Coach Jared Bednar goes on a rare public tirade during Saturday’s practice
Jared Bednar was as animated as he has probably ever been in his four years as Avalanche head coach Saturday, in Day 5 of the training camp 2.0 at Pepsi Center.
Bednar stopped an end-to-end 5-on-5 and unleashed an obscenity-laced tirade that included his concern about checking, the limited practices remaining before the Avs’ Aug. 2 opener in the 24team playoffs and something about “(expletive) golfing” if things don’t go well in Edmonton, the Western Conference hub city.
Shortly before or right after Bednar’s lecture, star rookie defenseman Cale Makar left practice and did not return for the special-teams portion after the Zambonis made fresh ice.
Per NHL rules during the COVID-19 crisis, Bednar could only say Makar was “unfit” to complete the practice and he won’t know if the Calder Trophy finalist will participate in Sunday’s scrimmage until Sunday morning.
About his tirade, Bednar said: “I just felt like I wanted to make sure that our team was getting out of the practice what our goal was going into it. We were a couple drills in and we’re getting ready to do my 5-on-5 drill that we had set up, and I wanted us to make sure we were doing that drill with the right amount of intensity and physicality and putting a big enough importance on the drill from a defensive side of things.
“Not that I didn’t like the first part of the practice, but as I was going through it I wanted to make sure we were going to get the desired result from that drill. You only have so many days of practice to accomplish the things you want to accomplish. So that was my message and they really took it well. I really liked our practice in the 5-on-5 portion and then also I thought that carried over to the special teams after the flood.”
Three players were available on Zoom calls after practice and none took issue with Bednar’s rare public tirade.
“We talked about intensity and competitiveness,” center J.T. Compher said.
“It starts with the players, and obviously the coaches, (Bednar’s words) definitely helped get us going a little more today. We weren’t as sharp and it definitely cranked up the intensity as it went on.”
Defenseman Sam Girard filled in for Makar as the quarterback on the first power-play unit, and defenseman Erik Johnson stepped in for Girard on the second unit.
Girard worked with forwards Nathan Mackinnon, Andre Burakovsky, Mikko Rantanen and Gabe Landeskog. Johnson was with forwards Valeri Nichushkin, Nazem Kadri and Joonas Donskoi, and Compher and Vlad Namestnikov rotated as the left winger.
The Avs will hold their second scrimmage Sunday. They had their first Burgundy vs. White game Thursday before taking Friday off.
“It’s been a good week,” Compher said. “We got some good 5on-5 work, a little bit of special teams and a scrimmage. One thing I noticed when we came back, first, our depth — it was nice to see our lineup healthy — but the skill level and the intensity the guys came back with. You could tell all our guys were working hard during the break to be ready.”