Speculation: 2025 Off-season Thread

[RECKLESS]

I think Chet means same nucleus.

It’s the peripherals that will change, but all the main components are all still under contract.

Yeah. But still. We're gonna be so much better off at the get go and it shouldn't be anywhere near the disaster of the start of this season.

As a player I'd get motivated to play a better, steadier regular season and propel towards a better playoffs as a result.

 

[RockLobster]

For all the people wanting MacFarland fired, could you take a moment to remember when Joe was the GM & how that went, in terms of us wanting him to make trades to upgrade the roster? I'll give you a hint, he really didn't do anything until he absolutely had to. We all were pretty pissy at his lack of aggression, when it came to recognizing the roster wasn't working. pre-Kadri, we had a hole at 2C. We kept trying to force Jost in the role, etc. Now, he did finally go all-in for the Cup in 2022, and thank god he did because at least we got ONE Cup with this core, but I think a fair discussion could be had that he wasted some other seasons by doing very little.

Now, contrast that with MacFarland who, first year on the job aside, has been a rather aggressive GM when it comes to making moves. Now whether it's flat cap, or bad pro scouting, or a CMac wanting something and then realizing it didn't work, etc.; that's a separate conversation imo. When he sees an issue, he's working hard to address it. Some might have worked out (Blackwood, Wedgewood, MAYBE Necas/Drury), and others have not (RyJo, Mittelstadt, Nelson), but I'd much rather have a GM who is not afraid to make a move to give his team the best chance to win, as opposed to everyone seeing an issue but a GM who moves slower than molasses to address it.

And in sports, it's VERY rare for a GM to be fired before making a coaching change. Not saying it's impossible, but most of the time when you have a GM in place who didn't hire the current head coach, they will get at least 1 shot at installing "their" coach. This is a little bit of an interesting situation since CMac has previous familiarity with Bednar from their days in the Columbus organization, but by a strict black & white look--Sakic hired Bednar, CMac has not officially led a coaching search and made an executive decision on who "his" guy is. And despite people here disagreeing with me, I have a strong feeling that he and Bednar are not 100% aligned with how the roster he constructs should be deployed. Too many instances of players who have come over having one of their skills neutralized.

Simply changing assistants isn't going to do anything other than metaphorically put lipstick on a pig. At ANY time, Bednar could have intervened to "change up" the PP or PK. He didn't. In fact in the Dallas series specifically, the most noticeable change was his taking Drouin off the PP1 after G2...after it was abundantly clear that Drouin was actively killing plays. I'm torn on whether or not I want Bednar to go. In the days leading up to and the immediate aftermath of this series, I was ready to be done with him. And there are times I still feel that way, but I do recognize that he's gotten a lot out of this roster. So it's tough.

 

[Grigowski]

For all the people wanting MacFarland fired, could you take a moment to remember when Joe was the GM & how that went, in terms of us wanting him to make trades to upgrade the roster? I'll give you a hint, he really didn't do anything until he absolutely had to. We all were pretty pissy at his lack of aggression, when it came to recognizing the roster wasn't working.

Now, contrast that with MacFarland who, first year on the job aside, has been a rather aggressive GM when it comes to making moves. Now whether it's flat cap, or bad pro scouting, or a CMac wanting something and then realizing it didn't work, etc.; that's a separate conversation imo. When he sees an issue, he's working hard to address it. Some might have worked out (Blackwood, Wedgewood, MAYBE Necas/Drury), and others have not (RyJo, Mittelstadt, Nelson), but I'd much rather have a GM who is not afraid to make a move to give his team the best chance to win, as opposed to everyone seeing an issue but a GM who moves slower than molasses to address it.

And in sports, it's VERY rare for a GM to be fired before making a coaching change. Not saying it's impossible, but most of the time when you have a GM in place who didn't hire the current head coach, they will get at least 1 shot at installing "their" coach. This is a little bit of an interesting situation since CMac has previous familiarity with Bednar from their days in the Columbus organization, but by a strict black & white look--Sakic hired Bednar, CMac has not officially led a coaching search and made an executive decision on who "his" guy is. And despite people here disagreeing with me, I have a strong feeling that he and Bednar are not 100% aligned with how the roster he constructs should be deployed. Too many instances of players who have come over having one of their skills neutralized.

Thats a good take.

That means one will have to go. And i know who it will be if it really comes down to this.

 

[RevengeOfTheDrai]

I'm waiting for MacKinnon and Makar to finish up before giving up hockey entirely. I'll be much happier never watching hockey again after them for sure. This sport is just a waste of time.

Bednar destroyed your love for hockey? Wow

 

[BednarIsStupid]

They're done son, In all honesty Mack is enjoying his life and Makar just doesn't have it

They just got voted for Ted Lindsay. My worry is the dependence on these guys for success. Much like Messi dependence in prior years for FCB.

 

[a mangy Meowth]

I'm waiting for MacKinnon and Makar to finish up before giving up hockey entirely. I'll be much happier never watching hockey again after them for sure. This sport is just a waste of time.

True colors revealed

 

[BednarIsStupid]

True colors revealed

I used to enjoy watching before 2019.

 

[BednarIsStupid]

Bednar destroyed your love for hockey? Wow

No. Iginla did.

 

[jaisen73]

The off season is going to be interesting for a variety of reasons. Landy appears to be legit back (can't predict that far out on how the knee holds up, etc), which is awesome but creates cap issues. If they want to keep Drouin and he wants to stay at his current salary I don't see that as a no. I can't imagine he gets a raise on the open market. Malinski, despite some hiccups, has shown he is a legit NHL defender and if there are any takers it would make Girard expendable. I think Sammy G needs a change and the Avs need to move on. Colton is high on my trade block. Opportunities are there to shed salary but this is also a super soft UFA market.

 

[BednarIsStupid]

Sakic and higher ups have a tough call.

Something has to change before next season. You have give the players on the roster the hope that things will be different next year.

If you go into next season with the basic same roster and same coaching staff, you could see catastrophic results as the motivation to win will be completely gone. Why would the players try any harder next year if it's the same thing that has failed 3 years in a row? They won't, and there won't be hope of things being different this year.

If the coaching staff/GM is the same I could easily see 29 demanding a trade, he isn't going sit complacently and watch the ship sink.

8 probably will decide to go to UFA if there aren't changes.

Then what?

I actually think the opposite is true. It needs tweaking and more flexibility from Bednar. Colorado can play well in spurts. Perhaps the players need more time together?

 

[shadow1]

For all the people wanting MacFarland fired, could you take a moment to remember when Joe was the GM & how that went, in terms of us wanting him to make trades to upgrade the roster? I'll give you a hint, he really didn't do anything until he absolutely had to. We all were pretty pissy at his lack of aggression, when it came to recognizing the roster wasn't working.

Now, contrast that with MacFarland who, first year on the job aside, has been a rather aggressive GM when it comes to making moves. Now whether it's flat cap, or bad pro scouting, or a CMac wanting something and then realizing it didn't work, etc.; that's a separate conversation imo. When he sees an issue, he's working hard to address it. Some might have worked out (Blackwood, Wedgewood, MAYBE Necas/Drury), and others have not (RyJo, Mittelstadt, Nelson), but I'd much rather have a GM who is not afraid to make a move to give his team the best chance to win, as opposed to everyone seeing an issue but a GM who moves slower than molasses to address it.

And in sports, it's VERY rare for a GM to be fired before making a coaching change. Not saying it's impossible, but most of the time when you have a GM in place who didn't hire the current head coach, they will get at least 1 shot at installing "their" coach. This is a little bit of an interesting situation since CMac has previous familiarity with Bednar from their days in the Columbus organization, but by a strict black & white look--Sakic hired Bednar, CMac has not officially led a coaching search and made an executive decision on who "his" guy is. And despite people here disagreeing with me, I have a strong feeling that he and Bednar are not 100% aligned with how the roster he constructs should be deployed. Too many instances of players who have come over having one of their skills neutralized.

Simply changing assistants isn't going to do anything other than metaphorically put lipstick on a pig. At ANY time, Bednar could have intervened to "change up" the PP or PK. He didn't. In fact in the Dallas series specifically, the most noticeable change was his taking Drouin off the PP1 after G2...after it was abundantly clear that Drouin was actively killing plays. I'm torn on whether or not I want Bednar to go. In the days leading up to and the immediate aftermath of this series, I was ready to be done with him. And there are times I still feel that way, but I do recognize that he's gotten a lot out of this roster. So it's tough.

Sakic's conservative style deserves criticism, but it ultimately manifested a Stanley Cup.

I just posted this elsewhere. Assuming they don't re-sign any pending UFAs, and ignoring washes (i.e. acquired and then traded CAR 2nd), MacFarland essentially traded Byram, Rantanen, Ritchie, COL 1st, 1st, 2nd, NYR 2nd <> Blackwood, Coyle, Drury, Necas, Wedgewood.

The bolded is an oversimplification because it doesn't account for rentals and such. But even if I simplify it by saying Byram, Rantanen, Ritchie <> Blackwood, Drury, Necas, that's pretty rough, IMO.

The below isn't a picture of stability. The Avalanche still don't have an answer at 2C. It's beyond ridiculous at this point.

	Out	In
2024​	F Cal Burke F Ryan Johansen F Kurtis MacDermid F Ben Meyers F Tomas Tatar D Bowen Byram D Jeremy Hanzel 2025 1st [COL] 2025 3rd [COL] 2026 3rd [COL]	F Zakhar Bardakov F Brandon Duhaime (left via UFA) F Casey Mittelstadt (left via trade) F Yakov Trenin (left via UFA) D Caleb Jones (left via UFA) D Graham Sward (non-tendered) D Sean Walker (left via UFA) 2024 5th [ANA] 2024 5th [SEA] 2024 7th [NSH] 2026 5th [PHI]
2025​	F Nikolai Kovalenko F Casey Mittelstadt F Ondrej Pavel F Jusso Parssinen* F Mikko Rantanen F Calum Ritchie F Givani Smith* F William Zellers D Erik Brannstrom D Calvin de Haan D Oliver Kylington G Justus Annunen G Alexander Georgiev 2025 2nd [CAR]* 2025 2nd [NYR] 2025 4th [VAN]* 2025 5th [COL] 2025 6th [COL] 2026 1st [COL] 2026 2nd [COL] 2027 3rd [COL]	F Charlie Coyle F Jack Drury F William Dufour F Martin Necas F Brock Nelson (pending UFA) F Jusso Parssinen (left via trade) F Givani Smith (left via trade) F Jimmy Vesey (pending UFA) D Hank Kempf D Erik Johnson (pending UFA) D Ryan Lindgren (pending UFA) D Tucker Poolman (pending UFA) G MacKenzie Blackwood G Scott Wedgwood 2025 2nd [CAR] (left via trade) 2025 4th [VAN] (left via trade) 2026 4th [CAR] 2026 5th [BOS] 2026 7th [NYR] 2027 5th [SJ]

 

[a mangy Meowth]

I used to enjoy watching before 2019.

I don't find this to be a respectable stance to take. It says a lot about who you are as a person IMO

 

[BednarIsStupid]

I don't find this to be a respectable stance to take. It says a lot about who you are as a person IMO

Okay. Well. I really don't care.

 

[a mangy Meowth]

Okay. Well. I really don't care.

 

[forsbergavs32]

Okay. Well. I really don't care.

Glad we’re all in agreement. See we can get along!

 

[a mangy Meowth]

Glad we’re all in agreement. See we can get along!

I am clearly trying to be unpleasant and you are undermining that!

 

[forsbergavs32]

I am clearly trying to be unpleasant and you are undermining that!

My work here is done then

 

[a mangy Meowth]

My work here is done then

Oh it's only getting started!

 

[BednarIsStupid]

Glad we’re all in agreement. See we can get along!

LOL.

 

[The Abusement Park]

Sakic's conservative style deserves criticism, but it ultimately manifested a Stanley Cup.

I just posted this elsewhere. Assuming they don't re-sign any pending UFAs, and ignoring washes (i.e. acquired and then traded CAR 2nd), MacFarland essentially traded Byram, Rantanen, Ritchie, COL 1st, 1st, 2nd, NYR 2nd <> Blackwood, Coyle, Drury, Necas, Wedgewood.

The bolded is an oversimplification because it doesn't account for rentals and such. But even if I simplify it by saying Byram, Rantanen, Ritchie <> Blackwood, Drury, Necas, that's pretty rough, IMO.

The below isn't a picture of stability. The Avalanche still don't have an answer at 2C. It's beyond ridiculous at this point.

	Out	In
2024​	F Cal Burke F Ryan Johansen F Kurtis MacDermid F Ben Meyers F Tomas Tatar D Bowen Byram D Jeremy Hanzel 2025 1st [COL] 2025 3rd [COL] 2026 3rd [COL]	F Zakhar Bardakov F Brandon Duhaime (left via UFA) F Casey Mittelstadt (left via trade) F Yakov Trenin (left via UFA) D Caleb Jones (left via UFA) D Graham Sward (non-tendered) D Sean Walker (left via UFA) 2024 5th [ANA] 2024 5th [SEA] 2024 7th [NSH] 2026 5th [PHI]
2025​	F Nikolai Kovalenko F Casey Mittelstadt F Ondrej Pavel F Jusso Parssinen* F Mikko Rantanen F Calum Ritchie F Givani Smith* F William Zellers D Erik Brannstrom D Calvin de Haan D Oliver Kylington G Justus Annunen G Alexander Georgiev 2025 2nd [CAR]* 2025 2nd [NYR] 2025 4th [VAN]* 2025 5th [COL] 2025 6th [COL] 2026 1st [COL] 2026 2nd [COL] 2027 3rd [COL]	F Charlie Coyle F Jack Drury F William Dufour F Martin Necas F Brock Nelson (pending UFA) F Jusso Parssinen (left via trade) F Givani Smith (left via trade) F Jimmy Vesey (pending UFA) D Hank Kempf D Erik Johnson (pending UFA) D Ryan Lindgren (pending UFA) D Tucker Poolman (pending UFA) G MacKenzie Blackwood G Scott Wedgwood 2025 2nd [CAR] (left via trade) 2025 4th [VAN] (left via trade) 2026 4th [CAR] 2026 5th [BOS] 2026 7th [NYR] 2027 5th [SJ]

Yeah... The aggression Cmac has shown is a positive and a negative. The positive is he's looking at all options to improve the team and certainly did this year.

The negatives is that he has to be agressive because a lot of his moves haven't worked out and he's having to remedy those mistakes. Like you said the amount of assets wasted on the 2C spot and Coyle is the thing left to show for it(unless Nelson re signs I guess..) is absolutely horrific work. The goaltending position needed to put worked on far sooner than it did as well.

Idk how to feel about Cmac yet. Some good, some bad. But the complete hemorrhaging of assets to fill the 2C position is a gigantic black spot on his tenure right now.

 

[avsfan2189]

if bednar doesn't go, his assistance HAVE TO GO. Bednar can wash his hands of special teams but they can't.

before we saw how this all played out, you absolutely cannot blame Cmac at all for this run. on paper this team was the best since the cup and should have had a deep run. who could have predicted nelson would forget how to play effective hockey and landy + loc being the best performers on the team with makar being absolutely owned by otter

 

[a mangy Meowth]

if bednar doesn't go, his assistance HAVE TO GO. Bednar can wash his hands of special teams but they can't.

before we saw how this all played out, you absolutely cannot blame Cmac at all for this run. on paper this team was the best since the cup and should have had a deep run. who could have predicted nelson would forget how to play effective hockey and landy + loc being the best performers on the team with makar being absolutely owned by otter

Yeah if Bennett is still around next year I'm not sure what I'll do. Probably lash out verbally

 

[avsfan2189]

Yeah if Bennett is still around next year I'm not sure what I'll do. Probably lash out verbally

ill never understand how it can be someone's full time job to focus on the PP and
- come into the rink and see the pp struggling in real games
- not try anything new in practice
- not try anything in games as an in-game adjustment.

to be a coach you are supposed to know tons of different plays and subtle formations that lead you to being a coach in the first place.

to not even try a single thing different is insane. the only other theory is bennett DID try to tell the players to do different things and that the players simply ignored the instructions and kept doing the stupid perimter back and forth....which doesnt make sense to me either

 

[Bill Peckerskull]

 

[The Merchant]

Excited to see what kind of softballs our media representation comes up with. Save us, TMV