"They told me to go hire an assistant," Fitzsimmons said. "I had an idea who I wanted. It was Jared Bednar. ... I liked the way he thought the game. We had the same mentality."
Now 52, Bednar was 30 at the time and hadn't considered coaching before then.
"I remember it like it was yesterday," said Bednar, a rugged defenseman who played professionally for eight seasons in the American Hockey League, International Hockey League and ECHL, including six seasons with South Carolina. "We were up in Goose Creek (South Carolina). We were putting a deck on my house and me and 'Fitz' just lived like a block away from each other. He came over and said he got the head coaching job and then asked me if I wanted to retire and be his assistant."
Fitzsimmons remembered some of the details differently, but the good friends agree that Bednar needed some convincing.
"I knew I wasn't going to play forever, even though I wanted to play for another year or two," Bednar said. "When you jump into coaching the team that you love with one of your best friends, a mentor, it was something that I thought long and hard about. I just ultimately decided that was the best move for me in my career."
Bednar was an assistant for five seasons until Fitzsimmons left to accept a scouting position with the Capitals in 2007. Then-Stingrays president Darren Abbott, also the team's former radio broadcaster, said Bednar was the logical candidate to succeed Fitzsimmons.
"He had a great relationship with a lot of the players already," said Abbott, now the Los Angeles Kings chief revenue officer and president of affiliates. "He's a tireless recruiter. At that level, the coach is also recruiting and negotiating. No one is ever going to outwork Jared. Morning, noon and night he would recruit his team. So, it was really easy, to be honest."
In Bednar's two seasons as coach, the Stingrays were 89-45-9, lost in the conference finals in 2008 and won their third Kelly Cup championship in 2009. Looking to take the next step, Bednar left after that season to take an assistant job with Abbotsford of the AHL.
Bednar's path to the NHL from there wasn't always smooth. He was fired from his first AHL coaching job with Peoria after two seasons (2010-2012), took a step back and was an assistant with Springfield in the AHL for two seasons (2012-2014).
When Springfield coach Brad Larsen was promoted to an assistant job with the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2014, Bednar took over and guided the team -- by then Lake Erie -- to the Calder Cup in 2016. His NHL break came when Patrick Roy stepped down as the Avalanche coach on Aug. 11, 2016.
The Avalanche hired Bednar two weeks later, less than a month before the start of training camp, and the short turnaround contributed to a difficult first season when they went 22-56-4. But Colorado went 43-30-9 and qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs in his second season and won the Stanley Cup in his sixth season in 2022, making Bednar the first coach to win the Kelly Cup, Calder Cup and Stanley Cup.
Bednar celebrated his day with the Cup in Charleston, where he still lives in the offseason. The first place he brought it was the Stingrays' practice rink, Carolina Ice Palace, so the fans there could see it.
"So many people in this area supported my career both as a player and as a coach," Bednar said. "With it being home and so many friends and family and stuff around the area, when we won, obviously, that was a dream come true and I wanted to share it with the people who were closest to me, and it seemed like the bulk of those people were here in Charleston."
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Carbery was also initially reluctant to go into coaching. A physical forward who played professionally for four seasons in the Central Hockey League and ECHL, he had a post-retirement plan was to use the business administration degree he earned at St. Norbert College in Wisconsin to work in finance.
That was his intention after Fresno, the ECHL team he was playing for, folded midway through the 2008-09 season. He turned down offers to play for other teams before Bednar called and convinced him to join the Stingrays.
"Phone call changed my life," Carbery said. "It's a wild, wild story of this would have been erased from my entire life -- the Stingrays, coaching probably -- without that phone call."
Carbery helped South Carolina win the Kelly Cup that season and played another season for MacLean, who took over as coach after Bednar left for Abbotsford. Following the 2009-10 season, Carbery again considered retirement and went on some interviews in Charleston seeking a job in finance, but they didn't pan out.