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

[LOFIN]

The Steve Dangle podcast had a segment where they took a look at some of the deadline acquisitions and started to sing praise to CMac. Jesse Blake however, made a very good point that the ownership does have a big say in making these big bold moves, and they probably even encourage on doing in. Moving the Rams from St. Louis to LA because the team wasn't properly supported by the City, went ahead and won the Super Bowl soon in LA. These massive Avalanche moves made this season, Nuggets firing their coach and GM just before the post season etc. Might seem chaotic, but on the other hand it's also trying to do stuff to WIN, instead of just trying remain in the fringes while maintaining ticket sales.

 

[Pokecheque]

I didn't listen to the segment but are they seriously trying to justify what Kroenke did to St. Louis? I don't mind KSE as an owner (they're far from perfect but there are obviously much worse options) but what Stan did to his own hometown was as underhanded and shifty as the Colts sneaking away in the middle of the night on Mayflower trucks. That had NOTHING to do with "proper support" and everything to do with making boatloads of cash. And it should be no surprise that a driving force behind that giant stab in the back was none other than Jerry Jones.

Oh and on top of everything else, he tried to keep their f***in' money after running away to Los Angeles before the courts stepped in and told him he couldn't.

Anyway, I couldn't give a f*** about the Rams, Arsenal, or any other KSE property. I only care about the Avs and Nuggets (Mammoth and Rapids too I guess) and MacFarland has done the best he can do under the circumstances. Shouldn't be lost that some of those circumstances, he created himself.

I'm reading now about the behind-the-scenes drama with the Nuggets. Sounds like this should've happened a long time ago.

 

[SomaliHackey]

How have we been so blessed to have Sakic and now MacFarland.

 

[RoyIsALegend]

How have we been so blessed to have Sakic and now MacFarland.

@nammerus thoughts?

 

[Pokecheque]

I'm back to wanting a new GM.

Too many mistakes, too many failures.

Miles Wood and Ross Colton are the first that jump to mind, but not the foremost. Also brought in the single worst goalie in franchise history in Alexandar Georgiev, didn't get rid of him after a miserably bad run in two different playoff series, and put the team in a serious hole at the beginning of this season.

But in the end, he never, ever addressed the 2C problem. First, tried to sell us that a tandem of Compher/Newhook could get the job done, and it didn't. Then brought in Johansen who not only stunk on the ice, but led to turmoil in the locker room alongside Georgiev, where he was then forced to pay just to dump him on Philly (I guess lucky for Philly he landed in Lehigh Valley and was never seen again). Brought in Mittelstadt using the team's best trade chip, only for him to implode following a promising start. Now he trades the team's best forward prospect for Brock Nelson, who is also a lousy fit and simply not good enough to move the needle.

People laud MacFarland for his ballsiness and it's admirable to see a guy so aggressive, but he also doesn't seem to understand his own team's identity and which players fit into it. I know some of that may or may not fall on the coach as well, but even with that taken into account there ain't NO bench boss who would have made Colton, Wood, Georgiev, or Mittelstadt look good.

I WILL give him credit for finally getting the goaltending right with the Woodshed, but that doesn't erase how abhorrently wrong he got it beforehand (Annunen also counts in that equation). Quieter pickups like Lindgren, Drury, and Coyle have worked out really well. And despite his total no-show in the postseason thus far, Necas was a perfect fit for the Avs and that was a very good haul for Rantanen.

 

[AnimalMother73]

I want a new GM mainly b/c the Avs have never even come close to the top half of the league in terms of drafting and developing. Probably goes beyond GM all the way to Sakic's role but the Avs have never been good beyond the top 10 picks in a draft and this has shortened their compete windows and forced a lot of pivots on trades that didn't work out (ala 2C).

 

[Foppa2118]

Seen a lot of comments about EJ not waiving his NTC, or Manson being re-signed, being the cause for Kadri not being brought back.

I don't think Manson or EJ actually prevented Kadri from being brought back.

First of all, EJ had a 19 team NTC he wasn't obligated to waive anyway. But if they wanted to, they 100% could have retained 50%, or spent some assets to get a second team to retain 50% if needed. Seems doubtful none of those 13 teams would take EJ at $1.5M after that Cup win. Buffalo signed him for $2M the year after and he said he turned down bigger offers elsewhere.

They also could have bought him out, though I'm not sure Kroenke would have.

More importantly though, they could have kept all three of EJ, Manson, and Kadri if they really wanted to.

One of the ways was to trade Compher and plan on starting the season with a 21 man lineup with MacDermid capable of playing F or D, and just figuring it out later. Waited to see if other options presented themselves, or someone went on LTIR. They went with 21 man rosters during seasons before to juggle the cap with the Eagles right down the road.

They could have done this easily, because with Kadri they wouldn't have needed JTC at 2C, and Newhook played 3C anyway. Plus they'd have picked up assets.

Not to mention they likely knew Helm's $1.25M was gonna start on LTIR during the summer. Which would have allowed them to go with a 22 man roster.

This doesn't even include Landy going on LTIR to start the season, which opened up $7M more. So they definitely wouldn't even have needed to go with a 21 man roster anyway.

This is why they had an additional $2M to give ERod in September.

The following season EJ's $6M came off the books, the cap went up $1M, and Landy's $7M stayed on LTIR.

The bonuses for Byram ($2.5M) and Newhook ($450k) fell well under the 7.5% bonus cushion in 22-23 ($6,187,500) that you're allowed to go over the cap with during the season, and they didn't hit their bonuses anyway.

If they really wanted to keep Kadri they could have.

Here's the players that started that season and their cap hits. The cap in 22-23 was $82.5M.

1	Rantanen	$9.25M
2	Makar	$9M
3	Landeskog	$7M
4	Kadri	$7M
5	MacKinnon	$6.3M
6	Nichushkin	$6.125M
7	E. Johnson	$6M
8	Girard	$5M
9	Manson	$4.5M
10	Lehkonen	$4.5M
11	Toews	$4.1M
12	Georgiev	$3.4M
13	Francouz	$2M
14	Cogliano	$1.25M
15	Helm	$1.25M
16	LOC	$1.05M
17	MacDermid	$987,500
18	Newhook	$908,333
19	Byram	$894,167
20	League Min	$750,000
21	League Min	$750,000
	TOTAL	$82,015,000

https://www.spotrac.com/nhl/colorado-avalanche/cap/_/year/2022

 

[Sea Eagles]

Still believe he's a magician. How he's transformed this team is amazing. We literally have an all star roster.

 

[Perratrooper]

Yeah, MacFarland has to go now.

 

[Vaslof]

Yeah, MacFarland has to go now.

That's dumb. He set up the team with everything needed to win the cup. I could understand the demands if the Avs got steamrolled in the playoffs, but they were 10 minutes from advancing and beating the hardest opponent until the finals.

 

[TruePowerSlave]

CMac continues to be a bad GM, been saying it for a few seasons and I don't see any reason not to continue. Some good, but the bad decisions stink a lot. The yearly #2C shitshow especially is so damn bad.

Inherited a fantastic team and has one series win to show for it. Really awful honestly.

 

[McMetal]

In an attempt to fill the 2C position, last March Chris MacFarland traded for Casey Mittelstadt, and then as a result of Mittelstadt imploding on the ice, he needed to acquire the best rental 2C on the market, as well as pay Boston to take Casey's contract away. So, over the last 14 months, in an attempt to fix the 2C problem, he has spent the following assets:

Bo Byram
Calum Ritchie
Will Zellers
1st Round Pick
2nd Round Pick
3rd Round Pick

As of right now, with the 24/25 season over, this is what the Avs have to show for the assets spent:

Charlie Coyle (one more year under contract)
2026 5th round pick

That is a sickeningly awful use of assets. Our rental 2C was brutally bad in the playoffs, so now we have the out column, the in column, and still no 2C for next year. Oh, and our only conceivable 2C prospect went into the out column, too.

Peter Chiarelli feels bad for CMac right now.

 

[jimmysheva]

Crosby and Malkin waited 7 years for their second cup and then won back to back. Window not quite close yet but need major retooling.

 

[Perratrooper]

That's dumb. He set up the team with everything needed to win the cup. I could understand the demands if the Avs got steamrolled in the playoffs, but they were 10 minutes from advancing and beating the hardest opponent until the finals.

Over paid for Nelson who did next to nothing, traded Byram for a dud and then paid more to get a mid third line center, traded Rantanen for a player who is notorious for not performing in playoffs, couldn’t bring Kadri back, signed Miles Wood to an awful contract. This doesn’t even address not being aggressive in years where we had a championship caliber roster.

 

[The Moops]

Over paid for Nelson who did next to nothing, traded Byram for a dud and then paid more to get a mid third line center, traded Rantanen for a player who is notorious for not performing in playoffs, couldn’t bring Kadri back, signed Miles Wood to an awful contract. This doesn’t even address not being aggressive in years where we had a championship caliber roster.

The last 5 years or so has been a masterclass of squandering all-world talent

 

[MacKaRtin]

The last 5 years or so has been a masterclass of squandering all-world talent

The world class talent had all the pieces around them for a deep run this season. Just couldn't hold a 2 goal lead (or expand on it on the PP) for 19 minutes

 

[expatriatedtexan]

Crosby and Malkin waited 7 years for their second cup and then won back to back. Window not quite close yet but need major retooling.

But that first cup came when Crosby was 21 years old.

 

[pockets]

Back down to a 1, motherf***er needs to go

 

[TruePowerSlave]

In an attempt to fill the 2C position, last March Chris MacFarland traded for Casey Mittelstadt, and then as a result of Mittelstadt imploding on the ice, he needed to acquire the best rental 2C on the market, as well as pay Boston to take Casey's contract away. So, over the last 14 months, in an attempt to fix the 2C problem, he has spent the following assets:

Bo Byram
Calum Ritchie
Will Zellers
1st Round Pick
2nd Round Pick
3rd Round Pick

As of right now, with the 24/25 season over, this is what the Avs have to show for the assets spent:

Charlie Coyle (one more year under contract)
2026 5th round pick

That is a sickeningly awful use of assets. Our rental 2C was brutally bad in the playoffs, so now we have the out column, the in column, and still no 2C for next year. Oh, and our only conceivable 2C prospect went into the out column, too.

Peter Chiarelli feels bad for CMac right now.

Sums it up pretty nicely.

CMac shouldn't be the GM.

 

[shadow1]

The bottom line is most of the moves CMac has made haven't worked. Blackwood was his best acquisition; he struggled down the stretch and had a .892 SV% against Dallas.

This crap is unacceptable. It's not the loss to Dallas in itself, it's all of it. The never-ending 2C hole, the goaltending last year and earlier this year, the Rantanen trade, etc. MacFarland sold the farm to rebuild the team and to my eyes the only players worth a damn were the ones here in 2022.

By Vancouver Canucks standards, yeah, the Avs are rock solid. They're good every year and they'll be good again next year. Whoop-dee-do. I expect Colorado to hang their hat on "Dallas wasn't a normal 1st round opponent" and run it back next year with CMac continuing to steer this ship away from Cup contention.

 

[Nihiliste]

In an attempt to fill the 2C position, last March Chris MacFarland traded for Casey Mittelstadt, and then as a result of Mittelstadt imploding on the ice, he needed to acquire the best rental 2C on the market, as well as pay Boston to take Casey's contract away. So, over the last 14 months, in an attempt to fix the 2C problem, he has spent the following assets:

Bo Byram
Calum Ritchie
Will Zellers
1st Round Pick
2nd Round Pick
3rd Round Pick

As of right now, with the 24/25 season over, this is what the Avs have to show for the assets spent:

Charlie Coyle (one more year under contract)
2026 5th round pick

That is a sickeningly awful use of assets. Our rental 2C was brutally bad in the playoffs, so now we have the out column, the in column, and still no 2C for next year. Oh, and our only conceivable 2C prospect went into the out column, too.

Peter Chiarelli feels bad for CMac right now.

You have to add to this that the 2C situation is part of why he must have felt the need to trade Mikko to free up some $.

 

[TruePowerSlave]

CMac has a trend to make moves that look good at first, but give it some time and they look terrible.

The coach obviously has to go. Maybe that would help a bit?

 

[expatriatedtexan]

CMac has a trend to make moves that look good at first, but give it some time and they look terrible.

The coach obviously has to go. Maybe that would help a bit?

I've long held the view that Bednar just throws the toys CMac gives him away. It's like he has a hissy fit if he doesn't get exactly what he wants. Problem is, there is only one Nathan MacKinnon and one Cale Makar in the NHL. You are not getting a carbon copy for your second line. The coach needs to invest in and work with all of his lines.

 

[AnimalMother73]

CMac is not good. Why did he have to give Blackwood a 5 year deal almost immediately? Why Girard a 7 year deal? He has made more trades this season to cover up Sh**ty ones than actual good trades. He sucks and should be gone. Frankly if Sakic doesn’t start thinking about building the entire team differently then he should go too.

 

[Foppa2118]

CMac is not good. Why did he have to give Blackwood a 5 year deal almost immediately? Why Girard a 7 year deal? He has made more trades this season to cover up Sh**ty ones than actual good trades. He sucks and should be gone. Frankly if Sakic doesn’t start thinking about building the entire team differently then he should go too.

FTR, Sakic signed Girard in 2019.