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B feels right for McFarland last season because the Avs didn’t get out of the second round and guys like Colton and Wood weren’t amazing signings by any means. Wood in particular didn’t perform to a level expected of a 6 year contract. Not terrible signings by any means, but definitely not good enough to give him an A. Plus, McFarland didn’t address the goalie issues at the trade deadline, which played a role in losing home ice and a possible easier path to the cup. He definitely did a great job for essentially getting Casey and Walker for RyJo, a pick, and Byram. He upgraded the forwards and defense for the playoff run, while dumping RyJo, so that was great. And resigning Casey for a discounted price makes it look even better. All in all, I think it added up to a B, but if he had done just a little more, it could have been an A.

B for MacFarland? You cannot be serious. He and he alone responsible for last season’s early exit as he again failed to add the depth - see FLA and EDM - that is needed to go to the final. But even this incompetent GM, even worse than Bownan was in CHI, topped himself this offseason. What he added to the team is a bunch of nobodies and cheap losers. Spending way too much on an overrated Mittelstadt and wasting numerous chances of hiring exceptional players for little $ brought the Avs back to a one-line offense team. As we can forget about Landeskog and the Drug Russian (Cocaine Val) this team has been finally ruined and managed out of the cup contenders. If there is anyone who still wants to get $ on this team to win the cup next season, please give the money to a charity and do some good stuff with it rather than throwing it in the trash with this “team.” Of course, there will come a day when either Mr Sakic or Mr Kroehnke finally realize what an amateur fills their GM position but until then the word for this Avalanche team for the seasons MacFlushy will be the GM is F-A-I-L-U-R-E! The only $ I would bet on this team would be that they will not make the playoffs this season. God forbid MacKinnon or Makar will have a major injury and this team is toast. I have never seen a GM of a professional sports team who has the stupid idea that you pay a few guys the big bucks, for some way too much, and then you hope that you add the rest with garbage under $1M and be so naive to believe that you can win the cup. 🫣🫣🫣🫣🫣🫣🫣🫣🫣😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬 But you two just keep on believing MacFlushy is doing a good job. Just look at CBJ. What a “top team” he left there before joining the Avs.

These teams going crazy and signing everyone for stupid contracts this offseason really screwed everything to the point that it doesn’t even help that the cap went up 😂. So dumb

give me a cup bednar cool as a cucumber gets the most out of what’s given to him. should have one coach of the year couple times

If Bednar leaves the Avs will go back to being a wild card team.

Bednar's not on the list because he has an elite team and still didn't win shit. Not the cup, not the conference, not the division. Take away the cup in 2022 and we have largely underachieved with him as coach, given the talent at his disposal

Trading a first rounder for Sean Walker who ended up leaving for nothing alone gives him a C. That was a terrible move when he made it and it’s even worse now. I liked Walker and I thought he was a terrific player but trading a first for him to get someone out of here that YOU traded for? Nah man, that was awful. I also don’t like the Mittelstadt contract. They are overpaying that dude for proving essentially nothing thus far in his career. And as far as McFarland “getting the Avs they help they need” this offseason, where is that? The Avs should be exploring trades since they have no cap space. They should strongly be considering trading Mikko to see if they can get 3 players for him, but I said that on a previous video.

Bednar missed the opportunity. The first year where the avs made the 20 game jump was probably the best year, and second was the president's trophy year

Wait a minute. People are saying Cale Makar had a 'down year'? The man had a career high 90 points, tied for 16th in the NHL. Quinn Hughes, who won the Norris, was 15th in scoring with 2 more points (having played 5 more games). Crazy to think he had a down year.

It wouldn't surprise me at all if Utah made the playoffs. Coyotes were 23-22 before the 14 game losing streak (when the rumors started about them leaving creating an obvious distraction). After that, they went on to win to win 13 of the final 23 games. Distractions are gone. Now, in Utah, the team has a new place to play that is set up to accommodate a professional team (as opposed to where the Coyotes played their home games), they drafted well, they brought in some veterans guys who have won and can help lead this young team, and they still have a good amount of cap space to play with.

Your take is fair but I disagree. MacFarland has hit on a few free agents and has almost completely abandoned draft and develop over the past few years (until this year when we actually had some picks). He has missed on more than he has hit on and constant 1-year free-agent signings put the cap in a bad place. I'd give him a C+ or B...

Great chess moves by Mac. Not every chess piece worked out as *we all thought they would*, but he even corrected those moves efficiently. That's kinda the point, even the moves that didn't work out, seemed like they really should have. When they didn't...boom. It's impossible for every signing to work out, so you keep moving. Gosh, I'd give him an A+++++++ just for bringing the Halifax Moosehead Duo back together AND resigning Drouin for another year.

The Colorado sports media needs to stop kissing the ground that Chris MacFarland walks on. His signature move was trading for Casey Mittlestadt who has never even had a 20 goal season. His second best move was giving Mittlestadt a contract for $5.75 million per season. Again, a forward who has never even had a 20 goal season. Mittlestadt is a $2 - $2.5 million per season player with the numbers he's put up so far. McFarland is an underperformer. And, yes Chris, when the GM trades for a player who does nothing like Johanssen and Tatar then he needs to be held accountable for those moves.

Let's not forget the Avs signing Kariya and Selanne for the 03-04 season. That signing, on paper, looked like putting together one of the stronger teams ever. Unfortunatly injuries to Kariya and Forsburg, Patrick Roy retired, and questionable coaching, led to a very disappointing season.

Jack Adams usually goes to overperforming teams or teams that absolutely annihilated everyone else. Teams meeting expectations won't reward their coach beyond a bit of job security. Watch Roy if the Isles make the playoffs again, even if it's entirely on Varlamov's back.

You touched upon a lot in this episode guys 😉 Briefly about MacFarland: thanks for pointing out that he efficiently adjusted the roster at the trade deadline. Thus, we had a true contending team. Come on everybody, we believed they could go all the way. The triple pickle he's in right now: Landy+Nuke+Cap... Not to be envied. The Avs' fans are antsy cause we need another Cup to cement the legacy of this great core we have. It's understandable. But, please appreciate that Avs' GM Team also thinks about the future, and drafting Ilya Nabokov was a wonderful move (wonder if Francouz had something to do with it...). Thanks for the episode! Take care!

How about Theo Fleury?

Bednar is not on the list, because he's had a consistently great team these past 5 years or so, and won the Cup in 2022, but not much except that, not even a Conference final appearance. They probably think that when your management consistently builds a good team for you to coach - and it's built around such names as MacKinnon, Makar and Rantanen, no less - the results Bednar has shown were underwhelming, except for that Cup. I personally don't think that Bednar is at fault here, but the Athletic probably thinks that a coach with such an arsenal at his disposal should have done better.

I don't think we will have many coaches fired this season. I could see the Flames firing Huska.

I dont think anything happens with mikko till there is some clarity on val and gabe, but i do wonder if they can afford much bigger of a hit for him. Cale is also going to get a huge raise, probably set the new league high. If gabe is fully healthy and val is back... i wonder if there is a world where they trade him, or let him walk, and sign drouin and another player in that 5ish range

Go, Blue! ❤

I think you try and negotiate now with Mikko and if you can get an extension with him for less than 10.5 then you make the deal now.

I have a funny feeling that the Ekholm hit afected Mikko more than we realise. The hit itself wasn't the issue, but I think the speed at which his head hit the ice afterwards did a lot more damage than we realise. It was only a handful of games before the playoffs too and although he was getting some stick he still put up more than a point per game in the playoff run.

What if Peter Forsberg's spleen never ruptured? Do you think he'd have still taken his weird leave of absence that next season? Related: what if Forsberg hadn't bought his penthouse in LoDo before the spleen thing; do you think if he still lived up at his house in Golden that he'd have just gone home instead of going out with the team the night his spleen went kaput? Because if so, you have to think there's a good chance he pops some ibuprofen and goes to bed and ignores how awful he feels then keeps bleeding internally unchecked to the point where he could have died in his sleep. Big big yikes. What if we didn't trade Deadmarsh for Blake? What if Mario Tremblay had chosen wisely and pulled Patty instead of letting him twist in the wind for 8 goals? (And if the Nordiques hadn't moved out of Quebec, zero chance he'd have gone to them if everything else stayed the same and he did want out of Montreal.) What if Joe Sakic had actually gone to play for the Rangers? (Thanks for saving our bacon, Harrison Ford!) What if they'd selected Seth Jones instead of Nate? (Or in hilarious 'twilight zone' fashion, what if they'd selected Jonathan Drouin instead of other of the others? Would we have ended up bringing Nate in last year and flip-flopped the way it actually happened to get the Halifax Homies back together? Ha ha.) What if they hadn't lost the draft lottery and they'd gotten to choose first in 2017? Would we still have Cale in burgundy and blue? What if Howler hadn't bonked that one cranky fan with a rolled up poster leading to a scuffle with her? (The mental image of that is just utterly hilarious to me. I always picture Ace Ventura getting into a fight with the Eagles mascot when I think of it, ha ha) What if Cale never kicks Landy in the knee? What if the team was actually called the Rocky Mountain Extreme? Barfo. And it was Slava Kozlov who nailed Adam Foote in game 3 in 1996. Everyone looks at the Draper hit and thinks that's where stuff really popped off, but it was for sure the Kozlov dirty hit that at the very least lit the fire.

Y'all got summa dat *scratches* Nichushkin news?

Patrick Roy is literally the only reason I started liking the AVS but the one moment that I still remember negativity and probably the worst I have of him is the statue of liberty moment in 2002 vs the red wings in game 6.. if he could of held that puck in his glove they may of had another cup back to back

How Mikko played 2022-2023 season, I say we need to hella sign him. Insane snipes, super physical in the corners, showing fire on refs even when not needed still shows the passion. Last year, despite his high points just seemed like he was a place holder on the pp line. Little back checking, and more of a give and go passer. That was my perception, which means why lock us up in a situation where we are a 2 line team. Its a weird spot. The Avs have another cup in them in this era I think but again like the 2022 cup run, we had the perfect concoction of players. You guys may have talked about it already but why did we trade Walker?

Mikko is getting 11.6, 100k more than Nylander. And he deserves it. He’s a top 5 winger in the league.

Footnote: The Mrs. pointed out that my hair is becoming Bednar-like. I just said, "Gosh thanks honey!"

Disagree, Bednar is adaptive; it is time to rewatch the oh, two freaking dozen come-from-behind victories where the approach changed and the score rocketed up. True, fundamentally The Scheme is Speed, but I've seen position/play shifts happen sharply, subtly, and smartly and BAM the opposition becomes helpless against an *avalanche* of goals. Just wish we'd adapted to the Stars' obsession with hugging people on the ice.

I know the Leafs live in their own reality however if Marner’s looking at over 12 Mikko’s deserving at least that. My guess is that Mikko wants a round number 90 million dollars which would make aav 11,25.

I will always give Bednar an A. Basically he makes his players be accountable and treat each other as Adults. He does not try to "Control" his players. And im so sorry Mrs. Electrician Ziggy, but his hair IS our system. GIRL work that out😂😂😂 I just know that if the Nords didnt come to Denver, i would have never been exposed to this world, so I am happy it happened❤ And of course @shaggy von doom wants a cherry suit😂😂 Mikko will get extended, it will never be as much as Mackinnon, but they will work it out😊😊 GREAT SHOW GUYS ❤❤

Would be nice if Mikko had a playoff mode at that price...

10-11 for Mikko is fair, and I hope he wants to stay here and also thinks that's fair. We don't know that he wants to stay here (or what is in anyone's head). The advantages seem obvious to us but maybe he really would rather be the big fish in a smaller pond. I wonder if it annoys him that MacKinnon/Makar get all the commentary and he's an all-star who is just weirdly forgotten. Maybe he likes being under the radar a bit. The latter seems more likely to me but we don't know... Bednar's long hair is a glory to behold and the dude could singlehandedly serve as the example for why NHL coaches should keep wearing suits. That purple 3-piece number is 🔥I guess it helps that he's just a handsome fellow. I've seen often the argument that Quebec wouldn't have won the Cup because Montreal would never have allowed a Roy trade to the Nordiques. It's an interesting question though. What if Makar went in the top 3? Who would they have picked at #4? That draft was a gift from the gods.

If the team would of stayed in Quebec, they wouldn't get Patrick Roy in a trade because Mtl would never trade one of their star player to their arch rival.

If Mikko is the moose who is the squirrel?

Trade Mikko. This formula we have with a top-heavy team isn’t working. And we will put ourselves in further cap hell if we lock him up. Why not try to get 3 players for him or at least see if that is an option? We can’t keep everybody, that’s the reality of the situation. Look at how strapped we are now by trying to do that. I love Mikko, but him not being here should be explored.