Jared Bednar Takes The Reins As Head Coach Of The Colorado Avalanche

By Jordan Long

The Colorado Avalanche hired their new head coach after Patrick Roy resigned on August 10. The Avalanche search was down to two finalists, Washington Capitals assistant Lane Lambert and Head Coach of the Cleveland Monsters Jared Bednar. The Cleveland Monsters are a Minor League affiliate of the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Avalanche decided that Jared Bednar will take over this upcoming season. Who is Jared Bednar?

Jared Bednar played 8 years of Minor League Hockey as a defenseman in three different leagues. Those are the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL), the International Hockey League (IHL), and the American Hockey League. In those leagues Bednar appeared in a total of 511 games, scoring 47 goals and added 152 assists for a total of 199 points.

Once Bednar was done playing in Minor League Hockey, he coached in the Minors as the assistant coach of the South Carolina Stingrays of the ECHL for 5 years. In 2007 he was named the head coach and went 47-22-3 in his first year. The next year they went 42-23-6. The 2010-2011 season Bednar was named the head coach of the Peoria Riverman of the AHL and coached there two years with a record of 81-63-12. 2014 he coached another team, the Springfield Falcons of the AHL and went 38-28-10. Last season Bednar coached the Lake Erie Monsters to a record of 43-22-11 and they won the Calder Cup as the Champions of the AHL.

Bednar has been an outstanding Minor League coach but the surprising part is he has no NHL experience, playing or coaching. I thought the Avalanche wanted a coach who had coached in the NHL and Bednar has not.

The Avalanche already tried this experiment with Joe Sacco. Sacco was the coach of the Lake Erie Monsters who were the Colorado Avalanche’s Minor League affiliate at the time. He was hired on June 4^th, 2009. Colorado enjoyed early success in the 2009-2010 season going 43-30-9 for a total of 95 points and made the playoffs as the 8^th seed. After that it was all downhill, failing to make the NHL Playoffs. Colorado fired Sacco following the lockout shortened 2012-2013 season. Sacco had a record of 130-134-30 with the Avalanche. Hopefully Colorado will have better results with Jared Bednar.

What do you think of the Avalanche hiring Jared Bednar?