Deen’s View: I Was Wrong About Chris MacFarland (+)

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Apr 4, 2026; Dallas, Texas, USA; Colorado Avalanche center Martin Necas (88) and Dallas Stars right wing Mikko Rantanen (96) look for the puck during the game between the Stars and the Avalanche at American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

I was wrong about Chris MacFarland.

And that’s not to say I never believed in him before, or that he wasn’t capable of building a Stanley Cup contender. But after watching Mikko Rantanen — the superstar MacFarland traded against his will — score a third-period hat trick to eliminate the Colorado Avalanche in Game 7 of the opening round last season, it felt like a mistake that should’ve cost him his job.

That’s what I argued when I wrote that story last May. It was something I truly believed. For many reasons.

It wasn’t that I thought trading Rantanen was a bad idea. On the night of the blockbuster trade that sent him to the Carolina Hurricanes, I wrote that MacFarland had earned patience. But my main argument was that by taking the blindside approach, by not working with Rantanen to find a new home, he walked him right into the hands of your biggest division rival.

Looking back, I understand why that was the wrong take.

The Avs got Martin Necas, Jack Drury, and a couple of draft picks back for Rantanen. Necas was a good fit from the outset, but after a full training camp and a full season in head coach Jared Bednar’s system, he took another step this year.

MacFarland saw a higher ceiling in Necas than Carolina did. It took one full season for Necas to crack 100 points in Colorado.

Acquiring a superstar like Necas doesn’t happen when you allow a player to dictate his next destination. If MacFarland did what Erik Tulsky did and worked with Rantanen to find his new home, then he would’ve gotten a package similar to what the Hurricanes received. No disrespect to Logan Stankoven, he’s the third-best player, by far, from the trio.

MacFarland didn’t believe Rantanen was the right long-term fit at eight years and top dollar. Given that Rantanen’s game isn’t built on speed, he wasn’t willing to commit that type of contract to this core deep into the future. What Carolina chose to do with him later and how Rantanen chose to react to the trade in the first place shouldn’t fall on MacFarland’s shoulders.

His duty is to find the best players and fits. Necas is a superstar. And Drury is the center of one of the best fourth lines in the NHL.

I now understand that.

He knows when to move on from guys, when to gamble, and when to keep trying. Not many general managers are like that.

But let’s talk about how this front office has completely rebuilt this team. Let’s talk about how, for years, it felt like there was a possibility that Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar might not get another chance to play in a Western Conference Final or for a Stanley Cup because their entire second line was almost completely gone.

Gabe Landeskog didn’t play for three years after the Stanley Cup championship in 2022. Nazem Kadri signed with the Calgary Flames less than two months after raising the Cup. Valeri Nichushkin, even though he stuck around, was in and out of rehab to the point where it truly felt like the Avs needed to cut ties.

They didn’t. They were patient with Nichushkin, and he’s a full-time player again. They were patient with Landeskog, and he’s back and worth the $7 million he makes, both on and off the ice. Kadri’s departure began a long line of flops at the 2C position. That was until MacFarland gambled by trading his top prospect, Calum Ritchie, and this year’s first-round pick, for Brock Nelson.

But even after adding Nelson, MacFarland still found a way to bring Kadri back.

The Avalanche’s 2022 Cup run also taught MacFarland an important lesson: too many key contributors were playing on expiring deals. When the offseason came around, he had little time to pick which to keep and which to let walk. And because of the flat cap, hard choices needed to be made.

Darcy Kuemper walked. Alexandar Georgiev flopped as his replacement.

Kadri left, and MacFarland cycled through Alex Newhook, J.T. Compher, Ryan Johansen, and Casey Mittelstadt searching for a true replacement at 2C. Andre Burakovsky departed, too, costing Colorado another key depth scorer.

Not this time.

MacFarland learned from that experience and became proactive. Instead of letting key contributors drift toward free agency, he began locking players up early and at reasonable numbers.

Parker Kelly got an extension before reaching the open market. Josh Manson did, too. When Necas immediately proved to be a strong fit, MacFarland wasted little time signing him long-term before his price climbed even higher. Scott Wedgewood earned the same confidence after stabilizing the goaltending situation.

It wasn’t about winning every trade or every signing. It was about identifying fits early, acting decisively, and avoiding the mistakes that hurt the Avalanche after the 2022 Stanley Cup run.

Not every move worked. The additions of Charlie Coyle and Ryan Lindgren, for example, didn’t work as hoped. But MacFarland adjusted quickly, and he eventually replaced them with Kadri and Brett Kulak, while also ridding himself of the Miles Wood contract and adding Gavin Brindley, another young forward, to his arsenal.

Brindley is now part of that long-term vision, too, and Kulak could be next.

The trade for Nic Roy has also been a big hit. And the fact that he has another year on his deal at just $3 million means the Avs are bringing back nearly the entire team next year.

When you look at the roster now, the one that has gone 8-1 through two rounds for the first time in franchise history, it’s hard to find a hole anywhere.

MacFarland spent years missing on trades and signings. The Bowen Byram trade is probably the one he’d most like back.

But he has never had a problem admitting when he was wrong. He wasn’t going to hold on to Mittelstadt just because he was the piece coming back for Byram. He didn’t want to keep Johansen on the roster and waste a potential Stanley Cup run in 2024. He gave Wood a long-term deal, only to trade him two years later.

Sometimes you miss on deals. But if the Avs win the Stanley Cup this year, we’re going to look back on this roster build and remember that MacFarland had far more hits than misses, and was never afraid to keep trying.

More importantly, the Rantanen trade wasn’t a miss. The way he handled it from the outset, while it may have been harsh, was the right play.

Rather than focusing on where Rantanen ended up, MacFarland focused on maximizing the return and rebuilding around his core, which includes a rising star in Necas.

That core — the one MacFarland built — ran through the Wild in five games after Minnesota eliminated Rantanen and the Stars.

It’s a team he was able to build because Necas carries a $6.5 million cap hit this season. That wouldn’t have been the case if Rantanen re-signed.

Rather than joining the list of players who flopped, Necas is the latest and perhaps best example of a player elevating his game in Colorado.

Many of those moves came while Joe Sakic still held the GM title, but MacFarland played a major role behind the scenes. We’re talking about Artturi Lehkonen, Devon Toews, Nichushkin, Burakovsky, and Kadri, to name a few.

We’re also talking about Mackenzie Blackwood and Wedgewood, the two goalies he acquired in nine days last year when he decided to overhaul the previous tandem he had built around. He made the mistakes the first time, and he righted them.

Wedgewood was 49-50-23 over a 10-year career when he joined the Avs less than 18 months ago. Since then, he is 51-11-7 in 69 games between the regular season and playoffs combined.

MacFarland is up for the Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award for a reason. It’s because he was patient and calculated with how he used his assets and cap space to build this roster.

Last January, I said MacFarland should be rewarded with patience. Last May, I went back on that thought. I was wrong.

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