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

[expatriatedtexan]

That rebound was almost Georgievlike.

 

[Ararana]

bump

 

[RoyIsALegend]

G Alexandar Georgiev (14% retained)
F Nikolai Kovalenko
2026 2nd
2025 5th

for

G Mackenzie Blackwood
F Givani Smith
2027 5th

 

[MarkT]

I've changed from 3 to 4. Good job changing things as soon as possible when they weren't working.

 

[CobraAcesS]

The only reason this mfer is still at a solid 4 is because people are too lazy to click on this thread and change it, or don't know they can.

Just saying..

I've changed from 3 to 4. Good job changing things as soon as possible when they weren't working.

It needs to work first before he is forgiven for dumbassery

#3 is like the definition of his GM career

 

[MarkT]

It needs to work first before he is forgiven for dumbassery

What do you mean? He got rid of Georgiev - that was the goal. It's already been accomplished.

 

[CobraAcesS]

What do you mean? He got rid of Georgiev - that was the goal. It's already been accomplished.

He should of dropped the turd in the toilet after the playoffs.

Not continued to play with it after it came out.

Also Newhook hangs around his neck like a necklace of ears showing how nuts he is for banking on THAT as a 2C after what happened with Jost.

 

[MarkT]

He should of dropped the turd in the toilet after the playoffs.

Not continued to play with it after it came out.

Probably. Who wanted Georgiev though? You need a trade partner first.

 

[CobraAcesS]

Probably. Who wanted Georgiev though? You need a trade partner first.

4Giev would have cost less to move in the office season. 100%

 

[MarkT]

4Giev would have cost less to move in the office season. 100%

No doubt. But honestly - who is taking on his salary? San Jose? Was Blackwood a sure thing to be better than Georgiev this season? I just want to hear actual trading partner options before we question Cmac too much about not making a move.

 

[CobraAcesS]

No doubt. But honestly - who is taking on his salary? San Jose? Was Blackwood a sure thing to be better than Georgiev this season? I just want to hear actual trading partner options before we question Cmac too much about not making a move.

Dump and change, don't hold onto it too long and have to chase down the turnover.

Really my questions go back further though. Kadri vs Manson, Newhook, not doing shit all with Landy's LTIR money at the TDL. Keeping 1st round picks instead of solving issues on the team.

He needs to win, or sorry not forgiven.

Loved the Casy trade, Colton, even still like the Wood signing and I know people think that's nuts.

Literally the definition of some good, some bad.

 

[expatriatedtexan]

Dude is still at a 3 for me. I'd like to say he hasn't done a good job but the fact is, I can't agree with the statement that "I dislike most of the decisions he's made." I simply don't agree with that. I give CMac a bit of break others don't because I know that he came in with an aging core maxing out on contracts. All he can do is juggle the supporting cast and hope as cap space is slowly sucked away.

At least...that was our situation for the last several years during and post covid. Cap is rising. Mikko is due. The team needs more help elsewhere as well. CMac's earned enough trust to see what he does here, but his leash shouldn't be too long depending on how the Mikko situation pans out.

 

[Murzu]

He should of dropped the turd in the toilet after the playoffs.

Not continued to play with it after it came out.

Also Newhook hangs around his neck like a necklace of ears showing how nuts he is for banking on THAT as a 2C after what happened with Jost.

He fixed that Newhook error pretty well IMO.

 

[RoyIsALegend]

He fixed that Newhook error pretty well IMO.

 

[The Merchant]

Still a 2. Brownie points for overhauling the goaltending well before the deadline, but he's not escaping the fact that he's the one that re-signed Georgiev this summer despite the writing on the wall. A Cup window season was almost completely derailed by his decision to have two question marks in net.

Now, if Blackwood works out and can be retained to become their starter into the future then that'll be another story.

 

[Murzu]

Haha, I see what you mean.

Shoudn't had penciled Newhoon as 2C. Thankfully we got good value from trading Newhook. He made an error and corrected it well.

Then Cmac tried with RyJo. He made an error and did an ok job correcting that error.

He made an error going into the season with Georgiev. He did a decent job correcting that error.

Now if the man just stopped doing errors all the time, he wouldn't have to fix 'em all the time

 

[TruePowerSlave]

CMac does a pretty good job fixing his mistakes. Quite active with trades which is nice.

The biggest issue is that he keeps making these silly avoidable mistakes every season.

Slept and doomed the team with his bs first trade deadline.
Somehow convinced himself that RyJo is a decent #2C option, how is that even possible?
Did nothing with the goaltending in the offseason despite a blind man seeing the obvious issue.

The jury is out on what happens with Rantanen. If he walks that is a really bad look.

 

[expatriatedtexan]

CMac does a pretty good job fixing his mistakes. Quite active with trades which is nice.

The biggest issue is that he keeps making these silly avoidable mistakes every season.

Slept and doomed the team with his bs first trade deadline.
Somehow convinced himself that RyJo is a decent #2C option, how is that even possible?
Did nothing with the goaltending in the offseason despite a blind man seeing the obvious issue.

The jury is out on what happens with Rantanen. If he walks that is a really bad look.

I agree. His best work is getting out of his own problems.

Would be nice to see what he could do if he wasn't having to constantly try and plug the holes he's made. I like a lot of his trades, I just don't like why he needs to make them.

 

[Vaslof]

Haha, I see what you mean.

Shoudn't had penciled Newhoon as 2C. Thankfully we got good value from trading Newhook. He made an error and corrected it well.

Then Cmac tried with RyJo. He made an error and did an ok job correcting that error.

He made an error going into the season with Georgiev. He did a decent job correcting that error.

Now if the man just stopped doing errors all the time, he wouldn't have to fix 'em all the time

At the end of the day it's not the GM out there on the ice. Every GM will have players who don't work out. Fixing the team (on paper) is the only thing fully in their control.

 

[expatriatedtexan]

At the end of the day it's not the GM out there on the ice. Every GM will have players who don't work out. Fixing the team (on paper) is the only thing fully in their control.

It's just a damn shame that when the Avs have a high pick, their scouts give them Jost and Newhook. I know it's not the GM's fault but damn at some point someone's got to take the blame for 20 years of shit drafts.

 

[MarkT]

Dump and change, don't hold onto it too long and have to chase down the turnover.

Really my questions go back further though. Kadri vs Manson, Newhook, not doing shit all with Landy's LTIR money at the TDL. Keeping 1st round picks instead of solving issues on the team.

He needs to win, or sorry not forgiven.

Loved the Casy trade, Colton, even still like the Wood signing and I know people think that's nuts.

Literally the definition of some good, some bad.

Sounds like you and I think very differently. It wasn't even Kadri vs Manson in my mind. Lose either and it creates a massive hole in the lineup. The issue with Kadri is not the past couple seasons, it's what happens when he's 35+ and still making 7m per year. Manson, meanwhile, expires at the perfect time when he's nearly 35. Newhook at 2C was a risk, but 2C's also don't grow on trees - do you remember any 2Cs who were available we could have gone after? And keeping 1sts is exactly how we keep our window open long term. I want this team to compete not just for Makar and MacKinnon's entire careers, but beyond that as well, because I intend to still be a fan then.

So for me it's mostly good. The bad stands out (Eller, RyJo), but others seem to be based on having too much faith in our own guys to improve (Newhook, Georgiev).

And again, I'll ask you or anyone else pushing the idea that CMac should have fixed the goaltending situation in the offseason - which team, exactly, would have wanted Georgiev in the offseason?

 

[Vaslof]

It's just a damn shame that when the Avs have a high pick, their scouts give them Jost and Newhook. I know it's not the GM's fault but damn at some point someone's got to take the blame for 20 years of shit drafts.

Yeah drafting has been bad. We'll have to see if the changes there will pay off. That said, Newhook wasn't that bad of a pick. It sucks that we just lost out on Caufield, but there aren't really any notable talents picked after Newhook. Maccelli is probably the best and he's got 10 points in 27 games this season. As for the Jost draft, yeah in hindsight that pick sucks. Well even without hindsight there were consensus D-men we should have taken (Chychrun or McAvoy), but also there have been better forwards rising up behind the Jost pick (Tage Thompson, Jordan Kyrou, Alex DeBrincat and many more)

 

[expatriatedtexan]

Yeah drafting has been bad. We'll have to see if the changes there will pay off. That said, Newhook wasn't that bad of a pick. It sucks that we just lost out on Caufield, but there aren't really any notable talents picked after Newhook. Maccelli is probably the best and he's got 10 points in 27 games this season. As for the Jost draft, yeah in hindsight that pick sucks. Well even without hindsight there were consensus D-men we should have taken (Chychrun or McAvoy), but also there have been better forwards rising up behind the Jost pick (Tage Thompson, Jordan Kyrou, Alex DeBrincat and many more)

No, I think there is a real problem with the Avs drafting strategy. They prize C way too much and over-reach on small sized guys. They've got to cut that shit out. If you can't figure out what makes a good center at a young age, just draft wingers and trade for centers.

 

[LOFIN]

CMac does a pretty good job fixing his mistakes. Quite active with trades which is nice.

The biggest issue is that he keeps making these silly avoidable mistakes every season.

Slept and doomed the team with his bs first trade deadline.
Somehow convinced himself that RyJo is a decent #2C option, how is that even possible?
Did nothing with the goaltending in the offseason despite a blind man seeing the obvious issue.

The jury is out on what happens with Rantanen. If he walks that is a really bad look.

Let's be f***ing honest: the tight cap situation and lack of assets and prospect pool is what leads to a lot of these mistakes, a lot of which are reclamation projects. It's not a get out of jail free card for him, but we can all talk in retrospect what a horrible trade that RyJo was, or that it was silly to hope that Newhook would become a #2C, or that Georgiev might've found his groove in the playoffs and that with more responsibility they could become a passable tandem.

That's what the majority of this board talked themselves into, at least in one of these cases. If you thought all the time that all of this was dumb, good for you. The majority saw what CMac tried to do with limited assets.

 

[Pokecheque]

They've gone though Hepple and Klippenstein in pretty rapid succession. That at least indicates they are well aware the drafting isn't good enough and finally trying to take steps to fix that, though I can't say that whatever they're doing are the right moves, they're moves nonetheless. I'm still flabbergasted they let Pracey have another draft after the throwdown they had with him in 2013.

I'm also glad there's been a philosophical shift at least in terms of drafting a goddamn goaltender. They're FINALLY actually giving a f***, though again, I question their actual ability to get the job done.

So...I'm at a 3 right now. There are so many aspects to this job and to be sure, MacFarland has made his share of mistakes already. He was put in a tough position, what with a Cup-winning roster and very little cap space to work with, but even then he's made some bad decisions. Nevertheless I think he's done some good things to try and make up for them, we will see if it ends up being enough.

I will most certainly take this over what I'm watching in New York. There might have been some scrambling taking place in Ball Arena's front office to be sure, but it's nothing compared to the full-blown panic taking place in Madison Square Garden, and the ham-fisted way that Drury has been handling players (notably Goodrow and Trouba) has just been baffling to me. If he thought that was going to serve as motivation for the rest of the roster, well, it ain't workin'.