Jared Bednar Has Colorado in the Driver's Seat — But One Looming Question Could Define His Playoff Legacy
The Colorado Avalanche clinched the Central Division title and locked up the Western Conference's top seed with a 3-1 win over the St. Louis Blues on April 7, and for head coach Jared Bednar, it represents the culmination of a remarkable second-half turnaround. A team that looked tactically broken on the power play before the Olympic break has re-emerged as one of the NHL's most dangerous units. A goaltending situation that seemed like a liability has produced one of the hottest netminders in the league. And yet, Bednar finds himself in the crosshairs of legitimate scrutiny — because he refuses to pick his guy.
That tension between Bednar's demonstrated tactical flexibility and his stubborn resistance to naming a playoff starter in goal is the central story heading into the postseason. The Avalanche are built to win now, Nathan MacKinnon leads the NHL with 52 goals, and the power play has gone from historically bad to historically good in the span of two months. But none of that matters if Bednar's goaltending indecision becomes a psychological anchor when the games count most.
The Clinch, the Moment, and What It Means for Colorado
Winning the Central Division and the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference is not a participation trophy — it carries real structural advantages heading into the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Home-ice advantage throughout the conference bracket means the Avalanche will face every playoff series with the comfort of Ball Arena behind them for Games 1 and 2, and potentially Games 5 and 7.
Bednar acknowledged the significance but quickly pivoted to what's ahead. After clinching, he described the postseason as the "most fun part," a framing that speaks to his team's confidence but also reflects the fact that Colorado's championship window isn't theoretical — it's right now, with MacKinnon in his prime and a roster built around depth and skill.
The April 7 win over St. Louis also featured Scott Wedgewood making 18 saves in a clean, controlled performance — yet another data point in an argument that is becoming harder to ignore. The Avalanche then followed it up with a 3-1 victory over the Calgary Flames on April 9, further cementing their status as the class of the West heading into April.
The Goaltending Debate: Why Bednar's Refusal to Commit Is Both Defensible and Risky
The loudest ongoing conversation around Bednar isn't tactical — it's psychological. Since the Olympic break, Scott Wedgewood has been lights-out: a 9-2-1 record with a .938 save percentage. His counterpart, Mackenzie Blackwood, has gone 6-7 with an .863 mark over the same stretch. These aren't comparable numbers. They're not even in the same stratosphere.
The Denver Post's Troy Renck made the case bluntly: stop messing around and make Wedgewood the man. The logic is airtight on the surface. Wedgewood has earned it. He shut out the Dallas Stars. He made 18 saves in the clinching win over St. Louis. The numbers aren't a small sample fluke at this point — they represent sustained elite performance across a meaningful stretch of games.
Bednar's counter-position is more nuanced than it might appear. "It's not likely going to be just one guy," he said, signaling a platoon approach that prioritizes matchup flexibility over a clear hierarchy. The coaching logic here isn't irrational: playoff hockey involves back-to-back games in compressed series windows, and a tandem approach can theoretically neutralize hot streaks against specific opponents or line combinations. But here's the problem — goaltenders are not interchangeable parts. They thrive on rhythm, confidence, and the knowledge that the net is theirs to lose. Splitting starts in a playoff series introduces psychological uncertainty that can undermine both goaltenders simultaneously.
The precedent in recent NHL history is not kind to teams that enter the playoffs without a clear starter. The teams that go deep almost universally ride one hot goalie. Bednar's tactical sophistication has served Colorado well all season — but this particular form of strategic ambiguity carries real downside risk.
MacKinnon's Positional Sacrifice and the Power Play Transformation
If the goaltending question is the story Bednar doesn't want to answer, the power play transformation is the story he deserves full credit for — and it's genuinely impressive.
Before the Olympic break, Colorado's power play was the worst in the NHL. Not slightly below average. Last. Dead last. For a team with Nathan MacKinnon — a generational talent who leads the league with 52 goals this season — operating at the bottom of the power play rankings was an embarrassment that demanded a structural response.
Bednar delivered one. According to reporting on the tactical overhaul, MacKinnon shifted from his traditional half-wall position to the goal line, creating space for Martin Necas to operate from the half-wall. This is not a minor adjustment. Moving your best player — the one the entire power play has historically been designed around — to a less prominent distribution role requires ego subordination and trust in a larger system. MacKinnon, to his considerable credit, embraced it.
The results speak for themselves. In March alone, Colorado's power play converted at a 31.3 percent clip — third-best in the NHL over that span — scoring 15 power play goals. Since the Olympic break as a whole, the unit has operated at 24.6 percent, ranking 11th league-wide. The trajectory from worst to top-11 in a matter of weeks is among the more dramatic in-season tactical rehabilitations in recent NHL memory.
Bednar credited the turnaround to a "clean slate" mentality after the Olympic break, combined with player buy-in and accountability. That framing matters. It suggests Bednar recognized that the problem wasn't just X's and O's — it was the psychological residue of repeated failure that had calcified around the unit. Wiping that slate clean, restructuring roles, and demanding accountability created the conditions for the turnaround. This is coaching, not just game-planning.
Kadri's Injury and Colorado's Depth Test
The one wrinkle that emerged in the final push toward the playoffs: Nazem Kadri will miss "some games" with a finger injury, per Bednar's announcement on April 9. The timing is imperfect but not catastrophic — losing Kadri in the regular season's final weeks is preferable to losing him in Round 1.
Kadri's value to Colorado extends beyond his point totals. He's a physical, competitive center who provides the kind of grinding presence that playoff hockey rewards. His absence shifts responsibilities down the lineup and could expose depth concerns that were less visible when the top six was intact. Bednar's management of Kadri's return timeline — and whether he's fully healthy by the first round — will be a quiet but important subplot over the next several weeks.
What the Kadri situation does test, however, is Colorado's organizational depth. A top-seeded team that can win games without a key center while still operating the most improved power play in hockey is sending a message about roster construction and player development. If the Avalanche navigate this stretch without losing momentum, it reinforces their status as genuine Cup contenders rather than regular-season paper champions.
Bednar's Coaching Evolution: From System Executor to Adaptive Tactician
Jared Bednar has been Colorado's head coach since 2016. He's won a Stanley Cup (2022). He's navigated the post-Cup hangover seasons that often derail championship organizations. And in this current campaign, he's demonstrated a tactical adaptability that suggests he hasn't coasted on his championship credentials.
The power play overhaul is the most visible example, but it reflects a broader willingness to abandon what isn't working and rebuild from the ground up. Few coaches have the institutional standing to tell their best player to change his position on the power play. Fewer still have the player trust required to make that conversation productive rather than damaging. The fact that MacKinnon accepted the repositioning and bought in fully says as much about Bednar's relationship with his superstar as it does about MacKinnon's selflessness.
Where Bednar draws more skepticism is in his communication style around difficult decisions. His goaltending non-answer is the current example, but it fits a pattern of strategic ambiguity that can read as either tactical sophistication or an unwillingness to own difficult calls. Great coaches can be wrong — what they cannot afford is to seem indecisive when their team needs clarity. The playoffs will force Bednar to make a call on goal. The question is whether he makes it proactively or gets forced into it by circumstance.
What This Means: The Real Playoff Stakes for Bednar's Legacy
Jared Bednar has a Stanley Cup ring. His coaching legacy is not on the line in an existential sense. But there's a meaningful difference between a coach who won once and a coach who built a dynasty — and Colorado has the pieces to be a dynasty if the postseason execution matches the regular-season brilliance.
The Avalanche's position is enviable: best record in the West, the league's leading goal scorer, a transformed power play, home-ice throughout. The structural conditions for a deep run are in place. What remains uncertain is whether Bednar will make the calls that translate regular-season excellence into playoff success.
The goaltending decision is the most immediate test. Coaches who have made bold, clear decisions in goal — Ron Francis committing to his starter, Joel Quenneville riding Henrik Lundqvist to the bitter end of series — have generally been rewarded with the kind of goaltending consistency that wins in April and May. Bednar's platoon philosophy has served the regular season reasonably well, but the playoffs operate on different psychological terrain.
The power play gives Bednar legitimate confidence. A unit that couldn't buy a goal before February is now one of the league's most dangerous, and the structural changes are embedded enough that they should carry into the postseason. MacKinnon's buy-in on the role shift means Colorado's most important player is fully invested in a system that's working — that alignment between a coach's vision and a franchise player's execution is the foundation of playoff runs.
Bednar's final test before the playoffs is managing the tension between health, momentum, and rest. Getting Kadri back healthy, maintaining Wedgewood's rhythm without burning him out, and keeping a top-seeded team sharp without overplaying them in meaningless regular-season games — these are the unglamorous but consequential decisions that separate good coaches from great ones.
Frequently Asked Questions About Jared Bednar and the 2026 Avalanche
Who will start in goal for the Avalanche in the playoffs?
Bednar has explicitly declined to commit to a single starter, saying "it's not likely going to be just one guy." Scott Wedgewood has posted a 9-2-1 record with a .938 save percentage since the Olympic break, compared to Mackenzie Blackwood's 6-7 record and .863 save percentage over the same span. Most observers, including the Denver Post's Troy Renck, have called on Bednar to commit to Wedgewood based on performance merit.
How did Colorado's power play go from worst to best in the NHL?
After the Olympic break, Bednar implemented a tactical overhaul that moved Nathan MacKinnon from the half-wall to the goal line, allowing Martin Necas to operate from the half-wall. Bednar credited a "clean slate" mentality and player accountability. The unit went from last in the NHL to operating at 31.3 percent in March — third-best in the league that month.
What is Nazem Kadri's injury status?
Bednar announced on April 9 that Kadri will miss "some games" with a finger injury. No specific timeline for his return was given, though the injury occurred late in the regular season, making his playoff availability the primary concern for Colorado's depth.
Has Jared Bednar won a Stanley Cup?
Yes. Bednar led the Colorado Avalanche to the Stanley Cup championship in 2022, defeating the Tampa Bay Lightning in six games. He has been the Avalanche's head coach since 2016.
How did the Avalanche clinch the Western Conference's top seed?
Colorado clinched the Central Division title and the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference with a 3-1 win over the St. Louis Blues on April 7, 2026, with Wedgewood making 18 saves in the victory. The top seed gives the Avalanche home-ice advantage throughout the Western Conference playoffs.
The Bottom Line
Jared Bednar has built something real in Colorado this season. The power play resurrection is a genuine tactical achievement. MacKinnon's leadership — including the willingness to sacrifice positional preference for team benefit — reflects a culture Bednar has cultivated. The Central Division title and Western Conference's top seed are earned, not gifted.
But the playoffs will expose any remaining indecision with brutal efficiency. The goaltending question is solvable, and the data points clearly toward Wedgewood. Bednar's track record suggests he'll eventually make the right call — the more interesting question is whether he makes it early enough to give his team the psychological clarity that playoff runs require, or whether he waits until the series forces his hand.
The Avalanche are one of the two or three most dangerous teams in the NHL entering the postseason. Whether they reach their ceiling depends less on MacKinnon's production — that's a given — and more on whether Bednar's coaching in the moments that matter most matches the tactical creativity he's shown all season.
