Sakic didn’t waste any time confirming that Jared Bednar will return for his 11th season behind the Avalanche bench.

“He’s the best coach for our team,” Sakic said. “He’s got the confidence from the players. We do reflect on exit meetings. It’s clear from everybody, from players, the staff, that he’s the right guy.”

“I think he has absolute belief of the dressing room,” Kroenke said.

None of this is much of a surprise. If the Avalanche had wanted to make a change, they would have made it by now. Bednar is entering the final season of his contract and Sakic said that’s not something the coach should worry about, noting that they haven’t gotten to a lot of that business yet. Perhaps the bigger surprise is that it won’t just be Bednar returning, but his entire coaching staff, including assistant coach Dave Hakstol.

Hakstol was brought in to work with the forwards and run the power play. The forwards had as good a season defensively as you could expect from them, but the power play did not.

“I know our guys appreciate his work. He’s an experienced coach,” Sakic said of Hakstol. “If you’re going on about the power play, I’m kind of with you a little bit. Our power play, overall, it wasn’t as good as it could have been.”

When asked if the team would change anything stylistically, Sakic just noted that the style worked “all year until one week.” Going off that, don’t expect the Avalanche to change too much stylistically. Given a similar style of