Salary Cap: Chris MacFarland - Record as Avalanche GM (Updates In First Post)

How would you rate the job Chris MacFarland has done to date as Avalanche GM? (editable)


  • Total voters
    174

ASmileyFace

Landeskog Replacement
Feb 13, 2014
12,325
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Welp, going to call this off season essentially over with the Tatar signing.

The only real blemish of the off season is the length of the Wood signing imo. He's built a team that has way better depth than last season and took some good gambles with Drouin/Johanson. This team is better prepared to contend this season than they were last season, and that is all I was hoping for. I'm bumping him back up to 4.
 
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CobraAcesS

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Jul 20, 2011
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Welp, going to call this off season essentially over with the Tatar signing.

The only real blemish of the off season is the length of the Wood signing imo. He's built a team that has way better depth than last season and took some good gambles with Drouin/Johanson. This team is better prepared to contend this season than they were last season, and that is all I was hoping for. I'm bumping him back up to 4.

Yeah, with Tater tot its a four. I didn't think he'd get a skilled guy that cheap to make the third line a weapon instead of just a wrecking ball.

Somehow we actually grew the prospect pool too..
 

CobraAcesS

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21 people think he should be fired ! :laugh:

I was right there after his TDL last year. Him and Sakic cost us a couple of years not addressing the 2C. I'll never forget that.

It's going to be hard for me to ever give him a 5 unless he wins as GM. He's not Sakic, as in he doesn't have the same leash, and shouldn't.

But that is pretty hilarious, life could definitely be worse as far as management goes lol.
 

expatriatedtexan

Habitual Line Stepper
Aug 17, 2005
18,535
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I was right there after his TDL last year. Him and Sakic cost us a couple of years not addressing the 2C. I'll never forget that.

It's going to be hard for me to ever give him a 5 unless he wins as GM. He's not Sakic, as in he doesn't have the same leash, and shouldn't.

But that is pretty hilarious, life could definitely be worse as far as management goes lol.
We could pull a Nashville and bring back a popular coach as GM.
Not sure how people will react to Sacco's new role but at least he'll start the trade deadline on time.
 

CobraAcesS

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We could pull a Nashville and bring back a popular coach as GM.
Not sure how people will react to Sacco's new role but at least he'll start the trade deadline on time.

Someone should start a worst coach thread. I bet Sacco is near the top, and even Q was not at his best here.
 

CobraAcesS

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Joe Sacco brings back so many hilarious memories

I low key miss him

That team was so insanely imbalanced, we complain about our forward depth vs our defense, but I don't miss those days at all lol.

Literally three top six centers and you can't get more than like one or two top four defenseman on the team at any one time.

Those were the days of Greg Zannon and Nate the General Guenin. I still see the image of that dude on the insurance commercial when I see his name. I think I have less issues from war than watching those bags of shit try to play defense.

I mean at one point it was literally a strategy for them to just get the f*** outta the way so Varly had a chance in hell of seeing and stopping the puck. Those fkn pilons weren't going to.
 

shadow1

Registered User
Nov 29, 2008
16,722
5,519

I liked to do yearly summer posts during Sakic's tenure as GM, so I thought I'd start doing them for GM Chis MacFarland as well.

Overall, it was a 5-star off-season in my book. MacFarland made several major re-signings, including LW Artturi Lehkonen, D Josh Manson, and RW Valeri Nichushkin. Most importantly, MacFarland signed C Nathan MacKinnon to a massive extension, making him this highest paid player in the NHL.

Though Sakic was technically still the GM when this move went down, I also liked the trade for G Alex Georgiev. He was a guy I thought the Avalanche might go after last off-season (before acquiring Darcy Kuemper), and I'm optimistic about what he can do this upcoming year.

If I do have a nitpick, it's regarding the Avalanche's 2C position. Colorado had enough cap space to address the vacancy left by Nazem Kadri - including retaining Kadri himself, had they wanted to - but instead opted to bring in Evan Rodrigues (1x$2M) and re-sign #5 defenseman Josh Manson (4x$4.5M).

This decision has caused the roster to be very bottom heavy, while still having a gaping hole on the second line. If a player (like Alex Newhook) doesn't step up to fill the void, it's going to be the talk of the season - though I'm sure it'll be addressed externally if internal options don't pan out.

2022-2023 was a lost year for the Avalanche. A large part of that is on MacFarland's decision to keep D Josh Manson - who barely played - instead using that cap space on a proper 2C. With a thinned out forward group, management tried to address the problem in-season, with mixed results.

But realistically, it wasn't going to be Colorado's year the moment it was known Gabe Landeskog would be out indefinitely. With the umbrella of "will he/won't he" return hanging over the team's head, and a hilarious amount of injuries, the season was doomed.

I love the response by MacFarland this off-season. The Avalanche had a lot of holes to fill, and not much cap space to do it. I was sure he would move depth from the back end in order to add cap space and talent up front. But the defense remains intact, sans Erik Johnson.

Yet, the forward group is considerably deeper. I really like the gambles on Jonathan Drouin and Ryan Johansen, while recognizing they could both be disasters. Ross Colton fills Colorado's yearly tradition of trading for an unsigned RFA, and has upside on top of his already solid play. Tomas Tatar, signed in mid-September for well below market value, is the cherry on top of retooling the Avalanche's forward group.

Miles Wood is the move that could be an unforced error. The Avalanche had not given a UFA a multi-year deal since all the way back in 2019 with Jonas Donskoi ($3.9x4), but dipped back into free agency in a big way by giving Wood a six year deal ($2.5x6). Wood is coming off a 27 point season in which he was healthy scratched multiple times in the playoffs, so his long contract will either look very smart or very stupid in the end.

In a vacuum though, MacFarland added all of the above players for the low, low cost of Cap Space and RFA Alex Newhook. He even picked up an additional 1st Round Pick in the process, using that asset and the Avalanche's own pick to select C Calum Ritchie and D Mikhail Gulyayev. Newly signed prospect Nikolai Kovalenko could also be an impactful late season addition.

Overall, this was Colorado's biggest off-season since 2019 (Bellemare, Burakovsky, Byram, Donskoi, Kadri, Newhook, Nichushkin). In my opinion, this is the club's strongest team heading into a season in recent memory, outside of the ill-fated 2020-2021 team. None of the new players feel miscast in their roles, but many of them have seen their careers downturn, so we don't know yet how they'll work out. Based on the coaching staff's work with other incoming players in recent years, I'm going to take the "over" and predict more of them will work out than not.
 

AvsInRhodey

Registered User
Oct 26, 2020
36
20
2022-2023 was a lost year for the Avalanche. A large part of that is on MacFarland's decision to keep D Josh Manson - who barely played - instead using that cap space on a proper 2C. With a thinned out forward group, management tried to address the problem in-season, with mixed results.

But realistically, it wasn't going to be Colorado's year the moment it was known Gabe Landeskog would be out indefinitely. With the umbrella of "will he/won't he" return hanging over the team's head, and a hilarious amount of injuries, the season was doomed.

I love the response by MacFarland this off-season. The Avalanche had a lot of holes to fill, and not much cap space to do it. I was sure he would move depth from the back end in order to add cap space and talent up front. But the defense remains intact, sans Erik Johnson.

Yet, the forward group is considerably deeper. I really like the gambles on Jonathan Drouin and Ryan Johansen, while recognizing they could both be disasters. Ross Colton fills Colorado's yearly tradition of trading for an unsigned RFA, and has upside on top of his already solid play. Tomas Tatar, signed in mid-September for well below market value, is the cherry on top of retooling the Avalanche's forward group.

Miles Wood is the move that could be an unforced error. The Avalanche had not given a UFA a multi-year deal since all the way back in 2019 with Jonas Donskoi ($3.9x4), but dipped back into free agency in a big way by giving Wood a six year deal ($2.5x6). Wood is coming off a 27 point season in which he was healthy scratched multiple times in the playoffs, so his long contract will either look very smart or very stupid in the end.

In a vacuum though, MacFarland added all of the above players for the low, low cost of Cap Space and RFA Alex Newhook. He even picked up an additional 1st Round Pick in the process, using that asset and the Avalanche's own pick to select C Calum Ritchie and D Mikhail Gulyayev. Newly signed prospect Nikolai Kovalenko could also be an impactful late season addition.

Overall, this was Colorado's biggest off-season since 2019 (Bellemare, Burakovsky, Byram, Donskoi, Kadri, Newhook, Nichushkin). In my opinion, this is the club's strongest team heading into a season in recent memory, outside of the ill-fated 2020-2021 team. None of the new players feel miscast in their roles, but many of them have seen their careers downturn, so we don't know yet how they'll work out. Based on the coaching staff's work with other incoming players in recent years, I'm going to take the "over" and predict more of them will work out than not.
Great post.

Cmac coming into his own this offseason after some miscues last year, namely Manson and thinking Newhook/Compher would fill the 2C role on a cup contender.

I'd give Cmac an A- for this offseason. The late Tatar signing brings that up from a B+.

My only slight demotion is for shooting a little low on Johansen at 2C. It's a swing for the fences based on his talent, but we shall see if he can keep up with our pace. An A+ offseason in my mind would have involved sending 1 or both of our firsts for a bonfide, faster 2C along the lines of Bennett, Jenner, or Lindholm. But maybe we tried and those teams balked. The plus side of Johansen was his aquisition price (nothing) so if he pops, this trade gives us huge value that we manufactured out of thin air. I think it was good move overall, but 2C still stands as our biggest question mark until proven otherwise.

All in all, we are counting on a lot of things going right for a lot of our new players this year. A lot of hit or miss type guys and injury risks mixed in with Johansen, Drouin, Wood, and Tater. But our total team upside is high. History tells us our pro scouts are going to hit more than they miss. Even if we go 3 out of 4 on these guys, we are doing just fine. I like this strategy to win a cup. Aim high, take chances on high upside guys, and then count on the deadline if we need to course correct.

My biggest takeaway from this offseason is that we are a better team now than going into last season. That's saying a lot when you account for raises to Mack and Byram totaling ~9M.

Going out: Compher, Erod, Newhook, Helm, Malgin.

Coming in Johansen, Colton, Tater, Drouin, Wood.

That's better top 9 depth, and for less cap space at their current rates. Not an easy task to get better and cheaper at the same time, but that was the task at hand with the forward group this offseason, and I think Cmac pulled it off. Colton was the best value move in my opinion. He's got sneaky top 6 potential, but at worst is a solid, solid 3rd liner. There's a chance he becomes the eventual 2C, which would be all good with me if he's got that in him.

The defensemen are all pretty much a reset with the exception of losing EJ, which means it's still the best dcore in the league. I predict the d will get its make-over next offseason depending on what we do with Toews. I'm hoping we hear news of an 8 year extension very soon, and we find a creative way to address defensive depth next offseason.
 

Foppa2118

Registered User
Oct 3, 2003
52,661
32,031
This is very telling, though they're not including Landeskog. Seattle and Vegas shouldn't even count as recent expansion teams.

I guess they could add two more if they can add Gabe and Kovalenko, but to state the obvious, this needs to improve. Especially since they'll need to add cheap talent in the coming years.

NHL-Players-Drafted-By-Team.png
 

AnimalMother73

Registered User
Sep 17, 2009
1,094
431
It’s been rather surprising how consistently bad the Avs have been at drafting (outside top 10) essentially since they moved from Quebec. It’s possible Helleson, Barron and Timmins turn into something which would change the narrative for the recent past but time is running out on those guys.
 

Frenchy

Administrator
Sep 16, 2006
26,663
10,575
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It’s been rather surprising how consistently bad the Avs have been at drafting (outside top 10) essentially since they moved from Quebec. It’s possible Helleson, Barron and Timmins turn into something which would change the narrative for the recent past but time is running out on those guys.
Even back in the Québec days , there was a lot of bad drafts over the years.
The 1988 draft was really something when they drafted Daniel Dore ( #5) when HOF players where drafted 8,9,10 , that same draft.
 

expatriatedtexan

Habitual Line Stepper
Aug 17, 2005
18,535
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Even back in the Québec days , there was a lot of bad drafts over the years.
The 1988 draft was really something when they drafted Daniel Dore ( #5) when HOF players where drafted 8,9,10 , that same draft.
I wonder how much, if any, that played a part in how much PL wanted to make deals.
 

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