This is VERY Good news... Insider gives SHOCKING Avalanche update

It is finally happening as a big switch is coming to the Avalanches coaching staff with Dave Haxtall being very close to departing to the Arizona State University hockey program and becoming their new head coach. It just didn't happen in the way we expected. Many people, myself included, thought that Dave Haxtall would be fired at numerous times over the last season and this one, but it turns out it kind of worked in the best possible way for everyone where instead Dave Haxtall gets to go to another job and the Avalanche get to look for another power play coach that will actually do his job well welcome into Avalanche Digest everybody so happy to have you here as always if you're new here don't forget to hit that subscribe button if you love your daily updates on the Colorado Avalanche it's free to do so and we'd just love to have you here but I thought it was pretty interesting with this whole Dave Haxtall thing going on wanted to see and wait for all of the news so today we are bringing you the full story and how are we feeling are we happy at Dave Haxtall's departure are we saying absolutely are we saying finally i'm jumping for joy at this or are some people sad that one of the best dressed coaches in the NHL is potentially departing for the Avalanche very soon here and we mean very soon as within the end of the week Elliot Friedman was the first to report this whole Dave Haxtall situation and it sounded pretty definitive here said definite movement or momentum for Haxtall to take over as head coach at ASU as soon as their next game which is Friday there seems to be a large push for Haxtall to get this deal done to get in there and already be coaching on Friday for the a team so things are happening pretty rapidly we should probably be getting an update on whether this is going to happen very soon and according to this report it's basically a done deal already Colorado, where he is coaching now, has officially granted permission and negotiations are underway. Other contenders have been informed that they are out. So as long as this doesn't go sideways, it is a go. When it's already come to the point where other contenders for a head coach have been informed that they're out, this seems very close to the finish line to getting done. This isn't just, oh yeah, he's one of five being interviewed. No, he is the guy that they want. going further he said one possibility to replace him on the Avalanche's side is Brett McLean who played for them in 05 and 06 and coached last season in Vancouver now keep your eye on that name we're going to get to him very shortly as a potential candidate for the Colorado Avalanche but just bringing you up to speed in case you live under a rock this Avalanche power play has not been good it hasn't been serviceable it had four goals in the first night i think it had four on five possible power plays it was looking good against the LA Kings and ever since then the Avalanche have not scored a goal on the power play and it has looked just not like it's going well at all and I would be remiss to say that the power play has looked as bad as last season I think process wise they are much better they're utilizing the right side of the ice a lot more of where Nazem Kadri is but they are still opting not to use the middle of the ice they have not scored in four games i think they're 0 for their last 13 and they have fallen all the way to tied for 12th in the NHL so things very much need a change the Avs need a different process i can go on and on and say well the process was good they had a few good chances the puck's not going in the net and that just cannot happen some power plays look good some don't it is still streaky it is not good enough and everyone knew that the Avalanche needed a change in their organization and going further and what Jared Bednar said this comes from Evan Rawle Bednar confirmed that they granted Hackstall permission to speak to ASU said that they feel it's important and Sackic feels the same way to let him go through the process Hackstall will travel with the team to Dallas so if later on and you see in this Dallas game that Hackstall is still on the bench don't be alarmed he is still technically an employee of the Avalanche he has not been hired by ASU yet so that is not a done deal at the moment but this could very much possibly be the last two games this being the other back-to-back of Dallas we ever see of Dave Hackstall and just kind of wanted to say i think it's a better thing for everybody that Hackstall goes to ASU he's a very good NCAA coach i think he has good coaching qualities and i think he's just a coach that works so much better in the NCAA this way the Avalanche don't have to fire him they don't have to make him unemployed he gets to have a job as a head coach and the Avalanche can go forward and get someone that's better to fix their power play i think this has worked well for everybody in my opinion and i think it's just the best thing and if those of you are wondering why would he even want to go to ASU his son is on the roster his son does play for ASU so there also is more familial ties there as well but i wanted to bring up this note right here by John Michael Lyles who responded to the news that Brett McLean was one of the guys in interest for the Colorado Avalanche and if Elliot Friedman is throwing that name out there there must be some smoke to that fire he said that if it happens to be him that would be a great hire one of the best guys off the ice that I played with and a very good coach so there is some love and John Michael Lyles is on the Altitude broadcast so obviously played with Joe Saki as well in the past so there seems to be some insider information happening there I wouldn't exactly call Michael Lyles an insider but hey there's more momentum there that the Avalanche have ties to this guy and they think pretty highly of Brett McLean so I think it is interesting as this guy for a potential new power play coach Eric Dean had this to say about him he was Adam Foote's assistant last year with the Vancouver Canucks and people might be looking at that and saying I don't want anything to do with the Canucks that coaching staff is bad but he does continue the Canucks had their worst record in the NHL last year but their power play was 14th in the league at 21.8 percent so remember that's a team that did not have Quinn Hughes for the last half of the season and was still able to have a power play like that while lacking so much talent so for me I can look at that and say you know what put him on an Avalanche roster put him behind the bench as a former hockey player knows how to talk to guys as well knows how to get people fired up knows what to say and how to stand up for himself as a coach with these results I say you know what what can he do with one of the most if not the most talented roster in the NHL with the Colorado Avalanche can he actually turn their power play around this is a candidate that I really like as well with Brett McLean and if I'm saying that wrong or if I'm butchering that name hey if the Avs hire him then I'll spend all the time in the world learning how to say that but let's talk about another candidate for the Avs to replace for the power play and that is the former coach of the Edmonton Oilers in Chris Knoblauch went to two back-to-back Stanley Cup finals with the Edmonton Oilers and was just not able to get all the way over the hump but technically has had more playoff success in the last few years than Jared Bednar has so what happens if you take Chris Knoblauch and Jared Bednar and form a super tandem of a coaching staff I really like the options for how this looks I think he's my front runner candidate for one of my favorites and he was a guy that during earlier on in the summer when people were asking oh if you want to fire Jared Bednar who would you replace him with Chris Knoblauch I think that that would be an interesting head coach by himself but he still remains unhired and I wanted to reference this article written by Ryan O'Hara this was actually written a few months ago but it goes on to talk about the benefits of Knoblauch and why I think he'll be such a good power play coach if we look at what this article had to say we have some quotes from Connor Brown and Darnell Nurse said that he was a pretty analytical guy and pretty composed adding I think he sees clearly in these high pressure situations I think his judgment is pretty clear Darnell Nurse echoed the same idea more directly he has a knack for making adjustments at the right time and making and not making an adjustment just to make one and that to me are already jumps off the page I know we're talking about the power play coach but for a guy that's also going to help manage the players as well I like that Chris Knoblauch could also be on the bench as well not only would he and Jared Bednar be the most best dressed new coaching tandem in the NHL bar none but I like that when a lot of people have the criticism of Jared Bednar of not making the adjustments he needs to of kind of just not adjusting to a series when it's starting to get out of hand for the Avalanche Chris Knoblauch has proven that he is able to make the correct adjustments in fact he's gone to the Stanley Cup final twice in a row while playing some pretty hard teams just wasn't able to get all the way over the hump but what if Jared Bednar is there as well i really like how this looks for both coaches maybe they're exactly what each other needs here and we can go further on into the article and see what it had to say it said in modern NHL playoffs the gap between winning and losing often comes down to which coach adjusts first not which roster is better says former Edmonton Oilers coach Knobloch stands out as a natural candidate in many ways he does mirror Bednar calm composed analytically driven but there is one trait in which he has separated himself in a way Connor Bednar has increasingly struggled to match how quickly he adjusts when a series changes and i really like the potential of Knobloch on this Avs bench as well I think he can be a very good backup coach I think he's one of the best assistant coaches still out there I would really like to see what he looks like not just for the power play but for the Avs bench in total but for the power play we all know he played with Connor McDavid or sorry coached McDavid Draisaitl Bouchard and the Oilers year on year have had one of the best power plays in the NHL for about like five years now so if he's able to take that and help share the secret sauce it's not really a secret it's just to use the middle of the ice but he's able to coach that into players like MacKinnon, Necas, Makar you probably have a lot of potential for this power play to be as good as it used to be and possibly better than it ever was before this is why I like Chris Knobloch he's my front runner candidate for who I like as a potential replacement for Dave Jost but that is going to do it for this one let me know what you guys think in the comments down below about all of the news what is happening with Dave Jost what are your wishes for your dream power play coach let me know in the comments down below but I will see y'all in the next one bye