Colorado Avalanche extend head coach Jared Bednar's contract through the 2030-31 season

The Colorado Avalanche agreed to terms with head coach Jared Bednar on a four-year contract extension Wednesday that keeps him behind the Denver bench through the 2030-31 NHL season.

Bednar, 54, is the winningest coach in franchise history with a 445-262-75 record and led Colorado to the Stanley Cup in 2022. The extension comes after the Avalanche were swept in the Western Conference Final last postseason, a result the organization did not hold against him.

President of hockey operations and general manager Joe Sakic said in a statement that Bednar has done an outstanding job over the last decade and called him the best coach for the current roster.

"He commands the room and has complete confidence of the players," Sakic said. "We're excited to continue to have him in charge, and we believe that his presence maximizes the team's potential while this core group is intact."

Bednar said the extension was already in discussions heading into training camp. He said he does not fixate on the length of his contract and instead concentrates on doing the best job he can each night.

"I'm ecstatic," Bednar said. "Nice to be sticking around."

The deal follows another major piece of business for the Avalanche this summer. The team signed defenseman Cale Makar, a two-time Norris Trophy winner, to a $163.2 million, eight-year extension that begins next season, the richest deal in NHL history.

Makar said the Bednar extension gives the roster a sense of direction and stability.

"We obviously have full trust in him," Makar said. "For us to have stability like that as a team and to know the direction that we feel comfortable in and confident that we can find success in is great."

Captain Gabriel Landeskog, who was part of the 2022 championship core alongside Makar and Nathan MacKinnon, said Bednar is the right coach for the group and praised his hunger to win.

"We love Bedsy," Landeskog said. "We've said that for a long time. He's a great coach, great human, the right coach for this group."

Bednar was hired in August 2016 after Patrick Roy resigned. His first season ended 22-56-4 and missed the playoffs, the only year of his tenure the Avalanche did not reach the postseason. Colorado has made the playoffs in each of the nine seasons since, a streak that makes Bednar the 13th head coach in NHL history to take the same team to the postseason in at least nine consecutive seasons.

He is now the second-longest tenured head coach in the NHL, trailing only Jon Cooper of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Bednar recalled how uncertain his future felt after that first season, saying he was more worried then than at any other point in his tenure.

"The most worried I've been is after year one, because it was so bad," Bednar said. "I put a lot of thought into what I do, how I coach, the way we operate, and I do the best job I possibly can. I'm at peace with that."

The Avalanche won the Presidents' Trophy last season with a franchise-best 121 points and enter 2026-27 as one of the league's expected Stanley Cup contenders. They opened the season Wednesday night against the Los Angeles Kings in Denver.