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

[expatriatedtexan]

Skate, skate more, play well defensively, get to the middle of the ice, put the puck on net. Do your job.

Nelson is intelligent, and can skate, and skate well for days, and shoots.

He might be a better 2C fit for Bednar than Kadri was..

Coyle and Drury on the 3rd line together or as the 3 & 4C should be money too.

You can't give Bednar dumb centers, or one's that can't keep up while also contributing both offensively and defensively because he'll choose the defense first and the offense will evaporate.

I'm they guy saying I like their chances!!

Hell of a lot more than I did a week ago.

 

[CobraAcesS]

I'm they guy saying I like their chances!!

Hell of a lot more than I did a week ago.

Yeah, I just see Cmac finally learning how to build a team that uses Bednar’s deathstar system.

It won't adapt much, but it's deadly if it has the power needed. He did prove that once.

Think about Drury being smart enough to swing low to help out the D. Just as an example. We're not the Marines who just want drones who always do what they're told.

 

[expatriatedtexan]

Yeah, I just see Cmac finally learning how to build a team that uses Bednar’s deathstar system.

It won't adapt much, but it's deadly if it has the power needed. He did prove that once.

Think about Drury being smart enough to swing low to help out the D. Just as an example. We're not the Marines who just want drones who always do what they're told.

The difference between a general and a sniper.

Bednar will take the shot. But he might not the best at setting up the circumstances for it.

 

[DrunkTurtle]

Mediocre at best GM. I'll just call him bad.

Good moves and then some horrendous moves. The entire #2C saga starting from letting Kadri walk is pathetically inept.

The Avs decision making went south the day Sakic left the GM role, that can't be a coincidence.

 

[Pokecheque]

As Henchy said, he was way too conservative that first year. Totally bungled the 2C issue.

Also made bad calls with Georgiev, Wood, and Colton. I can’t really fault him for Mittelstadt, it looked like a great move…and then it wasn’t.

The Rants trade has, so far, worked out wonderfully. Both Necas and Drury have been perfect fits thus far.

Dude has gone all in to the point that loading up next season will be really difficult. Now it’s up to the coaches and players to get the job done.

No idea what rating I’d give him right now but I’m not calling for his head like I was earlier this season.

 

[The Merchant]

It's impossible to not be impressed with his aggressiveness this season. Does anyone know what the record is for most trades completed in a single season? Because you have to imagine CMac is right up there at the top. I just wish this mentality was in place from the moment we won the Cup. If you look at the trajectory we took compared to Florida after their win it's like night and day. But hopefully this is a sign of things to come for the remainder of this team's core.

 

[The Merchant]

As Henchy said, he was way too conservative that first year. Totally bungled the 2C issue.

Also made bad calls with Georgiev, Wood, and Colton. I can’t really fault him for Mittelstadt, it looked like a great move…and then it wasn’t.

The Rants trade has, so far, worked out wonderfully. Both Necas and Drury have been perfect fits thus far.

Dude has gone all in to the point that loading up next season will be really difficult. Now it’s up to the coaches and players to get the job done.

No idea what rating I’d give him right now but I’m not calling for his head like I was earlier this season.

I still blame him for the Mitts deal. If he had never made the mistake of letting Kadri walk for an extremely reasonable dollar amount we'd either still have the best defensive depth in the league with Bo or, at the very least, he would've turned a 4th overall pick into something more valuable than Charlie Coyle.

 

[Pokecheque]

I still blame him for the Mitts deal. If he had never made the mistake of letting Kadri walk for an extremely reasonable dollar amount we'd either still have the best defensive depth in the league with Bo or, at the very least, he would've turned a 4th overall pick into something more valuable than Charlie Coyle.

I don’t think he was entirely to blame but I agree with you. As harsh as it sounds, EJ should’ve been shown the door after 2022. You simply cannot enter an offseason where you need cap space to sign the team’s 2C after a monster season while there’s a third pairing defenseman making $6 million. Either that or they just should’ve let Manson walk. OR at the very least quickly gotten a suitable replacement for Kadri.

The Mitts trade ended up being a mistake, I hope someday we find out what happened around November 2024, that’s when it all went to hell.

 

[VikingAv]

It's impossible to not be impressed with his aggressiveness this season. Does anyone know what the record is for most trades completed in a single season? Because you have to imagine CMac is right up there at the top. I just wish this mentality was in place from the moment we won the Cup. If you look at the trajectory we took compared to Florida after their win it's like night and day. But hopefully this is a sign of things to come for the remainder of this team's core.

I believe it was @RoyIsALegend who had a list of Lacroix going absolutely mental one season with about 20 trades or something crazy like that.

 

[GirardSpinorama]

Mcfarland can only redeem himself if the team bails him out and win a cup. He cannot strike the balance between aggressive and passive. He wasnt aggressive enough in his first offseason, EJ should have been bought out. That should have been an all in year. Landeskog's injury was hard to deal with but he also has influence over that. Should have just aggressively played the LTIR game and gamble It. Use the picks to dump contracts if necessary.

 

[expatriatedtexan]

It's impossible to not be impressed with his aggressiveness this season. Does anyone know what the record is for most trades completed in a single season? Because you have to imagine CMac is right up there at the top. I just wish this mentality was in place from the moment we won the Cup. If you look at the trajectory we took compared to Florida after their win it's like night and day. But hopefully this is a sign of things to come for the remainder of this team's core.

I believe it was @RoyIsALegend who had a list of Lacroix going absolutely mental one season with about 20 trades or something crazy like that.

Would love to see a link to RIAL's post if anyone knows where it is.

I knew PL was extremely active, but I would think it would be one of the longer serving bottom GMs that would have made the most moves overall during the salary cap period. In a single season, I have no idea though. I would think Mike Grier has been as active as anyone this season at least.

 

[VikingAv]

Would love to see a link to RIAL's post if anyone knows where it is.

I knew PL was extremely active, but I would think it would be one of the longer serving bottom GMs that would have made the most moves overall during the salary cap period. In a single season, I have no idea though. I would think Mike Grier has been as active as anyone this season at least.

Post #7094 in the trade rumours part deux-thread.
It was 16 trades in 03-04.
Entire KGB-line, Ballard, Väänänen, Skrastins, Boughner, Worrell, Hendrickson AND more.

 

[Vaslof]

I hate what he did with Pärssinen and Ritchie. Losing Ritchie had to happen to have Nelson, but then again we only have that gap because Byram for Mittelstadt trade flopped hard. We also had to get rid of Mittelstadt himself because even if he can get better next season, he just had no role here anymore and would quickly become a negative asset. Colton as 3C also flopped (or even as a winger), as did both of our original goalies. But as much as I want to keep him at 1, I can't, because he has also gone and fixed the many issues the team had in record time. I'll give him a 3. Next issues to solve in the summer will be keeping Nelson, getting rid of older mistakes (Wood, Colton) and possible new ones (Coyle has the potential to be the next Colton), as well as sorting out whatever happens with Landeskog if anything does happen.

 

[Richard88]

He put all the eggs in the basket this year.

The cap situation is completely f***ed starting next season and they have damn near zero assets to maneuver with.

View attachment 989377

The cap situation is absolutely manageable. If Landeskog is on LTIR they'll have oceans of space to work with. And if he comes back they can still re-sign Nelson. To re-sign Drouin after Nelson they'd simply have to move Colton and/or Wood, easily done.

 

[Richard88]

It basically cost a 1st to get rid of Mittelstadt

No it didn't. As I mentioned in the trade thread Coyle's value was probably a little higher than Bjorkstrand who returned a 1st + 2nd. Coyle has a similar pedigree and contract, but plays the premium center position, hence his return was likely slightly higher than the 1st + 2nd that Bjorkstrand got. So relative to the Bjorkstrand trade Mittelstadt is equivalent to the 1st, the 2nd is the 2nd, and then you add Zellers on top due to the center premium.

Which makes sense. Centers were in high demand this TDL so there were surely teams offering a late 1st (maybe with a small plus) for Mittelstadt. But rather than taking the pick(s) CMac preferred to get his guy directly.

 

[Richard88]

Really like this deadline but wish they would have traded for a top 4 D. That was their biggest need IMO.

Guess Lindgren can play second pair RD if need be, but ideally they need a two way guy with some size, that's solid defensively, and can chip in some offense since that's not really Girard's strong suit.

I wonder if CMac heard about the Mikko to the Stars move being likely, and was more aggressive on Nelson, making the deal a day earlier than they were planning on, with perhaps more assets that he might have used on a D man. Guess we'll never know.

The downside is they no longer have any recent 1st round picks, their top prospect, or Mitts to move for a top 4 in the offseason, and not much cap space for UFA's, so we're back to what I was worried about after the Byram trade, that it's going to be very hard to find another good top 4 D.

That's a long term problem though. CMac showing once again that one Eller year was an anomaly, probably because he knew that team was too beat up to win.

They were rumoured to be trying to get Carlo but just didn't have the assets for him, so clearly it's an issue they were aware of, especially since they eventually brought in EJ to help at the position.

If they manage to re-sign Nelson and Drouin they'll be looking really strong again next season and can focus most if not all of their attention on making a big addition at RHD at next year's TDL.

For now they still look reasonably deep, health permitting. Especially when you compare their D group to Dallas' for instance.

 

[Richard88]

As Henchy said, he was way too conservative that first year. Totally bungled the 2C issue.

Also made bad calls with Georgiev, Wood, and Colton. I can’t really fault him for Mittelstadt, it looked like a great move…and then it wasn’t.

The Rants trade has, so far, worked out wonderfully. Both Necas and Drury have been perfect fits thus far.

Dude has gone all in to the point that loading up next season will be really difficult. Now it’s up to the coaches and players to get the job done.

No idea what rating I’d give him right now but I’m not calling for his head like I was earlier this season.

Going all-in next season won't be too difficult. A lot hinges on re-signing Nelson though. If they do that they'll be in a great spot again, and can use the 2027 1st, 2nd, etc and whatever prospects to fill needs.

 

[CobraAcesS]

Going all-in next season won't be too difficult. A lot hinges on re-signing Nelson though. If they do that they'll be in a great spot again, and can use the 2027 1st, 2nd, etc and whatever prospects to fill needs.

Yeah, Colton is looking much better lately, and Manson should have very high value. I'm sure they'll look to get younger or hold onto him.

I found it interesting they were after Helleson. That's smart as hell if you can pry him back out of Anaheim before he really establishes himself. Give him a full year on the bottom pair before Manson leaves or re-signs.

They'll be able to flip Wood pretty easily if needed too. Teams like Anaheim and CBJ need NHL bodies with term.

Kiviranta might be the guy that's difficult to keep, but we've got NHL ready guys knocking on the door for the 4th line.

Nelson will be easy if it keeps going this way, get the AAV as low as possible on 5 years if that's what it takes.

I also think EJ is here now for as long as he wants at that 950k or whatever mark even if he's the 7, so you've got that in your back pocket.

Moving Mikko, and setting that huge core contract back even one year with Necas was huge. It's no where near as tight as it was going to be paying half of what he was going to cost to fill the 1RW role.

 

[Pokecheque]

Going all-in next season won't be too difficult. A lot hinges on re-signing Nelson though. If they do that they'll be in a great spot again, and can use the 2027 1st, 2nd, etc and whatever prospects to fill needs.

Don’t know if I agree there. Others here have indicated a retool of sorts might have to happen, and the prospect pool is quite thin. Can only kick the can down the road so many times.

But…that’s essentially what “all-in” means.

 

[Vaslof]

Don’t know if I agree there. Others here have indicated a retool of sorts might have to happen, and the prospect pool is quite thin. Can only kick the can down the road so many times.

But…that’s essentially what “all-in” means.

If Makar walks in 27/28 that'll be the end for this core and the time to start building up futures. If he stays, they'll keep trying for a couple more seasons with MacK/Nuke/Necas/Makar/Toews. At latest the rebuild will start in 30/31 imo but most likely before then.

24-25 best chance for a cup
25-26 still a good chance
26-27 a good chance if Necas stays, otherwise a low chance
27-28 rebuild if Makar leaves, otherwise a low chance
28-29 a low chance or miss playoffs
29-30 a low chance or miss playoffs
30-31 rebuild

 

[Rockenator]

As Henchy said, he was way too conservative that first year. Totally bungled the 2C issue.

Also made bad calls with Georgiev, Wood, and Colton. I can’t really fault him for Mittelstadt, it looked like a great move…and then it wasn’t.

The Rants trade has, so far, worked out wonderfully. Both Necas and Drury have been perfect fits thus far.

Dude has gone all in to the point that loading up next season will be really difficult. Now it’s up to the coaches and players to get the job done.

No idea what rating I’d give him right now but I’m not calling for his head like I was earlier this season.

You missed the obvious and best. Solving the goaltending situation by acquiring Blackwood and Deadwood. Care to guess how this season would have gone with the Georgie and Justus show? I don't believe Colton was a bad call at all. Mitts? Perhaps a player who got good stats with an inferior team (Buffalo.) Certainly not built for the playoffs. Not tough enough. Acquiring Necas and Drury was exceptional - - especially with Rants agent holding a gun to the Avs head. On the flip side, the Johansen deal was an absolute disaster. And costly to get out from. The acquisition of Nelson and Coyle, while expensive, has totally changed this team. A lot more depth, grit and size. And, scoring ability. Now Bedsy can reduce the minutes of Mac, Makar, Nuke & Toews for the stretch run and playoffs. Hey, I also love having E.J. back. Even if he doesn't play that much, he's a great leader and influence in the locker room.

 

[Colorado Avalanche]

I don’t think he was entirely to blame but I agree with you. As harsh as it sounds, EJ should’ve been shown the door after 2022. You simply cannot enter an offseason where you need cap space to sign the team’s 2C after a monster season while there’s a third pairing defenseman making $6 million. Either that or they just should’ve let Manson walk. OR at the very least quickly gotten a suitable replacement for Kadri.

The Mitts trade ended up being a mistake, I hope someday we find out what happened around November 2024, that’s when it all went to hell.

True the mistake was to keep EJ because he was nowhere near worth the money anymore. That was the big mistake. Loyalty cost us for sure. We are a nice team. Not like Vegas.

But yes EJ was so obvious dump..