Predators hire Chris MacFarland from Avalanche to become president of hockey operations/GM

DENVER (AP) — The Nashville Predators are bringing in Chris MacFarland of the Presidents' Trophy-winning Colorado Avalanche to serve as their president of hockey operations/general manager.

The Predators announced the hiring of MacFarland on Tuesday. He takes over for Barry Trotz, who will step into an advisory role with the organization after announcing earlier this season that he was retiring from the GM role.

MacFarland finished his fourth season as general manager of the Avalanche, where the team he helped assemble turned in the NHL's best record before being swept by the Vegas Golden Knights in the Western Conference Final. MacFarland is a finalist for general manager of the year, along with Minnesota’s Bill Guerin and Anaheim’s Pat Verbeek.

The 56-year-old MacFarland spent 11 seasons with the Avalanche, learning under the direction of current team president and Hall of Famer Joe Sakic. MacFarland was promoted to GM soon after the Avalanche won the 2022 Stanley Cup.

Nashville has missed the playoffs three of the past four seasons after a stretch of eight straight postseason berths, which included the 2017 Western Conference championship.

“We could not be more pleased that Chris has elected to join the Predators organization and lead our hockey operations group,” Predators chairman and majority owner Bill Haslam said in a statement. “He turned out to be a perfect fit for us — just what we were looking for to lead our organization moving forward.”

MacFarland inherits a team that rallied from last in the NHL on Dec. 8 to a wild-card spot with 10 games to play only to be eliminated in the 81st game of the season. He has a solid core that includes goaltender Juuse Saros, captain Roman Josi and forward Filip Forsberg. Coach Andrew Brunette has gone 115-108-23 at Nashville with slow starts in each of his three seasons.

“I know this is a proud organization with a solid track record of putting together teams that the fans of Smashville support wholeheartedly,” MacFarland said. "My goal here is to build a winner. ... I am excited about our future.”

MacFarland is known for his ability to make deals. This season, he bolstered the Avalanche around the trade deadline by acquiring Nazem Kadri, Brett Kulak, Nicolas Roy and Nick Blankenburg. The team's 121 points were the most in franchise history. The Avalanche cruised through the first two rounds, going 8-1, before their high-scoring offense was neutralized by the Golden Knights.

“Chris was instrumental in our success over the last decade and a key part of our 2022 Stanley Cup championship,” said Josh Kroenke, vice chairman of Kroenke Sports & Entertainment. “This was an opportunity for him to take on a bigger role with the Predators while being closer to his family.”

Sakic will fill in as GM of the Avalanche for the “foreseeable future,” Kroenke said. Sakic is the only person in NHL history to capture a Stanley Cup title as a captain (1996, 2001) and GM (2022) with the same organization.

“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,” Kroenke said.

One decision facing the Avalanche may be the status of Jared Bednar, the all-time winningest coach in franchise history who's about to enter the final season of his contract. The Avalanche have been to the postseason nine straight seasons under Bednar, with one appearance in the Stanley Cup Final.

“It’s not easy to win in this league,” Bednar said after being eliminated by Vegas. "It’s not easy through the regular season and in the playoffs it can become more and more difficult as you move on.

“The closer you get, the more hope you have that you can accomplish (winning a title). And when you don’t, it’s hard to deal with.”

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AP Sports Writer Teresa M. Walker contributed to this report.

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