Joe gets his man

August 25th 2016 is a date the Avalanche fans across the world will hope to look back on with fond memories saying that was the day it all changed.

Today Jared Bednar was announced as the franchises next Head Coach. Bednar signed a three year deal.

Photo Credit: www.inquisitr.com

Jared Bednar is 44 years old and coming off the Calder Title (American Hockey League) as the head coach of the Lake Erie Monsters. The final record for the Monsters last season under head coach Jared Bednar was an impressive 43-22-6-5 with the post season record standing at an even more impressive 15-2 mark. The final seris was a sweep for the Monsters. This is not Bednars first team that he coached to a championship though. He also lead the Stingrays to the ECHL title as well as the head coach.

When Bednar was playing hockey he won two championships as well in the ECHL playing for the Stingrays.

Here is a quote from Joe Sakic about the situation.

"After profiling the type of coach I wanted for our team and going through an interview process with several good candidates, I believe that Bednar is the best person to lead this team behind the bench. Jared's track record of success as a head coach in the American Hockey League speaks for itself and he is considered to be one of the top up-and-coming coaches in our business.

Even though we had to accelerate the process with training camp approaching, we feel we met some real strong candidates with a lot of potential to become head coaches in the NHL in the near future. I would like to thank the general managers who gave us permission to talk to key staff members at such a precarious time."

While Bednar never made it to the National Hockey League as a player he continued to work hard and in the end after a 9 year professional career as a player he had won 2 championships. That hard work never stopped for him as he continued on as a coach and now has another ECHL championship this time as a head coach and recently now another championship this time at the American Hockey League level.

Hard work and dedication are things that have been key to Bednar his entire life. here is what he has to say about it.

"I think the work that you put into the job helps you get to where you're going and where you would like to get to as a professional," Bednar said. "That goes with any line of work. I take this very seriously. I've been preparing for this my whole career, and I'm a competitor and that's what I put in on a daily basis. I worked extremely hard. I know our team will do the same thing."


I Think that this is a great decision that the Avalanche have made. Under the circumstances It would have been easy and completely understandable if Sakic were to have reached out to his own former coach who happens to currently be available. Joe knows him well as he coached Joe to a Stanley Cup Championship when he was playing and he has vast NHL coaching experience under his belt.

Most people put into this situation with weeks to go before camp would have probably just tried to get him to accept the job for this year knowing that he was a quality coach and then tried to work out the long term solution after this season when there were more options and more time to work through it all.

I commend Mr Sakic for doing an incredible job with such short notice. Not only did he manage to interview many candidates but he was able to spend quality time with many of them for extended hours and really make sure that he knew the person he was going to offer to job to was the right guy for this team.

Photo Credit: www.denverpost.com

Avalanche fans can look forward to some fun fast paced exciting hockey next year as Bednar likes to play a fast paced high pressure in all zones style game. He also knows how to teach young players how to play the same way on the defensive side of the puck as well. This is where players like Zadorov and Bigra are going to really have a chance to learn a lot this year.

We can look forward to much better team back checking and much quicker outlet passes to really let the players use their top assets to their fullest. If you thought that the Avalanche last year were fast and able to get in odd man rush situations you haven't seen anything yet. By mid season this year you are going to see this team play better and faster then you ever have.

Bednar has a great coaching resume, and a great resume as a man. He is a winner at every level he played and coached at so far and the NHL level will be no different. I recently wrote an article about this years X-Factor. Well I mean no disrespect to those I named in that article but this is the new X-Factor. Jared Bednar. He is taking this team to the next level. #IsItOctYet?