Jared Bednar, an avid angler, likes to compare his hockey team over a long season to a boat.

He sees it like this: The team builds its identity and what it wants to be over the first part of the season, and then there are aspects that just break during the grind of 82 games — kind of like a well-used fishing vessel. How quickly the club fixes the issues and regains its optimal performance is a big part of a successful campaign.

The Colorado Avalanche left the dock with a major leak last season. Fixing the boat on the fly was an all-hands-on-deck situation, from the coaching staff to the front office.

The start of the 2025-26 season has been a complete 180. The Avs were 4-0-1 heading into a Saturday night contest at Ball Arena with the Boston Bruins, and the one blemish might have been t

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