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The Colorado Avalanche were rather quiet on the player front this offseason, but made major headlines with a late coaching change.Patrick Roys unexpected resignation in August forced the Avs into the kind of coaching search no team should ever desire -- the one that comes after most of the top names had been hired.But GM Joe Sakic took a gamble he believes will pay off in elevating unheralded Jared Bednar from the minors, where he led his teams to championships both in the AHL and ECHL.The most constant and stinging criticism of Roys coaching style was that the Avs bucked the trend of puck-possession systems that have garnered much success around the league, instead playing a counterattack game that was exciting at times, but also in the long run led to too much time without the puck. Bednar promises to address that this season and change the way the Avs play with the puck.Colorado was in the playoff race last season until fading late, losing eight of its last 10 games, missing the postseason for the second straight year after the surprising Central Division title win in 2013-14, Roys first season behind the bench.The Avs return with largely the same core of players. Theyve got high-end offensive talent led by Matt Duchene and Nathan MacKinnon, but have struggled mightily defensively. Theyve got to be better there.Best new facesThe Avs acquired defensemen Fedor Tyutin and Patrick Wiercioch to help bolster the blue line, also adding forwards Joe Colborne, Rocco Grimaldi and Ben Smith. Gabriel Bourque and Rene Bourque were signed to tryout contracts.The 6-foot-5, 202-pound Wiercioch gets a second lease on life in Colorado after wearing out the patience of the Ottawa Senators. He had promising moments during his first few years but frustrated the Sens with his lack of consistency. Does a fresh start in Colorado help the 26-year-old meet his potential?Colborne, also 26, put up career highs of 19 goals and 44 points last season. The 6-foot-5 center, however, was let go by the Calgary Flames, who had to preserve salary-cap space. Perhaps a sneaky signing here by the Avs.All in all, though, nothing earth-shattering as far as player additions.As far as a newcomer to the NHL lineup, however, exciting things are ahead from forward Mikko Rantanen, the 10th overall pick in the 2015 draft. He has the potential to get into the Calder Trophy conversation.The most important new face, though, is behind the bench in Bednar, who makes his NHL debut after cutting his teeth for years in the minors.Biggest unknownsHow will Bednar fare? He wants to play a puck-pressure game and obviously tighten up defensively, all the things you want to hear if youre an Avs fan. But how will the players respond to a largely unknown coach?Is Nikita Zadorov ready to make a step this season? That would be a boon to the blue-line if the 6-foot-5 Russian turned in an impact season. Hes got the talent to be a two-way guy, but needs to show more consistency.Which Semyon Varlamov shows up this season? The Russian goalie has regressed two straight years since putting up a career-best .927 save percentage in 2013-14 in helping lead the Avs to that Central title. He brilliantly masked a lot of Colorados defensive issues that season. But since then, that save percentage has dipped to .921 in 2014-15 and then just .914 last season (to go along with a 2.81 goals-against average). Now, Varlamov could certainly use better defensive play in front of him, no question. But its the chicken and the egg here. If hes better this season, everything else flows from there.His backup, Calvin Pickard, has potential to be a No. 1. So the Avs look pretty darn solid in goal if Varlamov bounces back.Sure thingsDuchene, MacKinnon and defenseman Tyson Barrie are the offensive dynamos, while captain Gabriel Landeskogs consistent two-way game forms the core of Colorados go-to arsenal. Landeskog and Swedish countryman Carl Soderberg formed a steady pairing up front last season.MacKinnon was outstanding in the World Cup of Hockey for Team North America, while Duchene shined in a Team Canada win over Team USA. Look for both offensive stars to carry that over into strong starts. It should be noted that Duchene played through a separated shoulder, which he suffered before the tournament officially started but he didnt miss a game and the worse of it is behind him, he said.PredictionI think the Avs will do a better job of protecting the puck with Bednar, but some of the same concerns remain on defense. How Varlamov bounces back will have a huge bearing on things. Theyre in a crazy division, where a team such as the Winnipeg Jets is going to be better while contenders the Dallas Stars, Chicago Blackhawks, St. Louis Blues and improved Nashville Predators arent going away. I just cant see Colorado being any better than those teams. They will be competitive but miss out by a few points. Seventh in the Central. Reggie Theus Jersey . LOUIS -- Roman Polak was celebrating even before Alexander Steen scored the winning goal in Saturdays 4-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes. Vlade Divac Jersey .C. United of Major League Soccer. United chose the defender in the second round of the 2013 MLS re-entry draft. https://www.cheapkingsbasketball.com/1422b-harrison-barnes-jersey-kings.html .C. at the helm of the top team in the Eastern Conference. His tenure as the GM in Vancouver was all too brief. Though he led the Canucks to what was then a franchise record-shattering campaign in just his second season, Nonis was gone and replaced one year later. Kevin Martin Jersey . -- Ohio States Urban Meyer has never had any issue acclimating to the biggest stages in college football. Nate Archibald Jersey . -- The Portland Timbers and Real Salt Lake played to a 0-0 tie Saturday night that left the top of the Western Conference standings unchanged.MONTREAL -- It wont take long for the Montreal Impact to renew acquaintances with Dennis Iapichino. The left back was signed by D.C. United on Thursday after being waived by the Impact and will be available to face his former team when the two clubs play tonight at Saputo Stadium. You can see all the action on TSN beginning at 7pm et/4pm pt. "Yeah, sometimes football is strange but first of all I want to wish the best of luck to Dennis because hes my teammate but also my friend," Impact centre back Matteo Ferrari said. "Im happy for him that he found another situation thats good for him because he needs to play and I think he will be good in D.C." Jeb Brovsky agreed that it was a curious coincidence that he may be facing his former teammate so soon after the 23-year-old Swiss defender was let go. In a little over a year with the Impact, Iapichino played 16 MLS regular season games, including 12 as a starter. "Its always interesting to see a guy in a different jersey," said Brovsky, who scored his first MLS goal in the 3-1 loss in Washington on Aug. 3. "Obviously we hope for the best for him as an individual and on and off the field I think we can only hope for his success, but on Saturday were certainly not hoping for his success." Saturdays match comes two weeks after league-worst D.C. defeated the Impact 3-1 at RFK Stadium. The Impact have been struggling against everyone lately. A frustrating 2-1 loss in Chicago last Saturday left Montreal with just one win its last eight MLS games. The Fire scored six minutes in before dropping the Impact into a 2-0 hole in the 23rd minute. "In Chicago we walked in the locker-room and everyone was exceptionally frustrated, to say the least, because we knew that we were probably the better team on the day," Brovsky said. "We wanted to get some goals and its never going to be pretty but frustration is a good word for us right now. But thats the great thing about this game. We get to come back on Saturday and prove ourselves again." The Impact have lost three straight on the road, beginning with a 4-0 thrashing by the New York Red Bulls on July 13. Montreal has been outscored 9-2 during the three road losses. Brovsky wonders what happened to the team that won a pair of West Coast road games on its way to a 4-0 start. "You know at the beginning of the year I think we had a bit of nastiness," Brovsky said. "I think we had a bit of grit, especially coming down the stretch, especially away from home. I thought in Portland and Seattle you saw a team who was just willing to put their face in front of the ball and really ddo anything they can to keep it out of the net.dddddddddddd "Obviously we havent got a couple of bounces in the past couple of weeks but I think you make your own bounces and obviously away from home we havent been making our bounces lately. We need to get back to that because we need to win some games on the road to get into a good playoff spot so I think it just comes down to a willingness to go the extra two or three feet." While success has eluded the Impact lately on the road, coach Marco Schallibaums squad has been treading water throughout its last four home games. Undefeated at 6-0-1 through their first seven games in Montreal, the Impact have won once and tied twice at Saputo Stadium since June 29, when a 4-3 loss to Colorado sunk their perfect home record. The rematch against D.C. United on home turf is timely in Schallibaums eyes. Washington went 13 games without a regular season Major League Soccer win over a three-month stretch from mid-March to mid-June. Last in the Eastern Conference with a 3-16-4 mark for a league-worst 13 points, D.C. United has yet to win in 10 road games this season, including seven losses and three draws. Curiously, Washington has streaked through U.S. Open competition. D.C. United won 2-0 in its semi-final at Chicago on Aug. 7 and will face Real Salt Lake in the final on Oct. 1. "Its good. Its always important to have another chance," Schallibaum said. "We know that theyre a team that had a good result against us and Chicago, but they lost again in the championship so its our job to make this pressure, its our job to score the first goal and its our job to win the game and get the three points." The six days off between games this week were a welcome oasis for the Impact, which has yet another busy stretch ahead with a CONCACAF Champions League game in Guatemala on Wednesday. "We played three games in eight days so weve got guys that have played a lot of minutes," midfielder Patrice Bernier said. "The rest of this week has been concentrating on trying to elaborate a little bit more and vary our game like we did in the second half in Chicago, where we opened up the game. "That creates space for everybody and then we can find the right solutions because we have a lot of guys with a lot of talent to find players and we have to be able to do that and be unpredictable against our opponents. A lot of teams have realized that going through the middle and blocking the middle and forcing us to maybe force passes and then countering on our mistakes, now we have to open the game and create as much space as we can for ourselves." ' ' '