The Colorado Avalanche are set behind the bench for the foreseeable future following their announcement Tuesday of a three-year extension for coach Jared Bednar.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Bednar, 51, joined the Avalanche ahead of the 2016-17 season. He has a 240-168-46 record with the club and guided them to a Stanley Cup championship last June. Bednar is now signed with the team through the 2026-27 season.
Colorado was in a serious state of flux when it offered Bednar his first NHL coaching job. The Avalanche had failed to make the playoffs in five of their six previous seasons when former coach -- and Avalanche legend -- Patrick Roy surprisingly stepped down over what he said was a lack of input in personnel decisions.
Bednar was hired just two weeks later, on Aug. 26, 2016.
That eleventh-hour appointment forced Bednar to retain Roy's assistants instead of hiring his own, and didn't allow much time for the new coach to get to know his team prior to training camp. Bednar battled through that adversity to lead Colorado to a postseason appearance during the 2017-18 season, and the team has been back every year since.
The Avalanche went an impressive 16-4 during last year's playoffs before defeating the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Cup Final.
That title made Bednar the first coach ever to win a championship in the ECHL, AHL and NHL. He previously earned a Kelly Cup with the ECHL's South Carolina Stingrays and a Calder Cup with the AHL's Lake Erie Monsters.
Bednar is also now the winningest coach in franchise history.