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If you’ve been around a Colorado Avalanche practice the past five seasons, you would probably recognize Shawn Allard. You might not know him by name, but his enthusiasm and skating ability are hard to miss. As skills coach, he led players in drills and worked with those rehabbing from injury. His shouts of encouragement frequently echoed across the rink.

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Colorado will now have to make do without him. Allard’s contract was up after the 2022-23 season, and he decided to leave the team. The 48-year-old has four kids, and he’ll now have more time to be around them. He’s appreciative of his time with the Avalanche, he said in an interview with The Athletic, but there’s no denying how much of a commitment it was in terms of time and energy.

“You’ve got to kind of step back and be introspective and try to understand exactly what that value system (is) that you created with your wife and your family,” he said. “And I think we got away from that a little bit.”

All of Allard’s kids are involved in hockey. His oldest son, Sutton, is trying to be a skills coach. He works at Perfect Skating, a skating education company Allard founded. Tristan, his second son, signed a two-year AHL contract with the Lightning organization in April, and 19-year-old Owen Allard plays in the Ontario Hockey League for the Soo Greyhounds. He’ll play for the Avalanche on an amateur tryout agreement at the upcoming rookie tournament. Ashley, Shawn’s youngest child, is going into her freshman season at the University of Connecticut.

“We don’t want to miss the parents weekend at UConn,” Shawn said. “We don’t want to miss the home opener for our son Tristan who might play his first pro hockey game. These things, they don’t happen time and time again. You don’t want to miss the moments.”

Had he continued with the Avalanche, he would have. This weekend he will get to watch Tristan and Owen play in their rookie tournament games, but if he had stayed with Colorado, he’d be working.

Allard also said his high-intensity approach to the job, which involved demonstrating drills at high speeds, led to nagging injuries. His body will now have a respite from that. The coach can also take on a bigger role in Perfect Skating’s leadership. He doesn’t want to be too involved on the day-to-day side but is excited about the company’s future. It already has franchise partners in such cities as Denver, Montreal, Edmonton and London, Ontario, and Allard said it has “a pretty exciting growth plan.”

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While with Colorado, Allard got to experience a Stanley Cup win. He said experiencing the championship “certainly played a massive factor” in his decision to leave.

“Maybe I wouldn’t have taken a step back if we hadn’t won,” he said. “I think the biggest thing I took out of that is the learning experience of what guys have to do to win. And for me, that was the greatest compliment that you can get as a coaching staff: seeing your athletes go out there and give it everything that they got for the next person beside them.”

Allard did not rule out rejoining an NHL team down the road, be it as a consultant, scout or member of a coaching staff.

With Allard no longer with Colorado, Toby Petersen will take over as the club’s new skills coach. Petersen played college hockey at Colorado College and spent 398 games in the NHL. He formerly worked as an AHL assistant under Avalanche coach Jared Bednar.

Allard expressed appreciation for how Joe Sakic and Chris MacFarland treated him and said he is happy to see Colorado bringing in another skills coach. Though he’s met Petersen only a couple of times through Bednar, he said he’s confident “he’s going to do a great job with his little niche on what he can do to help the guys.”

And if any Avalanche players still want Allard’s input, he said he’s happy to continue to help. He will still work with NHL players and can break down video from anywhere, whether he’s in Storrs, Conn., to watch his daughter or in Sault Ste. Marie to see his son Owen.

“Heck,” he said, “it would be nice to maybe do it on the beach a couple times (a) year.”

Breaking down the Tatar signing

Colorado got better by signing Tomas Tatar to a one-year deal Tuesday. He’ll make a team-friendly $1.5 million and can fit in different spots in Bednar’s lineup. If Jonathan Drouin doesn’t work well as a top-six option, Tatar could play there, or he could bring experience and scoring punch to the third line. The 32-year-old has scored 20 or more goals seven times in his career.

Colorado gets a really good depth winger in Tomas Tatar, on a low-risk, inexpensive contract.

A very good signing for the Avalanche. pic.twitter.com/OE61ZZXSfQ

— Shayna (@hayyyshayyy) September 12, 2023

“I thought it was another astute pickup by (GM Chris MacFarland),” one former NHL executive said. “It goes to show how important it is to be patient. I believe Chris got rewarded for being patient.”

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MacFarland made a similar move last year, waiting out the market to sign Evan Rodrigues to a one-year, $2 million deal in September 2022.

“When you’re a GM you need to exercise patience,” the former exec said. “Unfortunately you tend to be surrounded by impatient people — media, fans, coaches, owners. So you need to be strong-willed to sustain the pressures from impatient people.”

The biggest questions about Tatar can’t be answered until the playoffs. He has only 13 points in 52 career postseason games: a far lower scoring rate (.25 points per game) than his regular-season career average (.58). He and Colorado will both have to hope he can buck that trend this season. Regardless, his regular-season production makes him worth that risk, especially considering how little he costs to sign.

Byram at NHL Player Media Tour

Instead of superstars Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar, the Avalanche sent Bowen Byram to the NHL Player Media Tour in Las Vegas. He spoke to a group of reporters Wednesday, including The Athletic’s Michael Russo, and touched on a variety of topics, including Colorado’s offseason acquisitions.

“(MacFarland) did a great job, (as did) the rest of our staff,” he said. “We’re all really excited about all the pieces we’ve added.”

The defenseman also discussed Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog, who will miss the regular season while recovering from cartilage replacement surgery. MacFarland recently told colleague Pierre LeBrun that the team hopes Landeskog could be back for the playoffs. There’s still no concrete timeline, though, and there’s a big difference between hoping for a return and planning as if it is likely.

“Talking to him, he’s been putting a ton of work in,” Byram said. “It’s tough, especially in the summertime when you’ve got to be doing whatever and everybody else is having fun. … He’s working as hard as he can to get back as soon as possible. It’s not an easy road.”

(Top photo of Tomas Tatar: Elsa / Getty Images)

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