The Good, the Bad and the Ugly surrounding the Colorado Avalanche coaching moves

 

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With all the uproar surrounding the Colorado Avalanche regarding coaching moves in the past two weeks, it’s time to summarize the best and the worst points in a special summer edition of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

THE GOOD

1. Patrick Roy resigned.

2. Coach Patrick Roy resigned from his head coaching duties as well as his Vice President role two and a half weeks ago without throwing anyone under the bus.

3. GM Joe Sakic managed to issue a statement and take interviews regarding Roy’s resignation without casting aspersions on Roy or the timing of his notice. He also delivered the information in a candid and frank manner, contrary to the organization’s tight-lipped management history.

4. Despite the coaching vacancy coming late in the season, the Avalanche were able to get permission to interview some quality candidates, including a number of NHL assistant coaches. Colorado handled the screening process with discretion, which should help the franchise’s reputation with other hockey organizations.

5. Colorado hired Lake Erie (now Cleveland) Monsters coach Jared Bednar, who boasted a record 15-2 postseason record with the Monsters as they won the Calder Cup (the AHL championship) this past season. He also previously coached the ECHL’s South Carolina Stingrays to the Kelly Cup in 2009. He reportedly knows how to utilize players’ speed to advantage, coaches a defensive scheme which presses the play down the ice, and expects forwards to play a two-way game, all areas that need improvement for the current Colorado roster. Let’s all cross our fingers and hope for the best.

6. For a couple of weeks in August, there was actually important hockey news surrounding the Avalanche.

7. No one has to listen to any more arguments over whether or not Colorado should keep Roy as a coach. Everyone enjoy the peace while they can. It’s only a matter of time until another fruitless argument over systems and the appropriate use of Corsi stats rears its ugly head.

8. Patrick Roy left on his own accord. Joe Sakic did not have to fire a hockey legend and friend.

9. Bednar should be bringing new tactics with him, so some of the old chants of “Shoot the puck” and “What the @#*! is the defense doing?” can go by the wayside. Everyone can learn new strategies to debate, discuss, and micro-analyze. The Avalanche have also bought themselves some time to evaluate whether the current roster is capable of truly elevating their play to the next level.

THE BAD

1. Patrick Roy resigned.

2. When Roy announced his decision to resign, he used a Canadian public relations firm to release his statement instead of allowing the Avalanche organization to make the news public. Why?

3. Because there wasn’t a lot of mud-slinging, chances are slim the average person will ever know the substance of the issues that led to Coach Roy giving notice. But that has not limited the speculation.

4. Bednar has no NHL experience, although he does have an extensive background in coaching at the ECHL as well as the AHL level. Sakic pointed out how he won two Stanley Cups with coaches recently promoted from the AHL. Only time will tell but it might be a good idea to hold onto the pitchforks, just in case.

5. Finally, due to the late date, the new coach could be hampered in filling out his staff. The potential for there to be issues among the remaining staff could provide a lot of fodder for the season. This could go bad on a number of different fronts. Any bets?

THE UGLY

1. Patrick Roy resigned.

2. The timing of Roy’s resignation put a significant amount of pressure on the front office and GM Joe Sakic in particular, as it was late in the summer for such an announcement. Colorado was definitely under the gun to find a replacement as players have already started to return to Denver to get ready for the upcoming training camps.

Preseason games start in a month and the new coach will need to make decisions about his coaching staff, watch a ton of video researching his new players, and devise some game plans for his new team. Oh yeah, and find a place to live, move his family to Denver, little stuff like that. A case of Red Bull may be a good ‘welcome to Denver’ present.

3. While having the GM and the coach handling their differences civilly is a refreshing change for the world of professional sports, in the absence of facts, speculation has run rampant across all types of media. Finger pointing, name calling, and wild hypothesis abound, making for lots of noise and very little information. Look out WWE!

4. Why are the Avalanche hiring so many people with connections to the Columbus Blue Jackets in the past year? Colorado’s assistant GM Chris MacFarland was hired away from the same role in the Blue Jackets organization last year. This summer, Colorado brought on Nolan Pratt, who had been an assistant coach for the Blue Jackets’ AHL affiliate. Then the Avalanche acquired Jared Bednar to fill the head coach role, who had been the head coach for the same Blue Jackets AHL team, the Monsters. Of the people allegedly considered for the head coach position, at least three of them had some career connection with Columbus.

If the Blue Jackets had a history of postseason success, then the appeal would be understandable. However, during their 16-year existence, Columbus made the playoffs twice. Over the same period, the Avalanche made the postseason eight times. That includes the Sacco years. The question then becomes, what is the appeal of the Columbus Blue Jackets? Are they one of the few franchises willing to work with the Avalanche? Have the acquisitions been influenced by MacFarland’s connections? Will Columbus be comfortable with Colorado hiring their staff? This could get ugly.

WHAT TO WATCH

1. Sept. 17-19, 2016 – Rookie Showcase. The Colorado Avalanche will be hosting a round-robin rookie tournament for their prospects along with those from the San Jose Sharks and Anaheim Ducks.

2. Sept. 17-Oct. 1 – the World Cup of Hockey in Toronto. The Avalanche currently have six players participating – Gabriel Landeskog and Carl Soderberg will be playing for Sweden, Erik Johnson for the United States, Matt Duchene for Canada, Semyon Varlamov for Russia, and Nathan MacKinnon for North America.

2. Sept. 27 – the first preseason game for the Avalanche, on the road against the Minnesota Wild.

3. Oct.15 – the start of Colorado’s regular season when the Avalanche host the Dallas Stars.