They’d never do that. Yes, Deboer is a good coach. But he clearly wears thin fast on players & management. I honestly believe Bednar defers to & is too much of a players coach. He admitted to as much last year. When he said Mackinnon’s post game stationary bike routine dictates the whole teams ETA in terms of hopping on flights to leave Ball to go on the road. I mean seriously? As much as I respect Mackinnon & his talent. Michael Jordan he ain’t.

………..

Deboer isn’t my favorite coach, but I’d hire him in a heartbeat knowing that the Avalanche will be facing Dallas often in the coming years. Bednar hasn’t performed well enough in the playoffs to justify keeping his position. With Deboer behind the bench, MacKinnon was named the most valuable player at the Four Nations Cup. That would be a promising sign.

I have to agree, the roster was to horked to win, every year since 2022. Some folks on here say it’s all because they didn’t re-sign Kadri and seem to forget that keeping him would have gutted the bottom 6 and/or prevented the Toews
extension.
When Sakic took over he decided to continue LeCroix’s high octane style of play recruiting small, fast, high skill team. It turns out this model is good for a presidents trophy but not a cup. The cap pressure caused a lack of center depth and there were not really any affordable larger guys who had the speed/skill package to play with the Av’s line up.
MacF seems to be fixing the center and size issue and for every mistake has done something brilliant like the midand late-season goalie and center trades.
Bednar is a good coach with a record that is hard to argue with. Girard is a valuable player either on the ice or as a trade chip. He is not by any means a player to dump at the first oppurtunity like some suggest. Burns adds a lot and could be a great pairing for Girard if they are both there for the coming season. The measure of a D-man is not in their ability to hit, if it was Middleton would get a lot more minutes. D-men are measured by neutralizing zone entries and managing exits. Girard is good at both and you are shallow if you can’t see what the analytics inform about his game. He needs to be paired with someone who can control the net front and perhaps will be this year.
24-25 was frustrating, I think that was more about the play-off format than anything else. It would have been a much different cup run if they had met the Oilers 2nd round, a team they handled quite well during the season and Dallas in the WCF after they were worn down a bit.
I think management is adding bigger to balance the speed skill guys and will have some real interesting moves coming up.

Deboer is not going to come in to be an assistant to Bednar. He’s going to sit around until a job opens up that entices him. And then he’ll do what he does. Go to said team. Have a fair amount of success. And completely wear out his welcome within 3 seasons & get fired.

The AHL is a developmental league? Somebody should tell the Avs lol. All kidding aside, nothing against the guy. He might be a fantastic coach. I know next to nothing about him. I just found it amusing that he’s another guy with ties to CMac’s roots.

I totally agree about the Avs apparent fascination with the CBJ but for all of their ineptness they’ve drafted and developed a number of very good defensemen over the years. The AHL is supposed to be a development league so I wouldn’t be opposed to some of that defensive development mojo being passed along to the Avs…

I wouldn’t go that far. But I think it’s more than fair to expect more playoff success in Bednar’s tenure, than what they’ve had.

And my broader point was you can bring in another competent to good head coach. And with the high end elite talent the Avs have had over the last decade. That they would’ve had at minimum the same level of playoff success as they’ve had to this point.

Bednar is not some ingenious X’s & O’s guy. I think he is really good at relating to the modern day hockey player. And what they tend to be comfortable with. Which is a good thing & a bad thing.