If I were a GM, I would agree here. But as a fan, I think it is only natural to get an emotional attachment to certain players, as you follow their ups and downs. Plus how can you not get emotionally attached to the aesthetics of watching certain players play in their unique style? Watching Makar skate every game gives me a sort of pleasure that I can't get from watching any other player. Even players in the middle of the lineup have their own quirks to their play style that are recognizable.
Dont really care about any of that personally, nor do I really understand why people care about that. You dont know them personally, they dont know who you are... Different strokes for different folks I guess.
As long as these guys are on the Avs then yeah its aweseome to watch them play and to witness Makar on ice, and seeing the joy of them winning the cup was awesome and what makes it worth it. But that's also all because they're Avalanche players. If Mackinnon wasn't an Avs player I wouldn't care one bit about him. If Makar played for Calgary I would not care at all about watching him on the ice.
Its like, Nichushkin is probably my favorite Avs player of all time at this point, but if management decided trading him tomorrow was the best way for this team to win a cup, I'd probably completely disagree with them, but it wouldn't change my fandom. I'm still an Avs fan. In 2 months from now I wouldn't be watching any Nichushkin games, I'd be watching Avs games.