Pressure is the last thing on Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar’s mind down 2-1

With the Avalanche sputtering in the first round of the Western Conference First Round, head coach Jared Bednar isn't worried about any external pressure from fans or ownership

BY TRENT FINNEGAN

Apr 25, 2025, 1:28 PM Updated: 1:32 pm

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The Colorado Avalanche are in a 2-1 hole in the Western Conference First Round against the Dallas Stars despite holding a lead for the majority of the series. The Stars and head coach Pete DeBoer have made the proper adjustments in the most crucial moments in the last two games, while Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar hasn’t been able to do the same.

Bednar wasn’t able to figure out DeBoer and the Stars last year in the playoffs as the Avalanche bowed out in six games to the division rival, and fans are wondering if this year is just going to be a carbon copy of that series.

Given what the Denver Nuggets just did with head coach Michael Malone before the playoffs started, Bednar was asked about his relationship with Stan and Josh Kroenke (who own both the Nuggets and the Avalanche) and if he feels any more pressure to win after they relieved the long-time Nuggets coach of his duties.

“Nobody is going to put more pressure on me or on our team than we put on ourselves,” Bednar said at Avs practice on Friday.

Even though Bednar and the Avalanche brought home the franchise’s third Stanley Cup just three years ago, one cup isn’t the expectation when two of the best hockey players in the world are wearing the burgundy and blue in Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar. With how the cap space fell this season with the return of Gabriel Landeskog from the LTIR, Bednar might not have a squad that’s this deep for quite some time.

The ownership group fired Malone just two years after he won a championship for the Nuggets because the team wasn’t taking advantage of Nikola Jokic, the three-time MVP and the best player in the association.

“I see a good coach get let go, things aren’t working, happens all the time. I understand there’s a business side of it, a personal side too, and I know they really liked each other and liked [Malone],” Bednar said. “You sometimes have to make a change, and that’s the business. Like I said, I think the pressure for us comes from, it’s internal.”

In Bednar’s previous eight seasons as Colorado’s head coach, he only lost in the first round of the playoffs twice in the seven years he made it. He has a very similar resume to what Malone had before getting the boot from the Nuggets organization, and more questions could be raised if Bednar can’t get the job done against the Stars for a second straight season.