It took a little over two weeks, but the Colorado Avalanche finally held its end-of-season press conference on Thursday. Of course, this press conference looked a little different than the one we’ve seen over the last few years.

Out is Chris MacFarland, who has since left to run the Nashville Predators. Joining him was Josh Kroenke. KSE’s vice chairman joined Sakic at the press conference, a rarity when it comes to the Avalanche side of the business.

Here’s a bit of what we learned.

Bednar and his staff will be back

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 hockey has knocked them out of the postseason for three consecutive years, it’s a decision that may come back to bite them.

Zero concerns about Makar extension

Cale Makar has one year left on his contract, but is eligible to sign an extension on July 1, an extension that will be very, very expensive. The Avalanche have until Sept. 15 to sign him to a max eight-year extension under the previous collective bargaining agreement, and they don’t sound the least bit worried about it.

“Listen, Cale is going to finish his career here,” Sakic said. “We’re already talking to his agent, so we’re confident that something that’s going to get worked out at some point. He’s got another year, but this summer we expect to have him signed.”

Injury updates

Makar was clearly injured in the postseason, along with other players, but Sakic said everyone will be ready for camp.

“There’s nobody that’s going to miss any time to start the season,” Sakic said.

Keep in mind that the Avalanche didn’t mention much in terms of injuries at the end of last season, but Logan O’Connor and Mackenzie Blackwood weren’t ready to start the season due to off-season surgeries. The true answer to this may come in September, but Makar has been spotted at Colorado Eagles games the last few weeks without any noticeable harness.

Sakic seems excited to be GM again

Sakic stepped back from being full-time GM in 2022, partly so that the Avalanche would not lose MacFarland to another team, but he’s back as GM again. And it sounds like that might be the case for a little while.

“The phone calls are a lot more frequent than they were as a president, but I’ve enjoyed it,” Sakic said. “All you do is talk hockey; you talk with your staff and other GMs about how to make your team better, and you’re in the loop. I enjoy it. I’m blessed to be in this game and looking forward to it.”

They’re not panicking

The way the season ended was almost jarring given how the first 90 games went, but the Avalanche don’t sound like a team ready to make big changes. Sure, they’ll have to make changes because the salary cap will force them to, but they like their group.

“We feel we left something on the table, but you wake up the next day and look to try and get better,” Sakic said. “We got a great group. Yes, we had a tough last week of hockey, but we still, from September on, we won the Presidents’ Trophy … we got a great hockey team here and this team was built for a two-three year run.”

Sakic mentioned they have a few prospects that may make a run at the roster spot, but given their tight situation with cap space, trades would be the biggest way they’d look to make changes.

With the salary cap rising, Kroenke noted that they’ll continue to be a cap team if it’s necessary.

“With the core players that we have, we’re going to keep being as aggressive as possible,” he said.

What I’m hearing

• Could the Avalanche finally (FINALLY) be getting a new practice facility in the future? Sounds like it. “There’s one final hurdle that we’re in and we hope to have some information relatively soon, but again, we’re dealing with the city, and we’re working on pedestrian access over Speer, in and around that,” Kroenke said. “I don’t have an exact time frame, but we’re very close.”

• Regarding MacFarland’s exit to the Predators, Kroenke noted that the way the Predators handled everything was very professional and classy. “I think there was a situation where (MacFarland), one had a personal situation involving his family, and two, the opportunity to go run his own team,” Kroenke said. “I think those are two very important factors for him, and I think that we wish him the best.”

What I’m seeing

• The Avalanche didn’t do a good enough job of making life difficult for Carter Hart in the conference finals, while the Hurricanes seem to be having no issues doing so. It also helps that Hart just hasn’t been very good either. Avalanche fans are probably wondering where this guy was a few weeks ago. Quite frankly, none of the goaltenders in the Stanley Cup Final have played well, which has helped make it that much more exciting.
• Michael McCarron is a 31-year-old with one 20-point season under his belt. He’s now the owner of a six-year extension worth around $20 million in total, which is insane. It’s a bad free agent crop and the cap is rising, but it still sounds crazy to say. Jack Drury’s agent is probably the biggest fan of that contract.

What I’m thinking

• I can’t critique PK Subban’s fashion sense because I’m a terrible dresser myself, but I do enjoy tuning in nightly to see what he’s going to be wearing for the Stanley Cup Final. It’s almost as entertaining as the games themselves.
• Dylan Larkin might not be the last player who asks for a trade this summer, but it’s going to be awfully concerning if all these players asking out only want to go to a handful of teams.