Avalanche general manager Joe Sakic held a season-ending news conference Tuesday, less than a week after his team lost Game 7 of a Western Conference semifinal playoff series to the San Jose Sharks. Sakic

— Star center Nathan MacKinnon will not require shoulder surgery after suffering the injury early in Game 7. “Just rest,” Sakic said.

— The Avs would prefer to re-sign star right winger Mikko Rantanen, a restricted free agent, to a long-term contract. If the player and his agents prefer that route, but the team would take a deal.

— Sakic expects the Avs will utilize their No. 4 and No. 16 overall selections at next month’s draft in Vancouver, British Columbia, but he will “listen” to offers to trade these picks to move up or down.

— Coach Jared Bednar will be offered a contract extension, but given the club’s 26 player contracts and demands, Sakic doesn’t regard that as a priority. Bednar finished his third year with the group. He originally signed a contract when hired, and has been given last season to a one-year extension.

— All participant exit interviews have been completed, such as that with goalie Semyon Varlamov, whom Sakic hopes to check the free-agent marketplace July 1.

— Sakic anticipates the Avs to be “more competitive ” July 1 in the free agent market, including, “We already have targeted gamers in mind should they become available that we’re going to need to speak to about joining our team. ”

Sakic spoke in depth about Colorado’s 8-0-2 run to clinch a playoff spot in Game 81 of this 82-game regular season and its 7-5 record in the playoffs, including removing the Western Conference No. 1-seed Calgary Flames from the first round. The Avs made to the second round for the first time and made the playoffs.

“We saw the growth in the last couple years here,” Sakic said. “You see that the Pepsi Center, the playoff atmosphere — the atmosphere all year. I think there s plenty of excitement about this group and try to get it to the next level and we have to keep building. ”

He added: “The end goal is to be a champion, win a Stanley Cup. However, the process in the group — there was lots of growth, especially in the playoffs. I was satisfied the attitude, with our mindset. We got but the mindset was to win, and concentrate on that.

“As great as the end of the year was, we still didn’t accomplish the end goal. We have to find a way to get better and it starts here in the offseason. ”

The Avs lost a league-high 14 times when games went past regulation. Sakic expects his team to be much better in shootouts and overtime season. “That could have made life much easier for us down the stretch if we did.

Colorado could potentially acquire a top-six ahead by trading defenseman Tyson Barrie, who enters next season in the final year of his $5.5 million annual contract and also three similar-style young blue-liners nipping at his heels. Sam Girard, Cale Makar and Conor Timmins, every 20, could finally turn Barrie to a valuable trade piece.

Timmins, however, missed the entire season and it sounds as long as Timmins can’t play the less likely Barrie will be traded.

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“He’s an incredible player,” Sakic said of Barrie, 27. “He was driving push our (regular-season) stretch and what we saw with him and Cale and Girard (in the playoffs), I’d be very, very comfortable starting the year with that group. They can do a great deal of special things . ”

Footnotes. Avs forward Tyson Jost has joined Team Canada for the World Championship in Slovakia, and depth goalie Pavel Francouz — an American Hockey League all-star with the Colorado Eagles — has agreed to play for the Czech Republic. … Colorado on Monday signed 2016 draft pick on Adam Werner, a Swedish goalie, to a two-year entry-level contract. Werner played Farjestad BK of the Swedish Hockey League last season, posting a 15-6-3 record with a 2.02 goals-against average and .926 save percentage.

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