Avalanche GM Chris MacFarland is leaving for new role with Predators

DENVER — The Colorado Avalanche’s pivotal offseason has a new seismic wrinkle.

General manager Chris MacFarland is leaving the organization to become president of hockey operations and GM with the Nashville Predators, the Avs’ Central Division rivals announced Tuesday.

Colorado’s president of hockey operations, Joe Sakic, will be the club’s interim GM.

“We would like to thank Chris for all he did for the Avalanche organization,” KSE vice chairman Josh Kroenke said in a statement. “Chris was instrumental in our success over the last decade and a key part of our 2022 Stanley Cup championship. This was an opportunity for him to take on a bigger role with the Predators while being closer to his family. We wish him and his family all the best in Nashville.

“Joe Sakic will resume the general manager duties for the foreseeable future, including through this month’s draft and the start of the league year. In Joe’s previous stint as GM, he helped build the current roster and led us to the 2022 Stanley Cup. We are confident in Joe’s leadership and that we will continue to build upon our recent success as we seek to bring another Cup back to Colorado.”

Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reported that MacFarland met with owner Bill Haslam on Monday night, and the Predators moved quickly to complete a deal. The Predators have been searching for a new lead executive since GM Barry Trotz announced Feb. 2 that he was retiring from the role.

MacFarland was promoted to GM for the Avs in July 2022, shortly after the club won its third Stanley Cup. He has been with the organization since May 21, 2015, when he was hired as an assistant general manager to Sakic, who was then the club’s GM.

One of three finalists for the Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award, MacFarland has overhauled the Colorado roster around the club’s title-winning core over the past two seasons. The Avs were atop the NHL standings this season every day from Nov. 1, winning the Presidents’ Trophy with a club-record 121 points.

They were the Stanley Cup favorite until the Vegas Golden Knights swept them out of the playoffs in the Western Conference final.

“Very well deserved,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said of MacFarland’s nomination before the conference final. “I think it’s probably a couple years coming. But oftentimes with the work you put in and the blood, sweat, and tears, there’s a delayed reaction, a delayed recognition of that. This team for me wasn’t just built in this year, it was built over the last couple years.

“To me, the decisions … I look at a lot of the tough ones that we’ve made over the years, especially in the last couple of years, they all seem to be turning out and working out pretty well for us again this year. It doesn’t always guarantee success, but I mean, I think he’s putting us in a position to have success year over year.”

MacFarland and the Avs made a historic number of in-season trades for a contending team a year ago. It started with swapping out both of the team’s opening-night goaltenders 10 days apart, becoming the first NHL team to do so before Christmas. The Avs were last in the NHL in save percentage the day of the Scott Wedgewood trade. He and Mackenzie Blackwood won the William Jennings Trophy this season for allowing the fewest goals in the NHL.

MacFarland’s biggest move came in January 2025, when he sent Mikko Rantanen to the Carolina Hurricanes for Martin Necas, Jack Drury and two draft picks. Necas set career highs with 38 goals and 100 points this season, and will begin an eight-year contract next season with an $11.5 million cap hit.

Rantanen ended up in Dallas six weeks later, where he knocked the Avs out of the 2025 playoffs with an epic Game 7 performance. He also just completed the first season of an eight-year pact with a $12 million cap hit. The Hurricanes, without Necas and Rantanen, reached the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in 20 years and will play Vegas for the 2026 championship.

The Avs have been among the most aggressive teams in the NHL, trading prospects and future draft capital to strengthen their current roster for several years now. The new GM will inherit a roster that just set the standard in the league for six months but fell short yet again in the postseason, and now the prospect pool and war chest of draft picks are among the league’s shallowest.

Nashville has missed the playoffs the past two seasons, and has not won a round in the postseason since beating the Avalanche in the opening round of the 2018 tournament. The Predators reached the Stanley Cup Final in 2017 but have not won a championship since joining the league as an expansion franchise in 1998.

“We could not be more pleased that Chris has elected to join the Predators organization and lead our hockey operations group,” Haslam said in a team statement. “We conducted an exhaustive search and were able to meet with several very qualified and impressive candidates, but all along, we were hopeful to interview Chris. He turned out to be a perfect fit for us — just what we were looking for to lead our organization moving forward.”

Footnote

Avs star defenseman Cale Makar finished second in the Norris Trophy voting this season. Columbus’ Zach Werenski is a first-time winner of the award. Makar has been a finalist six times in first seven years. He won in 2022 and 2025, and was also the runner-up in 2021.