Colorado Avalanche GM Joe Sakic said that head coach Jared Bednar and his staff will return for the 2026-27 NHL season.
"No plans to make any moves. We feel he's the best coach for our team," said Sakic.
The Avalanche won the President's Trophy for having the NHL's best regular season record (55-16-11, 121 points) and started out the Stanley Cup Playoffs like a juggernaut: Sweeping the Los Angeles Kings and eliminating the Minnesota Wild in five games. But Colorado was stunned in the Western Conference Finals by the Vegas Golden Knights, who swept the Avalanche.
While Colorado had significant injuries to star center Nathan MacKinnon and defenseman Cale Makar in that series, there was some speculation that Bednar could pay for that disappointment with his job. Instead, Sakic said Bednar and his entire staff will be retained.
"Our style of play worked all year, until one week," he said.
Adding to the intrigue over Bednar: Next season is the final year of the coach's current contract.
"There are a lot of people that are entering the last year of their contract," said Sakic. "He shouldn't be worried about it. The contracts will come when they come."
Sakic took over as Colorado's general manager earlier this month when Chris MacFarland left to become the president and GM of the Nashville Predators, after having served as Avalanche GM since 2022. MacFarland said he worked closely with Sakic during his tenure with Colorado, as a GM and assistant GM. The Avalanche won the Stanley Cup in 2022.
Sakic previously served as the team's general manager beginning in 2014, before moving up to become the president of hockey operations when MacFarland was promoted. Sakic, 56, said on Thursday that he's "being GM right now" for the Avalanche.
"It's business as usual on our end. We're going to make this team as good as possible so we can be a contender again," he said. "We all feel we left something on the table."
Part of retaining Bednar as coach is Sakic's belief that the current roster is built for a multiple year run at the Stanley Cup.
"We just didn't put it together in a stretch of four games. We could panic, blow everything up and start all over. But what this team did over the course of a year was pretty remarkable," he said. "We want to give them the opportunity to try and do it again."
