Colorado Avalanche promote Chris MacFarland to general manager

The Colorado Avalanche promoted Chris MacFarland to general manager on Monday morning and made Joe Sakic the president of hockey operations.

MacFarland was a hot commodity among other NHL teams looking to fill the position during the season, and the Avalanche made a move to keep him around. By giving him the GM position, and moving Sakic to the president of hockey operations role, both can stay in the organization and be satisfied with their roles.

MacFarland brings plenty of experience to the position, as he’s worked in NHL front offices since the 2000-01 season. He started out in the Columbus Blue Jackets organization as the director of hockey operations until they promoted him to assistant general manager in 2007. He held that position for eight seasons and even saw an increased role from 2013 to 2015 as the general manager of their AHL team, the Springfield Falcons. After that, he was the assistant general manager for the Colorado Avalanche under Sakic.

Sakic needs no introduction to the Avalanche, bringing success to the organization as both a player and a general manager. He had an illustrious career as a player, spending 20 seasons with the Quebec Nordiques/Colorado Avalanche franchise, winning two Stanley Cups, a Hart Trophy, a Conn Smythe trophy, and a Lady Byng Trophy, and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2012. He then joined the Avalanche front office in 2011 as a senior advisor, and was promoted to general manager in 2014, winning the Cup with them in 2022.

The Avalanche find themselves in a busy offseason to try and repeat as Cup winners, with plenty of free agents to deal with. They’ve already sorted out their goaltending situation by trading for and signing Alexandar Georgiev, but still have to try and bring back Artturi Lehkonen, Nazem Kadri, Valeri Nuchushkin, Andre Burakovsky, Josh Manson, Ryan Murray, and Jack Johnson, all with only a bit over $21 million in cap space.