The dust has barely settled on another Stanley Cup Playoffs, and the Carolina Hurricanes are world champions. The heartbreaking crash out for the Colorado Avalanche still stings, but the organization is clearly eager to turn the page and return to work.
Colorado has seen a significant shake-up in the front office with the departure of General Manager Chris MacFarland, who exited for a bigger role and major payday in Nashville. The move was a bit surprising to me initially, but it just might have kept the Avalanche from making a more drastic move behind the bench.
Obviously, the Avalanche were prepared to part ways with their GM, who they still valued. But because MacFarland was under contract, permission had to be granted to the Predators to finalize his new deal. In some ways, CMac leaving cleared the way for a stronger voice to re-emerge. I'm speaking of course, about Avalanche club President and on-ice legend Joe Sakic.
The choice to once again tap 'Super Joe' for GM duty was a no-brainer. After all, the last season he held that title in 2022, the Avalanche raised the Stanley Cup. Elevating his deputy MacFarland to higher status after that championship was a reward and to keep their guy from getting scooped by another team.
How is Sakic different as a GM?
In my view, if anyone knows what this club needs to recapture that Stanley Cup drive, it's Joe Sakic. Some critics might argue that Sakic has been in charge the whole time, because he would sign off on any major decision, theoretically. Even if that were true on principle, Sakic carries a different weight in two key areas.
First, and probably most importantly, it's about player relationships. As a player and executive, Sakic has succeeded at the highest level. Any current player either signing or re-signing is going to feel differently about negotiating one-on-one with a living legend.
The Avalanche have a lot to get done this offseason, but nothing ranks higher on their priorities list than locking down Cale Makar for a massive extension. Joe Sakic is the perfect man for that job. I firmly believe Makar will be in Colorado for the long haul. What's more, I believe he is likely the franchise’s next captain.
Who better to pitch Makar on that future than the man who wore the “C” for Colorado's first two Stanley Cups? To be fair, I think Makar is the type of guy you open the bank vault for—but leader-to-leader, Sakic has a better chance of finding a way to finesse a team-friendly deal than anyone else could.
As much as Avalanche fans want to forget the Mikko Rantanen situation, for better or worse, it stands as maybe the defining moment of Chris MacFarland's tenure. Even though I do think the club has made themselves deeper in the wake of that trade, I wonder if the impasse between Rantanen and management would have been bridged by Sakic.
The second major difference I see in Sakic as opposed to MacFarland is draft evaluations, as they relate to Colorado's current roster. So much of recent strategy has been about far away future potential. The only high pick the Avalanche have selected in the past two seasons has been goaltender Ilya Nabokov, whose immediate fate seems murky at best.
Part of that murkiness is owed to MacFarland's best work, the one-season overhaul of Colorado's tandem in net. But sitting here today with that midseason detonation being necessary in 2025 definitely calls long-term thinking into question.
The first transaction of the offseason being a trade with Nashville piqued my interest for obvious reasons. It shows without a doubt that there is still a positive working relationship between the two clubs, who have swapped players often the last few years. So much so that the Avalanche were able to re-acquire their own 2027 third-round selection as part of the deal.
It's a positive move for Colorado from both a cap space perspective and draft capital. As much as I like Ross Colton as a guy, his fate seemed sealed when he was a healthy scratch early in the postseason. I do think he played hard when he eventually drew back into the lineup due to injuries. All things considered though, $4 million is a hefty price tag for a forward who's had limited availability. If Colorado can take that money and use it to extend Jack Drury, it would be a huge win in my opinion.
Sometimes it's about the moves you don't make
I hinted at this earlier, but a larger change, namely parting ways with head coach Jared Bednar could have signaled a major shift in philosophy. This would only be justified if the club determined that such a seismic upheaval were needed. When you are talking about an organization coming off a franchise high in regular season points, the idea that you need to blow it up is a hard sell to say the least.
Like most of the hockey world, I was surprised to read yesterday that the Vegas Golden Knights are not bringing back John Tortorella. My gut reaction though? Good news for Colorado. Obviously it's difficult to assess what all led to that move, but from the outside, it certainly isn't the move of a club who knows who they are right now.
As of just a few hours ago, Vegas has named Ryan Craig as their next bench boss. This is a promotion for him, as Craig has been coaching Vegas' American Hockey Leauge affiliate, Henderson, for the last three years. To me, this reads like Vegas trying to find their own Bednar. Ironically, Bednar has coached Craig in the past, when they were both with the Springfield Falcons and the Lake Erie Monsters just before Bednar's jump to the NHL.
Make no mistake—The Colorado Avalanche are knocking on the door of a fourth Stanley Cup. Their roster is still a behemoth. Our own Katie Bartlett wrote about what the Avalanche can learn from Carolina's successful Cup run. What sticks out to me from those takeaways is trusting the systems.
Carolina had gone exactly 20 years between championships, but they have been perennial contenders for many years, just like Colorado. They kept faith in Rod Brind'Amour as a coach through many promising seasons that ended in disappointment.
Regular readers might notice I love finding little historical parallels and there are a couple of juicy ones for Avalanche fans who, like me, prefer to live in hope of glory just around the corner. First is that Brind'Amour was famously the captain of Carolina's first championship club back in 2006. This kind of organizational synergy is what the Avalanche have with Sakic at the helm.
Another fun fact about Carolina that might interest you, the Hurricanes were soundly beaten in the Eastern Conference Finals 4-1 last season. They have also been swept out of the same round as recently as 2023. Their example provides a very pointed case of not losing hope.
Finally, two last statistical notes that just might brighten your day: Firstly, the last time Colorado lost to the Golden Knights was in 2021, the year before they came back to win it all in 2022. Lastly, this club's trajectory is pointed up. If the Avalanche can clear the Western Conference Final hurdle in 2027, history will be on their side. The Avalanche are a perfect 3-0 when they make it all the way to the Stanley Cup Final.
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