Joe Sakic is once again the general manager of the Avalanche.
Don’t expect that title to stick.
With general manager Chris MacFarland departing for a promotion with the Nashville Predators on Tuesday, Sakic is back in the GM saddle — for now.
“(Avalanche President) 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,” the Avalanche said in a statement.
Colorado Avalanche general manager Joe Sakic and member of team that won the Stanley Cup in 1996, is introduced during a ceremony to mark the 30th anniversary of the win before an NHL hockey game against the Florida Panthers, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Starting a general manager search at this moment would be difficult. Sakic is out of town and won’t return until next week, and with the Stanley Cup Final getting underway on Tuesday, the season will be over before we know it.
That’s not enough time to turn around a search for a new general manager and get them settled before the meaty part of the offseason begins.
Jared Bednar will return as head coach, according to media reports Tuesday from Elliotte Friedman and Adrian Dater. But with just one year remaining on Bednar’s contract, the next general manager will have a big say in what happens behind the bench.
Sakic will run things for now because it just makes sense, but will he be the general manager in the long-term? That’s unlikely. Being a GM in the NHL is a grind, one Sakic walked away from in 2022. The Avalanche likely must find a new face to replace MacFarland, a finalist for General Manager of the Year.
While the Avalanche did not win a Stanley Cup during MacFarland’s four-year reign as general manager, his exit leaves a massive void in the organization. You can’t deny the impact he had on the Avalanche well before he took over as GM. He worked hand-in-hand with Sakic for years as the assistant general manager to help rebuild the team, playing a particularly key role in the Matt Duchene trade in 2017. Sakic was the general manager, but a lot of the work was done in cooperation with MacFarland. There’s a reason several teams were trying to poach him before the Avalanche gave him the GM title.
Colorado Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar, back right, confers with center Nathan MacKinnon, front right, and left wing Gabriel Landeskog in the third period of Game 2 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup second-round playoff series against the Minnesota Wild Tuesday, May 5, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
MacFarland’s work once he became general manager is a bit more uneven. His job was complicated even more by a flat salary cap when some stars needed to be paid and captain Gabriel Landeskog exiting the lineup for three seasons with a rare injury, but his resume isn’t perfect by any means.
The Avalanche have traded away a lot of assets in their constant search for centers to play behind Nathan MacKinnon since Nazem Kadri left in free agency in 2022. The original trade was Bowen Byram for Casey Mittelstadt. That fizzled out quickly and looks rough right now with Byram fitting in really well in Buffalo. Because Mittelstadt didn’t work, MacFarland was forced to trade away good assets to get Brock Nelson. There’s no denying Nelson’s work in the regular season, but his two postseasons in Colorado have been underwhelming, to say the least. They gave up a lot to bring Kadri back at the deadline, but it didn’t pay off in the immediate and with three years left on that contract, there’s no telling how it will work out in the future.
Draft picks, prospects and talented young players have been dealt to patch the hole behind MacKinnon. A second Stanley Cup has not followed.
Even with an up-and-down resume as general manager, the Avalanche had a roster more than capable of winning the Stanley Cup the last two postseasons, particularly this season. MacFarland built a roster good enough to go all the way, even if the pipeline was depleted to do so. The team on the ice didn’t get the job done.
Now, the culmination of years of the Avalanche going all-in to win makes his successor’s job even more difficult.
This a still a talented team, but there’s no denying one thing. The roster is getting old. Over the next 12 months, Kadri turns 36, Nelson turns 35, Landeskog turns 34 and Devon Toews turns 33. The only top-six forward currently under contract that will be under the age of 31 when the postseason begins next year will be Martin Necas. Cale Makar, who can sign an extension on July 1, will be 28, as will Sam Malinski.
Colorado Avalanche’ Artturi Lehkonen (62) and Cale Makar (8) celebrate a goal against the Edmonton Oilers during first period of an NHL game in Edmonton on Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via AP)
The championship window is not closed, but there’s no denying the window is getting tighter and the next full-time general manager must figure out how to extend that window while having limited trade assets at his disposal.
It won’t be easy.
Identifying the next general manager won’t be easy until one thing is known: Who does MacFarland take with him to Nashville? Outgoing GMs often are accompanied by people from their old organization.
The Avalanche have two assistant general managers in Kevin McDonald and Andrew Wilson, as well as a special assistant to the GM in Andrew Cogliano. If none of those three head to Nashville with MacFarland, they’ll likely be on the short list for the Avalanche, although it might be too soon for Cogliano to take over. Wilson, in particular, is a name to watch from what I’ve been told, as he joined the Avalanche from the NHL offices in the summer of 2024.
Looking externally is always an option, albeit one that doesn’t fit with Avalanche tradition. Tyler Dellow, an assistant general manager for the Carolina Hurricanes, is an interesting name. Under MacFarland’s watch, the Avalanche became forward thinking in terms of analytics, an area of expertise for Dellow. Brett Peterson has been a popular name in other general manager searches around the league. A former player-agent, Peterson has been an assistant general manager for the Florida Panthers since 2020.
An already-critical offseason for the Avalanche had a massive wrinkle thrown into it on Tuesday. The Avalanche’s next general manager must hit the ground running. The remaining prime years of Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar — two of the top five players in the NHL — will be handed over to someone new.
No pressure.