DENVER -- Jared Bednar will remain coach of the Colorado Avalanche after they were eliminated in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, general manager Chris MacFarland said Tuesday.
Asked what the organization’s level of confidence is in Bednar’s ability to lead the team, MacFarland said, “One hundred percent confident. Jared is our head coach.”
The Avalanche (49-29-4) finished third in the Central Division this season despite using 49 players, but Colorado was eliminated from the Western Conference First Round with a 4-2 loss to the Dallas Stars in Game 7 at Dallas on Saturday.
“After the [NHL Trade] Deadline (on March 7), we really liked the team we had,” president of hockey operations Joe Sakic said. “We felt this was a deep team that was ready to compete and be there at the end. So it is disappointing that it ended like that.
“If it was up to me, if we could do it, we'd love to bring this same unit back and try and go on another run.”
In the days leading up to the deadline, the Avalanche traded for forwards Brock Nelson (New York Islanders) and Charlie Coyle (Boston Bruins), and defensemen Ryan Lindgren (New York Rangers) and Erik Johnson (Philadelphia Flyers). On Jan. 24, they added forwards Martin Necas and Jack Drury from the Carolina Hurricanes in a three-team trade also involving the Chicago Blackhawks that sent forward Mikko Rantanen to Carolina, and earlier in the season they acquired goalies Mackenzie Blackwood (San Jose Sharks) and Scott Wedgewood (Nashville Predators) via trade.
Bednar is 390-246-64 in 700 regular-season games over nine seasons with the Avalanche and 50-35 in 85 playoff games (not counting the seeding round-robin games during the 2020 playoffs). He guided Colorado to the Stanley Cup in 2022.
The Avalanche have qualified for the playoffs in eight straight seasons but have won one series since 2022. The Stars also eliminated them in 2024 with a six-game victory in the second round.
Sakic said one reason for the early exit this season was the fact the Avalanche’s power play, which finished the regular season tied with the Toronto Maple Leafs for eighth in the NHL (24.8 percent), was 14th among the 16 teams that played in the first round of the playoffs (3-for-22; 13.6 percent), with the Stars ranking sixth (7-for-23; 30.4 percent).
“I think the difference in the series, when you look back and reflect, is [the Stars’] power play. They executed,” Sakic said. "They did everything they needed to to be dangerous and scored [in] key moments of the game, and our power play didn't do that, for whatever reason.”
As a result, MacFarland announced Tuesday that the Avalanche relieved assistant coach Ray Bennett of his duties. Bennett, who had been with Colorado for eight seasons, oversaw the forwards and power play.
“Today, we made a difficult decision,” MacFarland said. “We're going to move [from] a good hockey man and a good person and a good coach in Ray Bennett. Just wanted to start off with that, and thank Ray for many, many years of 100 percent commitment to us. Ray's been around a long time, and that was not an easy start to the day.”
Sakic said of Bennett, “He’s done a great job. He's worked extremely hard. He's a great person. Our power play’s been [in the] top 10 over the last few years, but we feel the way things ended, maybe a different voice going into next year could help that. But ultimately, execution comes from the players -- I mean, your top players. We have some of the top players in the world on our team. They're the ones out there that need to execute. So it just ran dry at the wrong time.
“It's tough to make a change. You don't like to do that, but we feel, moving forward, we’re hoping that a change of voice might help our power play going into next year.”
MacFarland believes the window for Colorado to win the Stanley Cup again is still open.
“You’ve got Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar and Devon Toews, and now Gabriel Landeskog, and Val Nichushkin and (Artturi) Lehkonen,” MacFarland said. “We’ve got good players. We’re a contender. We’re a 100-point team.
“We'll look at our (NHL salary) cap space, and we'll look at our internal free agents and the external free agents, and see where the holes are, and see if the math works, and find out where we can improve the team. Our goal is always, always to improve the team next year.”
