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

[AllAboutAvs]

I don't know I think 5 can be given if you consider how the playoffs go. You can assemble the best team ever and not win because of numerous reasons that are outside the GM's hands. In that situation I think a GM could get a 5. With that said CMack is certainly not there yet.

 

[CobraAcesS]

I don't know I think 5 can be given if you consider how the playoffs go. You can assemble the best team ever and not win because of numerous reasons that are outside the GM's hands. In that situation I think a GM could get a 5. With that said CMack is certainly not there yet.

I guess I could back off it a little, maybe. Cup finals multiple years, I guess I'd consider it at that point.

5 is a very high standard. I only gave Sakic a 5 after we won it.

A high tide raises all boats

 

[Pokecheque]

I will say this guy has some big brass ones. And they're on the table. Not only trading away a franchise cornerstone winger, but being the first GM in league history to replace both goalies before Christmas.

Doesn't make up for mistakes made in previous years, but I commend him for doing what it takes to win THIS year.

 

[CobraAcesS]

I will say this guy has some big brass ones. And they're on the table. Not only trading away a franchise cornerstone winger, but being the first GM in league history to replace both goalies before Christmas.

Doesn't make up for mistakes made in previous years, but I commend him for doing what it takes to win THIS year.

This is why he's holding at a 3 for me lol. If I'm happy with the team post deadline it will go to a 4 then.

 

[AllAboutAvs]

This is why he's holding at a 3 for me lol. If I'm happy with the team post deadline it will go to a 4 then.

Fair enough. I have kept my vote at 4 the whole time because I feel that every GM makes mistakes and he has been trying pretty well every year. Injuries has screwed him every year IMO even the year people accuse him of not trying. I might eventually end up lowering my vote but for now I think he has done very well considering the injuries (especially Landy).............and the Nuke situation.

 

[forsbergavs32]

Since last deadline I’ve had him at at 4. He’s made mistakes but starting last year he hasn’t been shy about fixing mistakes (RyJo, Tatar, Brannstrom), then turns around and ships out both goalies and moves our franchise winger that hadn’t been as good and not going to fit our structure for a top 6 winger/center and a 3C that helps our depth.

He may move to a 5 depending on the deadline this year and how playoffs go.

 

[Pokecheque]

This is why he's holding at a 3 for me lol. If I'm happy with the team post deadline it will go to a 4 then.

I'm still at a 2. I simply can't forgive 2022-23, and he still took WAY too long IMO to realize that guys like Newhook, Georgiev, and Johansen weren't nearly good enough.

The continued bad play of one Josh Manson (yes I know, most of y'all are sick of me bitching about him, tough) is not helping matters.

What happens going forward may or may not raise that grade.

 

[CobraAcesS]

Fair enough. I have kept my vote at 4 the whole time because I feel that every GM makes mistakes and he has been trying pretty well every year. Injuries has screwed him every year IMO even the year people accuse him of not trying. I might eventually end up lowering my vote but for now I think he has done very well considering the injuries (especially Landy).............and the Nuke situation.

I didn't like the decision not to use Landy's LTIR last year. While I understood the decision to keep Manson, there was a very logical argument to be made that your #2C is more important than the #4D, and Manson's health.

What he did after that with Ryjo was a massive gamble, but he fixed it.

Keeping Georgiev was dumb as f***, so was not bringing in a new voice for the power play.

Just the definition of #3 for me.

His choice to trade Mikko is looking good, and the moves in net are looking good too.

If he's all in, he has to fix the defense. Even if you choose to stay with Mitts.

I don't really rate these things quite yet. At the TDL we'll know what we are going to war with. Seems like a good time to reevaluate to me.

 

[expatriatedtexan]

I'm just wondering what Nate's grade of CMac is right now.

I have this mental image of him just looking at CMac walking down the hallway and launching a soda can (not empty water bottle) at his head screaming "You traded Mikko and didn't even get SID! Do your F'in JOB!!!"

I know it will never happen. But it makes me feel better. It also raises Nate's esteem in my eyes.

 

[LTCPain75]

Keep up the good work CMac

 

[Foppa2118]

I'm just wondering what Nate's grade of CMac is right now.

I have this mental image of him just looking at CMac walking down the hallway and launching a soda can (not empty water bottle) at his head screaming "You traded Mikko and didn't even get SID! Do your F'in JOB!!!"

I know it will never happen. But it makes me feel better. It also raises Nate's esteem in my eyes.

Yeah but it's Nate's job to tamper with Sid and get him to ask for a trade to the Avs.

He's got the entire 4 Nations tourney to show him how much fun it could be playing together.

They've both got a job to do.

 

[Pokecheque]

Taking this one down to one.

Apart from the goalie trades and (possibly) the Necas/Drury acquisitions, I’m really struggling to see which one of his moves worked. Even the ones that looked good on the outset (Walker) didn’t pan out. We’re now looking at option number THREE on second line center not working.

I know people are talking coaching change right now but I think a front office shakeup might be more in order. Not sure I want CMac in charge at the deadline. Just have Sakic take back over until the end of the season.

 

[myperbixhurts]

Taking this one down to one.

Apart from the goalie trades and (possibly) the Necas/Drury acquisitions, I’m really struggling to see which one of his moves worked. Even the ones that looked good on the outset (Walker) didn’t pan out. We’re now looking at option number THREE on second line center not working.

I know people are talking coaching change right now but I think a front office shakeup might be more in order. Not sure I want CMac in charge at the deadline. Just have Sakic take back over until the end of the season.

CMac’s best quality is the cap management. He has given some really team friendly contracts.

Lehky
Drouin
LOC
Toews
Blackwood

All those contracts are very good. Couple of them starting to look not so good like Wood, Colton, but he has done more good than bad with the cap

 

[Pokecheque]

CMac’s best quality is the cap management. He has given some really team friendly contracts.

Lehky
Drouin
LOC
Toews
Blackwood

All those contracts are very good. Couple of them starting to look not so good like Wood, Colton, but he has done more good than bad with the cap

I really don't think any of those are all that "team-friendly." They might be below market value but they're either just below it, or there's reasons it's a manageable cap hit. In LOC's case, it's got a lot of term, which is NOT team-friendly. In Drouin's case, his injury history played a huge part in him taking his current deal.

And in any case, that doesn't matter too much because the contracts for Colton, Mittelstadt, and Wood are looking like anchors. And that's considering that Mitts' current deal is a bridge.

I'm not giving him credit for cap management when he's used a very sizable chunk of that cap space on a number of underachieving players. You can lump Manson in there too.

To me, if we were seeing players displaying excess contract value, then I'd be more apt to sing his praises. We're really not seeing that. About the only guy I'd say is exceeding his cap hit by a fair margin at the moment is Cale Makar, and maybe Artturi Lehkonen. The rest are pretty much performing at or below that value.

 

[myperbixhurts]

I really don't think any of those are all that "team-friendly." They might be below market value but they're either just below it, or there's reasons it's a manageable cap hit. In LOC's case, it's got a lot of term, which is NOT team-friendly. In Drouin's case, his injury history played a huge part in him taking his current deal.

And in any case, that doesn't matter too much because the contracts for Colton, Mittelstadt, and Wood are looking like anchors. And that's considering that Mitts' current deal is a bridge.

I'm not giving him credit for cap management when he's used a very sizable chunk of that cap space on a number of underachieving players. You can lump Manson in there too.

To me, if we were seeing players displaying excess contract value, then I'd be more apt to sing his praises. We're really not seeing that. About the only guy I'd say is exceeding his cap hit by a fair margin at the moment is Cale Makar, and maybe Artturi Lehkonen. The rest are pretty much performing at or below that value.

In CMac’s defense, Mitts contract was looking good last year and earlier this year, who would have thought his play would drop off so much?

Same with Colton. He had a 40 point season last year, and was really good earlier this season. Wood is only 2 mill so it’s not the end of the world. Blackwood’s contract can also turn out to be really good

 

[Colorado Avalanche]

Curious what his next move is. There doesn't seem to be any obvious move available, so I think he will find something we don't think about.

He will go out and improve this team. This team isn't great right now but with right moves we could challenge the top teams.

 

[Pokecheque]

In CMac’s defense, Mitts contract was looking good last year and earlier this year, who would have thought his play would drop off so much?

Same with Colton. He had a 40 point season last year, and was really good earlier this season. Wood is only 2 mill so it’s not the end of the world. Blackwood’s contract can also turn out to be really good

Blackwood and Wedgewood appear to be pretty damn good moves. Two good goalies and they happen to be good in the room, and that room needed that.

I can’t even get all that worked up over trading for Georgiev, but they clearly waited WAY too long to move on from him, and they should’ve known early on that Justus wasn’t it either.

Colton and Wood only work if they’re both going all out, and also if they’re with a defensively responsible linemate, like LOC. CMac spent far too much on two guys who need too much to go right in order to be consistent.

The 2C saga is a whole other story. Still can’t and won’t forgive him for not even having a proper Plan B when he wasn’t able to re-up Kadri.

 

[expatriatedtexan]

I've more or less come to the conclusion that it makes absolutely no sense to grade the GM on anything until the TDL. We've simply been so darn tight against the upper cap, that we have to role into the season and go through much of it with an incomplete roster. There's always hope that someone like Ivan, Prischepov or similar steps up and can hold one of these slots for the playoffs, but the fact is, CMac and Bednar both came into the season knowing that the roster wasn't done.

I feel bad for CMac though, because I thought the Mitts trade would be a big win for us. I mean, he used a big asset in Bo to get it done. CMac just hasn't been able to catch a real good run of luck. He's got Landy as a captain who has never suited up once under CMac's tenure and he's eating 7M of cap. You've got Nuke who appears to have completely self-destructed. Rants decided he doesn't want to play hockey, he just wants to sit in the right circle and snipe passes. He's got a coach who abuses his top players so much they are completely exhausted and no longer show up for extremely long stretches of play and get hemmed into their own zone much more than they should.

That being said... he's got work to do and still has pieces he can offer in deals. I hope I can up him to a 4 after the deadline, but he's still at a 3 for me.

 

[CobraAcesS]

I've more or less come to the conclusion that it makes absolutely no sense to grade the GM on anything until the TDL. We've simply been so darn tight against the upper cap, that we have to role into the season and go through much of it with an incomplete roster. There's always hope that someone like Ivan, Prischepov or similar steps up and can hold one of these slots for the playoffs, but the fact is, CMac and Bednar both came into the season knowing that the roster wasn't done.

I feel bad for CMac though, because I thought the Mitts trade would be a big win for us. I mean, he used a big asset in Bo to get it done. CMac just hasn't been able to catch a real good run of luck. He's got Landy as a captain who has never suited up once under CMac's tenure and he's eating 7M of cap. You've got Nuke who appears to have completely self-destructed. Rants decided he doesn't want to play hockey, he just wants to sit in the right circle and snipe passes. He's got a coach who abuses his top players so much they are completely exhausted and no longer show up for extremely long stretches of play and get hemmed into their own zone much more than they should.

That being said... he's got work to do and still has pieces he can offer in deals. I hope I can up him to a 4 after the deadline, but he's still at a 3 for me.

He truly has to pull a rabbit out of his hat if he's going to significantly impact the forward group and defense.

 

[LOFIN]

He truly has to pull a rabbit out of his hat if he's going to significantly impact the forward group and defense.

Well, good thing he's one of the few GMs in the league that seems to have the ability to do that.

 

[CobraAcesS]

Well, good thing he's one of the few GMs in the league that seems to have the ability to do that.

This is why I'm not completely done with this team's chances just yet.

 

[expatriatedtexan]

He truly has to pull a rabbit out of his hat if he's going to significantly impact the forward group and defense.

Definitely. But what I like is that CMac does not go down watching three strikes get past him without taking a swing (usually for the fences). They don't always work out, but only one was truly inadvisable (RyJo). You could say he shouldn't have gone into the season with Georgiev and Justus but nobody really saw them both completely imploding for us.

A good GM sees deficiencies in the roster and addresses them. A great GM foresees deficiencies and acts before they become an issue. I don't think CMac has really had a chance to build a roster, he's spent most of his tenure putting out fires. Would be nice if the team quit trying to burn down around him and allowed him to try and improve them instead of constantly replugging holes he's already filled.

I've come to the conclusion that there is only so much Chris can and should do at this point before firing Bednar. MacFarland has spent good assets to bring in players to add sandpaper and grit to our bottom six and Bednar keeps coaching it out of them.

I'm kinda done with Bednar if you couldn't tell by now. He simply refuses to use the tools at his disposal. He's that kid that keeps trying to knock square objects through circular holes and vice versa. You know...a moron. We have a roster of what 22 players? How many does he actually use and work with? 6 maybe 7 of the dudes? I doubt he would even recognize his 4th liners if he ran into them about town.

 

[CobraAcesS]

Definitely. But what I like is that CMac does not go down watching three strikes get past him without taking a swing (usually for the fences). They don't always work out, but only one was truly inadvisable (RyJo). You could say he shouldn't have gone into the season with Georgiev and Justus but nobody really saw them both completely imploding for us.

A good GM sees deficiencies in the roster and addresses them. A great GM foresees deficiencies and acts before they become an issue. I don't think CMac has really had a chance to build a roster, he's spent most of his tenure putting out fires. Would be nice if the team quit trying to burn down around him and allowed him to try and improve them instead of constantly replugging holes he's already filled.

I've come to the conclusion that there is only so much Chris can and should do at this point before firing Bednar. MacFarland has spent good assets to bring in players to add sandpaper and grit to our bottom six and Bednar keeps coaching it out of them.

I'm kinda done with Bednar if you couldn't tell by now. He simply refuses to use the tools at his disposal. He's that kid that keeps trying to knock square objects through circular holes and vice versa. You know...a moron. We have a roster of what 22 players? How many does he actually use and work with? 6 maybe 7 of the dudes? I doubt he would even recognize his 4th liners if he ran into them about town.

Yeah, while I'm on board with you all on it. I'm also deathly afraid of clowns like Joe Sacco.

 

[expatriatedtexan]

Yeah, while I'm on board with you all on it. I'm also deathly afraid of clowns like Joe Sacco.

Coach Q is all we need.

Look bring Q in to replace Bennett. If the team responds well to him, you can treat the rest of the season as a trial run and make a decision in the summer...Either promote Q to HC or let him walk to find an HC job. I think he would take an Assistant position for the remainder of the year IF he thought the HC position could be his in the summer. I do not believe he would just take an AC position indefinitely though.

 

[CobraAcesS]

Coach Q is all we need.

Look bring Q in to replace Bennett. If the team responds well to him, you can treat the rest of the season as a trial run and make a decision in the summer...Either promote Q to HC or let him walk to find an HC job. I think he would take an Assistant position for the remainder of the year IF he thought the HC position could be his in the summer. I do not believe he would just take an AC position indefinitely though.

If it gets Bennett replaced I'm for it. That's the mofo ChatGpt could actually replace at this point.