Jared Bednar officially finds out whether he will be staying in Colorado
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Daniel Lucente
Jun 2, 2026 (3:19 PM)
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Photo credit: Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images
Jared Bednar will remain behind the Colorado Avalanche bench despite a Conference Finals sweep, per Elliotte Friedman.
The real story is not whether Colorado made the right call. It is what his retention does to two franchises quietly watching from a distance.
Both the Toronto Maple Leafs and Edmonton Oilers have open coaching vacancies this offseason.
Reports from The Fourth Period indicated both organizations were monitoring Colorado's situation, knowing a Bednar firing would put one of the most credentialed coaches in hockey onto the open market.
That door is now closed. Bednar is the only active coach to have won the Kelly Cup, Calder Cup and Stanley Cup.
He has guided Colorado to eight consecutive playoff berths and holds the franchise record for wins.
For Toronto and Edmonton, losing that caliber of candidate compresses an already thin hiring pool at the worst time.
Colorado's front office reshuffles around Bednar
The Avalanche are not standing pat everywhere. Chris MacFarland officially departed for Nashville on Tuesday, accepting the Predators' president of hockey operations and GM role.
Joe Sakic will reassume general manager duties in Colorado, reuniting the power structure that existed when the Avalanche won the Stanley Cup in 2022.
Bednar entering the final year of his contract under a restructured front office signals Sakic wants continuity behind the bench while he rebuilds the layer above it.
That is a bet on the coach, not a concession to inertia.
The ripple effect on two coaching searches
Toronto has reportedly interviewed close to 20 candidates and is circling names like David Carle and Derek Lalonde.
Edmonton is searching for its tenth head coach in fifteen years.
Neither franchise landed the marquee name that would have instantly legitimized the hire.
The coaching carousel just got smaller, and the two teams that can least afford a miss feel it most.
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