McFarland has masterfully built a roster capable of repeating as champs
Apr 18, 2023, 6:47 AM
Sunday afternoon at the Avalanche practice facility, there was a lot of action. Family Sports off of Peoria and Arapahoe was buzzing.
The driving-range bay was packed. There was a men’s league practice on one sheet of ice, while a bantam-level showdown was being skated on the other sheet. There appeared to be at least two birthday parties going on in the video game / bumper car / wall-climbing area. Inside of the laser-tag space, you could hear the yelps of prepubescents lighting each other up.
In the hospitality room, above the fray, the waifish wizard of hockey, Avalanche general manager Chris MacFarland addressed the media ahead of this years Stanley Cup Playoffs.
“I think it’s hard to make the playoffs,” said MacFarland. “Our group has done a fantastic job to do that. It’s been six years for us getting in. I look at what Tampa has done (making the Final three straight years) as incredible. It’s hard. It’s a grueling time of year. Last year was last year. Starting this week, it is another test. So, one step at a time.”
If Joe Sakic looks like Superman, his replacement, MacFarland, looks like Superman’s beleaguered accountant. He has all the swag of day old bread. But, his contributions behind the scenes have been immense.
Nathan MacKinnon was recently overheard calling the other MacK a genius.
“Yea, I’m not a genius,” chuckled MacFarland. “Nate, if he said that, was being kind. The thing about Nate is he loves hockey. He may not like me saying it, but he’s a hockey nerd in a lot of different ways. He loves the game. He signed an extension to be with this team for a long time. We talk hockey a lot, but I don’t know about that first part.”
MacFarland, in the truest form of hockeyness, was being self-deprecating. This Avs team is far different than last year’s squad. Their journey has been filled with a rollercoaster of injuries, replacement players and a brand-new goaltender. To get to the starting line of this year’s playoffs has been way more impressive than what they did last season. The depth isn’t nearly as impressive and the talent isn’t even close to being as rich.
The word resilient has been repeated time and time again. Let’s face it, the Avs were on cruise control for big chunks of their championship run. While they had to deal with significant injuries during the playoffs, that exercise was child’s play compared to this year.
The latest bummer is the news of the playoff loss of captain Gabriel Landeskog.
“I think Gabe being the quality person that he is didn’t want it to be something that coach Bednar had to be asked about every single day and his teammates,” said MacFarland about Landy’s decision to announce he was out for the entirety of the coming playoffs. “He’s the emotional leader of our team. So it was driven by him.”
MacFarland explained that while it would’ve been better at the trade deadline to know they would be without Gabe, they owed No. 92 the benefit of the doubt.
“It wasn’t like he was out December and played until January,” said MacFarland. “He missed the whole year. Our goal and his goal was to have him back and he deserved that opportunity. He’s a major part. If he could do it, that’s what we wanted more than anything in the world.”
The leadership void will now have to be filled by the collective rather than one individual.
“I don’t think you can take over the space that Landy leaves,” explained veteran defenseman Josh Manson. “That’s a group effort, for sure. He’s a presence in the room. He’s a presence on the ice. I don’t think you can fully replace that, but what I can do for myself is try and talk and bring the mood up a little bit in the room. I’ve been in the playoffs a little bit and obviously last year, we’ve all had that experience. But, it’s a group effort for sure.”
There is plenty of heat on the Avs for what appears to be a dud of a trade-deadline period. Welcoming in Lars Eller hasn’t exactly been a game changer. Welcoming back Matt Nieto has been a shoulder-shrug move. Only Denis Malgin has made even a ripple of a difference. But, critical offseason moves engineered by the self-proclaimed head nerd made the biggest impact.
The decision to pay Valeri Nichushkin over Nazim Kadri, while committing to Sam Girard and moving away from Andre Burwkovsky, was monumental.
Based on the offensive production of J.T. Compher (17 goals, 35 assists for 52 points in 82 games) compared to Kadri (24 goals, 32 assists for 56 points in 82 games) as the primary second-line center, it looks like a push. When you factor in the money as Compher is getting ($3.5 million this year, compared to $7 million for Kadri), the deal looks even better. Add in the fact that the Avs are Central Division champs and the Flames didn’t make the playoffs, all of a sudden you have a slam-dunk deal.
The offseason moves look even better when you see the Avs weren’t the only team impacted by injuries. Burky got hurt while playing for Seattle. He has been out since February and will miss a playoff revenge tour against his old team.
Then, there was the biggest decision of all. Parting ways with a Stanley Cup champion Goaltender in Darcy Kuemper for a keeper who has always shared time was gargantuan.
“We felt it was a pretty good swing for us to take,” said MacFarland about replacing Kuemper with Alexandar Georgiev. “But then you gotta do it on the ice. There’s a big difference between being part of a tandem and grabbing the wheel. Getting 40 wins is obviously a massive feather in his cap.”
Last season with the New York Rangers, Georgie was the backup to Vezina Trophy-winning goalie Igor Shesterkin. The Avalanche took a measured leap of faith trusting Alex could handle a demanding, heavy load.
“We were very bullish on him but he had to go out and do it,” explained the GM. “When you are in a tandem, you want to be the horse, the carry-the-mail guy. Until you do it, there’s always a question.”
When pressed on the difficulties of making such an important change, MacFarland didn’t shy away from their determined process.
“I think with anything in the cap world you are gonna have to make tough decisions,” MacFarland explained. “If we could’ve brought everybody back, we would’ve loved to have done that. The nature of the cap is you are gonna have to make those decisions. And it’s not gonna be the last time we are going to have to make those decisions. We had to find that guy at a certain price point. We honed in on Alex at the draft.”
Was it a hold-your-breath moment to see if it would work out?
“I wouldn’t characterize it that way,” said a GM who likely has had worse sleepless nights to be concerned about. “We were confident with Alexandar and Pav (Pavel Francouz). (Georgiev’s) got a lot of cache in our bank. He has the full confidence from our group. We were very confident we would get very good goaltending this year.”
MacFarland beamed like a proud father.
“Obviously, the year Georgiev has had this year has been incredible,” the general manager added. “We were confident goaltending would be a strong point for us and to Georgiev’s credit it’s been a real strength to our team.”
MacFarland should be proud of what he’s accomplished in his first year as the GM without training wheels. He does not stand out in the crowd. He will never be asked for an autograph. He is the flotsam and jetsam to Super Joe Sakic. However, as the Avs are poised to defend the Cup because his Dungeons-and-Dragons approach has given the Avs an upper hand as they roll the 20-sided die of chance this spring.
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