The dust hasn’t quite settled on the stunning move that saw former Colorado Avalanche GM Chris MacFarland head to Music City.
Perhaps the most discombobulating thing in this entire situation was the celerity with which the entire situation took place. This wasn’t an agonizing process with a back-and-forth flow of rumors regarding MacFarland’s future with the Colorado organization.
This ordeal was a shotgun wedding that the Nashville Predators pushed for. They waited until the Avalanche’s season was over before pursuing MacFarland. As insider Elliotte Friedman speculated in Wednesday’s edition of the 32 Thoughts Podcast, the Preds likely reached out to Colorado almost immediately after they were eliminated in the Western Conference Final.
While MacFarland and Predators’ owner Bill Haslam did not explicitly state that this was the case during their introductory press conference on Wednesday, this did allude to the quickness of the process.
But as Friedman also noted, the Avalanche did right by MacFarland. We all knew that as long as Joe Sakic was running the show from the President of Hockey Ops (POHO) chair, the path to a promotion for MacFarland, or anyone for that matter, was pretty much nonexistent.
That’s why the Avalanche did the right thing by allowing MacFarland to speak with Nashville. The Avs organization knew that MacFarland wasn’t going to get this opportunity for a while. And while MacFarland said all the right things about Colorado in Wednesday’s presser, you have to think that the Preds laid an opportunity in front of him that he couldn’t refuse.
Highlights from MacFarland presser. Heartfelt and genuine. Offer was too good to refuse. Doesn’t look like there’s any animosity. Appears to be a situation where Nashville wouldn’t take no for an answer and the Avs allowed Chris to leave for ultimately a better opportunity. Tough… pic.twitter.com/IiFpCPPHcu
— Darren McKee (@DMacSportsCO) June 3, 2026
Anyone in MacFarland’s situation would have done the same thing
It’s fair to say that anyone in MacFarland’s situation would have done the same thing. Imagine for a moment that a rival company in your industry reaches out and says they want to hire you. They ask you, “What’s it gonna take,” as Friedman stated that the Preds reportedly asked MacFardland, and you name your price.
Now, suppose that the rival company doesn’t bat an eye. And even if your current employer tries to keep you, they know they can’t offer you what that other company does. You’re now faced with an opportunity to get a substantial pay raise, a promotion, and validation for years of hard work.
Is that something that you would pass up? I certainly wouldn’t, especially if I knew there was no hope for promotion in my current role.
Avalanche fans shouldn’t blame MacFarland. They most certainly shouldn’t vilify him. MacFarland was presented with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. If anything, the Avalanche showed they have the class that the Vegas Golden Knights do not have.
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