The Avalanche wasted no time signing defenseman Ian Cole in the first hour of the 2018 offseason, getting his name on a three-year, $12.75 million contract.
Six weeks into the season, that signing is paying dividends. Avs coach Jared Bednar credits Cole’s play and presence for the defense’s ability to rebound from a recent five-game slide in which the Avalanche allowed 25 goals, a negative skid snapped by Sunday’s 4-1 win in Edmonton.
“If you look at the way he plays and the way he carries himself, every practice and every game there’s an intensity and there’s a sturdiness to his game,” Bednar said. “There’s an attention to detail, too, that I think a lot of our guys can look at and try to emulate. Because he’s won two (Stanley) Cups, he’s been there before and he doesn’t get too rattled in certain situations.”
Bednar noted Cole’s influence in the Edmonton win, saying the 29-year-old who played at Notre Dame before NHL stints in St. Louis, Pittsburgh and Columbus had a marked effect on Colorado maintaining its comfy three-goal cushion.
“In the third period, they put on a big push, and the intensity of their game ramped right up,” Bednar said. “He was one of the first guys to notice it, that the push was on, and make sure our game also elevated.”
Cole said a primary factor in signing with the Avalanche was the potential of a team that “probably over-achieved last year, but I don’t think that making the playoffs would be overachieving this year”.
And even though Cole believes playing strong playoff hockey is a skill developed mostly through doing rather than hearing, he’s focused on creating the right habits within the defense to get Colorado there.
“The playoffs are more of a feel thing, more of an intensity thing, something where every battle matters and every decision matters,” Cole said. “Every puck play matters. And that doesn’t just apply to the playoffs — if we try to instill that mindset over the course of the season, we’ll have a better record, a better team and when we get to the playoffs, we’ll be more ready to jump right in.”
