Avs head coach Jared Bednar snubbed from Jack Adams Award finalists

Colorado Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar won’t win the Jack Adams Award this season.

Again.

The NHL announced the finalists for Coach of the Year on Friday and Bednar’s name isn’t on the list. Despite leading the Avs to the best record in the league and Presidents’ Trophy, Bednar was snubbed.

Jon Cooper, Dan Muse, and Lindy Ruff are the finalists for the Jack Adams Award! 👏 #NHLAwards

The Jack Adams Award is presented annually to the NHL coach adjudged to have contributed the most to his team's success. pic.twitter.com/cBmlUO184C

— NHL (@NHL) May 1, 2026

The wording of what the award is for is a little silly. But basically the voters concluded that Jon Cooper, Dan Muse and Lindy Ruff contributed to their team’s success more than Jared Bednar.

He’s been with the Avalanche since the 2016-17 season and has 445 regular season wins, yet Bednar has only been a finalist for the Jack Adams Award once. He finished third in the voting in 2017-18, leading a great Colorado revival and reaching the postseason.

But now Jared Bednar can roll out of bed and help the Avs make the playoffs and more. He was the head coach when the team won the Stanley Cup in 2022 and consistently leads them to contender status.

For perspective the Avalanche finished with 121 points. Cooper led the Lightning to 106 points, Muse and the Penguins had 98 points while Ruff guided the Sabres to 109 points.

Sure, maybe Muse and Ruff are better stories. No one had expectations for Pittsburgh and Buffalo entering the season and they overachieved.

However, for Bednar to continually be overlooked each year when Colorado is among the best teams in the league is maddening.

Snubs are nothing new for the Avs as the NHL awards finalists continue to be rolled out. Nathan MacKinnon isn’t up for the Ted Lindsay and Scott Wedgewood didn’t find himself among the Vezina Trophy finalists.

But as Jared Bednar said earlier this week he only cares about one trophy and that’s the Stanley Cup.

If the Avalanche take that home none of this will matter — but it’s still frustrating for the fans.

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