure Xs and Os coach, Green or Bednar are probably the two top choices. I'm not one to think that is the end all be all of NHL coaching though.

You should add these quotes from Hench to the OP Tiger. I think those are probably the best anyone has posted so far.


I'm not surprised with the poll so far either.

 

[AMDZen]

As long as it's one of the first 3 I would be happy. Don't know enough about any of them but trust in Sakic. Bed, Green, or Lam all coo with me. Arniel or Larsen and I will riot

 

[Hesher]

Bednar gets my vote but I'd be fine with any of the first three candidates.

 

[tigervixxxen]

Bednar is probably the best choice right now, familiarity with Pratt and a somewhat similar play style will allow them to hit the ground running. While Lambert might be good in the long run, so much structure and conservatism will probably have a lot of growing pains. Green seems like the risk/reward choice. I wouldn't hate Larsen, he's from the CBJ group and was HC to both Bednar and Pratt at one time. I haven't heard one positive yet on Arniel but he does have NHL HC experience. With bednar's connections I guess would be a bit of a surprise if he's not the guy.

 

[AllAboutAvs]

Bednar would be my choice with Lambert a close second. I think Bednar would be a good fit for the Avs and he already has a very good relationship with Pratt. Lambert being my second choice is due to his NHL experience and especially because of him learning from Trotz.

Green would be also ok with me but he is a distant third at this moment.

 

[Murzu]

Yeah, the info Henchman provided about the coaches should be in op imo.

I voted for Lambert, but it was cointoss between him and Bednar. I keep changing my mind. I really hope its one of the two and if not, lets hope its Green.

What kind of a coach is Larsen?

 

[RockLobster]

As long as it's one of the first 3 I would be happy. Don't know enough about any of them but trust in Sakic. Bed, Green, or Lam all coo with me. Arniel or Larsen and I will riot

Lol, why would you riot at Larsen? Granted, he's not my first choice (I'm on the "Bednar or Lambert" train myself), but we don't really know anything about Larsen.

 

[Lonewolfe2015]

Hench needs to become some sort of underground Avs reporter, anonymously letting us know what his sources say.

 

[forsbergavs32]

Sounds like Lambert and Bednar are the best choices from what Hench posted. I think I lean a bit more towards Lambert though because even if it's a radical change to the team structure and will have growing pains, we aren't expecting to make much noise this year anyway, so use this year to learn the new system and then next year should be good to go if all goes well.

 

[AslanRH]

A whole lotta meh.

If forced I'd probably lean towards Lambert with Bednar 2nd from what analysis everyone has been giving so far.

 

[Iceberg]

A whole lotta meh.

I wasn't expecting anything different.

 

[Cousin Eddie]

I voted Green but it's completely based off what I hear other people say. I would be very surprised if the choice is anyone but Bednar though.

 

[detrude]

Lambert and Bednar are my top 2, with Lambert slightly ahead. Green is third, though I'm not totally sold on him. Just feels like his hype level is elevated because of team association. Larsen is a little too green IMO to take over a team that desperately needs structure and growth. I want nothing to do with Arniel.

I think it'll be Bednar, though, either later this week or next week. He checks all the boxes Sakic is looking for, McFarland and Pratt are familiar with him, and he's won at multiple levels.

 

[henchman21]

I like Lambert the best. Good teacher, has learned from one of the best, proven results, etc. I think he is the best combination available in the group. I'd be happy with any but Arniel. Larsen is a pretty good coach himself, but the fact that his name was put out there by Frei after their this is the 4 article signals to me the Post may not have a clue.

 

[Murzu]

I like Lambert the best. Good teacher, has learned from one of the best, proven results, etc. I think he is the best combination available in the group. I'd be happy with any but Arniel. Larsen is a pretty good coach himself, but the fact that his name was put out there by Frei after their this is the 4 article signals to me the Post may not have a clue.

What kind of system Larsen would run? I value the info you provide us very highly

 

[henchman21]

What kind of system Larsen would run? I value the info you provide us very highly

Larsen mentored Bednar and Pratt... they all have similar philosophies.

 

[Murzu]

Larsen mentored Bednar and Pratt... they all have similar philosophies.

Ah, logical. Thank you very much.

 

[Gumballhead]

Kind of hilarious that no one voted Larsen -- it's like we only remember the player. I remember one thing about him, and that was he was always considered a good leader. He was captain at Hershey I think?

Pretty hard to know much about any of these candidates for most of us though, so I voted based on the sparse insights we've gotten on here. I'm almost equally as curious about how many assistants they'd get to choose, and where they'd even get them from, as it's already game on for currently employed coaches. Tricky bind Roy left the org in.