Jared Bednar ‘ecstatic’ about new contract, ‘not worried about outside noise’

The Colorado Avalanche gave head coach Jared Bednar a four-year contract extension on Wednesday morning.

It came about 12 hours before the Avs drop the puck on another season with Stanley Cup expectations.

And after morning skate, Bednar was asked several questions about his new deal. First and foremost, he’s thrilled to put pen to paper and stay in Colorado for the foreseeable future.

“I’m ecstatic. Nice to be sticking around. Yeah, I love my job, I love working with these guys,” Jared Bednar said. “The relationship that I’ve built with the players, and the partnership that we’re in, I’m really enjoying coming to the rink as much as I was when I first got here. So, I’m really looking forward to staying as the coach.”

The Avalanche were shockingly swept by the Vegas Golden Knights in the Western Conference Final last season and Bednar was entering the final year of his contract.

But team president and GM Joe Sakic, along with the Kroenke family, clearly believe in Bednar. The 2022 Stanley Cup champion wants to prove them right — particularly when NHL coaches are fired all the time.

“That’s my driving force. Trying to reward (Sakic), our owners, our players. Just trying to do the best job I can for this team every day,” Jared Bednar said.

Time flies because Bednar is entering his 11th season as the team’s head coach. Colorado has made the playoffs every year except for Bednar’s first, a disastrous campaign in which the Avs only registered 48 points after Patrick Roy abruptly quit late in the summer.

“The most worried I’ve been is after year one, because it was so bad,” Jared Bednar said with a laugh on Wednesday. “I put a lot of thought into what I do, how I coach, the way we operate and I do the best job I possibly can. And I’m at peace with that, whatever happens after that.”

It sounds like Bednar wasn’t worried about being relieved of his duties this past offseason after Colorado came up short again. He’s focused on the future and another new journey beginning.

“For me, that’s all you can do. You can control your effort, your attitude, your work ethic, whatever it is. Like all the things that I talk to our players about. Not worried about outside noise and what’s going on. You just kind of take care of what you gotta do and be part of a solution instead of a problem,” Bednar said. “Whatever happens from there that’s often times out of your control.”

The Avalanche and Kings will kick off the 2026-27 season at Ball Arena with Jared Bednar secure behind the bench this year and beyond.

Now, it’s up to him and the players to deliver a second Stanley Cup in this era of Avs hockey and the fourth in franchise history.

Related

No lame-duck season: Avs lock up Jared Bednar on opening dayAvalanche name Andrew Cogliano, Cup champion as a player, new assistant GMCale Makar is back from injury, might play for the Avalanche in the preseasonKSE spending $135 million on Ball Arena — still no new practice facility for Jokic or MacKinnonThe best posts about Brent Burns viral ‘glow-up’ haircutTwo Avalanche centerpieces give Jared Bednar strong endorsements