When firing Jared Bednar as the scapegoat for the worst season in Avalanche history would have been the easy thing to do, general manager Joe Sakic gave his coach a second chance and brought Bednar back for a second year on the Colorado bench.
Bednar has rewarded the faith of his boss in oh-so-many ways. He put together this NHL season’s most unlikely 10-game winning streak. He refused to let Matt Duchene ruin the locker-room vibe before the disgruntled star was traded out of town. He didn’t flinch when No. 1 goalie Semyon Varlamov went down with an injury. He shut up doubters like me, who must now admit Bednar can actually coach a little. Best of all, he put Colorado back in the playoff mix.
So now it is Sakic’s turn to reward Bednar in a more meaningful way.
The NHL trade deadline is Feb. 26, and after enduring 56 losses in regulation and four more in overtime a year ago, maybe Sakic should give Bednar an infusion of talent that makes the Avalanche more competitive, not merely in the short term, but also for the long haul.
With Nathan MacKinnon, the league’s second-leading scorer and a legitimate MVP candidate, out at least two weeks and perhaps closer to a month with what appears to be a shoulder ailment, Bednar could use some help as the Avs battle Dallas, Minnesota, Anaheim, Calgary and Chicago for the final berths in the Western Conference playoffs.
There’s never a good time to lose a center who has 61 points in 49 games. But MacKinnon, who suffered what hockey folks like to call an “upper-body injury” because that apparently hurts less than telling the truth, is departing the Avalanche lineup during a particularly brutal, midwinter stretch the team must somehow weather (and I’m talking about more than the burr-cold high temperature of 1 degree in Edmonton, when Colorado visited for a game against the Oilers.)
As the Avs put the final, glorious touches on their 10-game winning streak with a victory Jan. 22 in Toronto, it marked the beginning of a very tough road, with a schedule that keeps Colorado away from home for 13-of-16 contests before the trade deadline. With MacKinnon on the ice, it figured to be a stern test that would allow Sakic to take measure of how quickly his young team has truly matured.
With MacKinnon shelved by an injury, it might be tempting and reasonable for Sakic to let the Avs take their lumps, grow through the pain and wait until next year. So pardon me for thinking a good hockey town with loyal fans who have invested hard-earned money in a franchise that has missed the playoffs in six of the past seven years deserves better than another sermon on the virtues of patience.
OK, before hockey purists among us threaten to rub a stinky glove of reality in my face, I readily acknowledge it makes no sense at this stage of the team’s development to pursue a rental player in a trade.
So let’s limit the targets to players who won’t become free agents later this year. Ryan McDonagh is a 28-year-old New York Rangers defenseman with shutdown and skating skills. It wouldn’t be cheap to acquire McDonagh, and maybe the Rangers won’t deal him now at any price, but isn’t it time for the Avalanche to dream big again? If I’m willing to applaud Sakic for the haul he got in the Duchene trade, then let’s give him credit for the negotiating acumen to enter the trade discussion if the Montreal Canadiens actually get serious about dealing left wing Max Pacioretty.
The NHL loves the buzz of trade rumors. The Avalanche returned to relevance in the hockey conversation when Sakic shopped Duchene, then was applauded throughout the league for fleecing Ottawa for prospects and draft picks.
How about making some more noise at the deadline, Trader Joe?