Report: Avs narrow search for next bench boss

A week after the resignation of head coach Patrick Roy, the Colorado Avalanche have shortened their list of candidates to fill the team's head coaching vacancy.

According to the The Denver Post, Cleveland Monsters head coach Jared Bednar is believed to be the top candidate. Bednar, 44, has four years of head coaching experience at the AHL level, winning the Calder Cup with the Monsters last season. In 2009, he led the ECHL's South Carolina Stingrays to the Kelly Cup.

Other top candidates are believed to be Lane Lambert, an assistant coach with the Washington Capitals, New York Rangers' associate head coach Scott Arniel, and Travis Green of the AHL's Utica Comets.

Lambert, 51, has coached under Capitals' head coach Barry Trotz since 2011, in both Washington and Nashville.

Arniel has been with the Rangers for the past three seasons. The 53-year-old previously spent part of two seasons as head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets, most recently in 2012.

Green, 45, is considered a highly-coveted up-and-coming coach, having coached the past six seasons in the WHL and AHL. He was a finalist for the Anaheim Ducks' head coaching vacancy.