Here are my rankings. Take them with a shaker of salt. VERY long post incoming...read it or don't, up to you.
1. Jared Bednar. I don't this is particularly close, and yes, I'm heavily biased. I think he's one of the more innovative, forward-thinking coaches in the league and often (though not always) avoids the old-school pitfalls of so many of his contemporaries. He's the winningest coach in this franchise's history and I think that's because he's also a guy willing to admit when he's wrong and change things up when they're not working. Mind you, sometimes it takes a while for him to do it, but that still puts him ahead of a LOT of coaches in any given sport.
That said, I'm reluctant to call him an elite, top-tier head coach. I'm not sure I'd put him in the same league as the Jon Coopers and Scotty Bowmans of the hockey world. Time will tell, he's certainly continuing to build on that resume, and I imagine no matter what happens with him and the Avs going forward he's set to have a very, very long coaching career.
Still absolutely criminal that between him and Cooper, there are ZERO Jack Adams Trophies. I've said before I think that trophy more than all the others is based on an absolutely bullshit voting criteria, but that's perhaps a different discussion for a different day.
2. Bob Hartley
I used to think extraordinarily high of this guy, mostly because, on top of being a very successful coach, he's probably the most charismatic guy on this list (yes, you read that right). But revelations in recent years have dimmed that somewhat. Regardless, he guided the team to their second Cup and was the winningest coach in Avs history up until Bednar passed him. The results speak for themselves, despite some of the questionable methods he employed to get them.
HIs weekly radio segment was always a must-listen, and I laughed heartily at the back-and-forth between him and Andy Murray.
I do believe his tactics were great at the time but they also didn't evolve (something that indirectly affected another coach on this list), which kinda cooked his goose in Calgary and the NHL in general, and some of the borderline-abusive methods he undertook just don't really have a place in the game anymore (really, they never did, but alas). At least not in the NHL, he seems to be doing just fine abroad.
3. Joel Quenneville
No one did more with less than this guy. He took a ramshackle, piecemeal, aging lineup that got decimated by the new CBA and actually had it performing better offensively than the star-studded lineup that came before it. And mind you, I think at least a couple decisions he made cost the team dearly both in the short- and long-term so he's not exactly my favorite coach.
He also is, for better or worse, the best overall coach on this list. If not for the fact that he was perfectly fine with Brad Aldrich staying with the Blackhawks organization after it was revealed he sexually abused multiple players, and was also just fine with him getting his name inscribed on the Cup AND have his day with it, he'd be well on pace to break Bowman's record. But he's rightfully exiled from the game, hopefully for good.
4. Marc Crawford
Someone else said he was the worst human being on this list. That's possible, though Crawford to the best of my knowledge didn't run cover for a child molester in pursuit of a Cup. He got the Avs to their first Cup win in their first season and one more deep playoff run beyond that so his ranking is secure. Certainly did not endear himself to the organization or the fans with the Todd Bertuzzi incident, but this is really only about his time as Avs coach.
5. Patrick Roy
Obviously the last few years have yielded better hockey and better results, but I still think the one season I had the most fun watching the Avalanche was 2013-14. That team just never seemed out of any game, everything was going in the net and Varly was stopping everythind on the other end. Some of that was luck, some of that was a goaltender playing out of his mind, but some of that really was Patrick Roy getting the most out of a still-rebuilding lineup.
Unfortunately after that amazing first season, things went south fairly fast.
Losing Andre Tourigny was the thing that appeared to unravel everything else (as well as an absolutely disastrous 2014 offseason), and I also think that Roy came in with tactics and approaches that were in some ways already dated. A lot of what he knew as a coach came from one of his mentors, Bob Hartley. I was always hoping to see him evolve, to learn from his mistakes, but he never appeared to do so. And I still to this day feel he completely and utterly mishandled the situation with Duchene. I don't begrudge his abrupt departure, thought obviously I would have preferred he had done it earlier.
I do hope he's learned and evolved since he's been away, I like him in the league. I like him in hockey. But I'm also glad he's not the Avalanche head coach anymore.
I know a lot of you will disagree with this ranking/assessment, and that's okay. I'm but one man with one opinion.
6. Joe Sacco
Someday I would love to talk to Joe Sacco and find out who, exactly, was responsible for turning the Avs from a team that embraced an up-tempo offensive approach to one that tried to slog through games with a boring dump-and-chase style. If it was him who pushed for it, I'd be willing to put him dead last. But it's still hard to know who exactly was in charge during those murky days when Giguere and Sherman were "running" the show.
Sacco, like Roy to a lesser extent, had a much better than expected rookie season, and that Avs team was fun to watch too. It was when they sent John-Michael Liles packing and brought in Jan Hejda that everything really changed. Erik Johnson publicly blasted Sacco, revealing he was telling the defensemen to avoid jumping into the play, telling them to instead dump it. That's still strange to me because Sacco seemed to be a guy who wanted to play a fast, fun style. I can't help but thing he was in some small part the fall guy for managerial incompetence and an ownership group that was in full penny-pinching mode.
7. Tony Granato
In my opinion, Granato did accomplish one thing that Bob Hartley did not that first season. He fixed the power play, and tried some rather innovative things in order to do so. Some of Granato's failings were not his fault. His lack of experience shouldn't necessarily be held against him, that was more on Lacroix and his silly obsession with the division title record.
Regardless, I think he definitely takes the cake as the worst bench boss in franchise history. From day one he looked overwhelmed, and never seemed capable of getting the most out of his very talented lineup. I think he gets far too much flack for failure in his second season (that team was a paper tiger, Selanne and Kariya never panned out, and they didn't have a legit starting goalie to speak of). Once the talent dried up and the team finally hit the skids, he pushed all the wrong buttons, which did little more than set them up for a nice draft pick in 2009. HIs coaching exploits since his exit do not seem to have exonerated him very much. Whatever the case, I've said enough bad things about a guy currently undergoing cancer treatments. Frankly I think he was a good assistant coach and should get another shot in that arena once he's back to full health.
1. Jared Bednar. I don't this is particularly close, and yes, I'm heavily biased. I think he's one of the more innovative, forward-thinking coaches in the league and often (though not always) avoids the old-school pitfalls of so many of his contemporaries. He's the winningest coach in this franchise's history and I think that's because he's also a guy willing to admit when he's wrong and change things up when they're not working. Mind you, sometimes it takes a while for him to do it, but that still puts him ahead of a LOT of coaches in any given sport.
That said, I'm reluctant to call him an elite, top-tier head coach. I'm not sure I'd put him in the same league as the Jon Coopers and Scotty Bowmans of the hockey world. Time will tell, he's certainly continuing to build on that resume, and I imagine no matter what happens with him and the Avs going forward he's set to have a very, very long coaching career.
Still absolutely criminal that between him and Cooper, there are ZERO Jack Adams Trophies. I've said before I think that trophy more than all the others is based on an absolutely bullshit voting criteria, but that's perhaps a different discussion for a different day.
2. Bob Hartley
I used to think extraordinarily high of this guy, mostly because, on top of being a very successful coach, he's probably the most charismatic guy on this list (yes, you read that right). But revelations in recent years have dimmed that somewhat. Regardless, he guided the team to their second Cup and was the winningest coach in Avs history up until Bednar passed him. The results speak for themselves, despite some of the questionable methods he employed to get them.
HIs weekly radio segment was always a must-listen, and I laughed heartily at the back-and-forth between him and Andy Murray.
I do believe his tactics were great at the time but they also didn't evolve (something that indirectly affected another coach on this list), which kinda cooked his goose in Calgary and the NHL in general, and some of the borderline-abusive methods he undertook just don't really have a place in the game anymore (really, they never did, but alas). At least not in the NHL, he seems to be doing just fine abroad.
3. Joel Quenneville
No one did more with less than this guy. He took a ramshackle, piecemeal, aging lineup that got decimated by the new CBA and actually had it performing better offensively than the star-studded lineup that came before it. And mind you, I think at least a couple decisions he made cost the team dearly both in the short- and long-term so he's not exactly my favorite coach.
He also is, for better or worse, the best overall coach on this list. If not for the fact that he was perfectly fine with Brad Aldrich staying with the Blackhawks organization after it was revealed he sexually abused multiple players, and was also just fine with him getting his name inscribed on the Cup AND have his day with it, he'd be well on pace to break Bowman's record. But he's rightfully exiled from the game, hopefully for good.
4. Marc Crawford
Someone else said he was the worst human being on this list. That's possible, though Crawford to the best of my knowledge didn't run cover for a child molester in pursuit of a Cup. He got the Avs to their first Cup win in their first season and one more deep playoff run beyond that so his ranking is secure. Certainly did not endear himself to the organization or the fans with the Todd Bertuzzi incident, but this is really only about his time as Avs coach.
5. Patrick Roy
Obviously the last few years have yielded better hockey and better results, but I still think the one season I had the most fun watching the Avalanche was 2013-14. That team just never seemed out of any game, everything was going in the net and Varly was stopping everythind on the other end. Some of that was luck, some of that was a goaltender playing out of his mind, but some of that really was Patrick Roy getting the most out of a still-rebuilding lineup.
Unfortunately after that amazing first season, things went south fairly fast.
Losing Andre Tourigny was the thing that appeared to unravel everything else (as well as an absolutely disastrous 2014 offseason), and I also think that Roy came in with tactics and approaches that were in some ways already dated. A lot of what he knew as a coach came from one of his mentors, Bob Hartley. I was always hoping to see him evolve, to learn from his mistakes, but he never appeared to do so. And I still to this day feel he completely and utterly mishandled the situation with Duchene. I don't begrudge his abrupt departure, thought obviously I would have preferred he had done it earlier.
I do hope he's learned and evolved since he's been away, I like him in the league. I like him in hockey. But I'm also glad he's not the Avalanche head coach anymore.
I know a lot of you will disagree with this ranking/assessment, and that's okay. I'm but one man with one opinion.
6. Joe Sacco
Someday I would love to talk to Joe Sacco and find out who, exactly, was responsible for turning the Avs from a team that embraced an up-tempo offensive approach to one that tried to slog through games with a boring dump-and-chase style. If it was him who pushed for it, I'd be willing to put him dead last. But it's still hard to know who exactly was in charge during those murky days when Giguere and Sherman were "running" the show.
Sacco, like Roy to a lesser extent, had a much better than expected rookie season, and that Avs team was fun to watch too. It was when they sent John-Michael Liles packing and brought in Jan Hejda that everything really changed. Erik Johnson publicly blasted Sacco, revealing he was telling the defensemen to avoid jumping into the play, telling them to instead dump it. That's still strange to me because Sacco seemed to be a guy who wanted to play a fast, fun style. I can't help but thing he was in some small part the fall guy for managerial incompetence and an ownership group that was in full penny-pinching mode.
7. Tony Granato
In my opinion, Granato did accomplish one thing that Bob Hartley did not that first season. He fixed the power play, and tried some rather innovative things in order to do so. Some of Granato's failings were not his fault. His lack of experience shouldn't necessarily be held against him, that was more on Lacroix and his silly obsession with the division title record.
Regardless, I think he definitely takes the cake as the worst bench boss in franchise history. From day one he looked overwhelmed, and never seemed capable of getting the most out of his very talented lineup. I think he gets far too much flack for failure in his second season (that team was a paper tiger, Selanne and Kariya never panned out, and they didn't have a legit starting goalie to speak of). Once the talent dried up and the team finally hit the skids, he pushed all the wrong buttons, which did little more than set them up for a nice draft pick in 2009. HIs coaching exploits since his exit do not seem to have exonerated him very much. Whatever the case, I've said enough bad things about a guy currently undergoing cancer treatments. Frankly I think he was a good assistant coach and should get another shot in that arena once he's back to full health.
