Opinion: Ray Bennett Was A Scapegoat For Colorado’s Shortcomings

Ray Bennett deserved to be fired, but the team continues the trend of blaming one individual for an entire year of disappointment.

Ray Bennett deserved to be let go years ago.

The Colorado Avalanche are still mourning Saturday’s loss to the Dallas Stars, as they coughed up a two-goal lead in the third period of Game 7. At the same time, former Avs superstar Mikko Rantanen almost single-handedly dealt his former team all of the misery they could handle as he and the Stars advanced to the second round of the playoffs.

Whenever Colorado comes up short, you can almost guarantee someone will get blamed for everything. For the last several years, Valeri Nichushkin was the scapegoat. He missed the final five games of their first-round series, which ended with the Avs losing to the Seattle Kraken in seven games. The following season, he failed a drug test in the middle of their second-round playoff series against the Stars and missed the final three games as his team was eliminated in Game 6.

The Power Play Has Been Bad For Years

This time, Nichushkin wasn’t the issue, but the blame torch had to be moved to another source. This time, Ray Bennett got burned. But unlike Nichushkin, Mr. Bennett is no longer employed with the Colorado Avalanche. He was in charge primarily of the power play and forwards, and the Avs went 3/22 on the man advantage in their series against Dallas. With that said, he deserved to get fired. There’s no argument about that, but people don’t seem to realize that the power play has been dreadful for years, particularly in the postseason.

Again, the media zeroed in on Nichushkin’s struggles and blamed him exclusively for losing to an expansion team in the playoffs. What went nearly completely unnoticed was the fact that the power play in that series scored just two goals on 18 attempts. That’s 11% compared to the 13% success rate we just witnessed. Bennett had been on the staff since 2017, and, oddly, he’s now just being questioned for his lack of performance.

Bednar Survives — For Now

Without hesitation, general manager Chris MacFarland gave Jared Bednar a vote of confidence at Tuesday’s end-of-season press conference — “100% confident Jared’s our head coach,” he stated.

If Colorado falls short again next season, when does the torch eventually descend upon Bednar’s personal space? When will it affect MacFarland? It all depends on what happens this offseason. Could CMac restructure this team into a contender over the next several months? Possibly. If they can retain a few guys and steadily improve the depth, it’s certainly doable, but regardless of whether CMac is successful, there’s no coming back from how the Rantanen trade played out. The new house may have some upgraded upholstery and a few other items in the future, but no one will forget how he burned the old house down and destroyed the brotherhood along with it.

Team president Joe Sakic also accompanied CMac for the presser, which was interesting considering that the former two-time Stanley Cup champion hasn’t spoken publicly in this fashion since he was in MacFarland’s position in 2022. In a sense, it seemed like Sakic was giving CMac an off-hand vote of confidence. When you look at it from that perspective, MacFarland may be feeling a little uneasy, which he should be at this juncture.

Takeaways

Colorado needs to dispel this losing mindset. For years, it’s been about one person being responsible for the team’s struggles, putting them in an inferior position. Let’s analyze every position, whether the players or the staff, and revise accordingly. This will put us ahead of the bar. But if we continue this trend of denouncing one individual, it will be an endless stream of excuses and failures.