Nashville got its New Leader. Where Does Colorado Go From Here?
Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet was on SiriusXM NHL Morning Skate with Scott Laughlin and Andrew Raycroft, where he was asked about the Nashville Predators and how they landed Chris MacFarland from Colorado. Plus, where does that leave Joe Sakic and the Avalanche?
NHLRumors.com Transcriptions
Scott Laughlin: “Elliotte, Chris MacFarland is leaving the Avalanche for the Predators, and Joe Sakic returns to the role of Avalanche general manager. So give us your take on this through two different lenses.
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Number one, the opportunity that MacFarland’s now got with the Predators, adding the president’s title to his general manager’s role, and the fact that Sakic, as they say, for the foreseeable future, is going to return to being a general manager. Does the foreseeable future mean weeks, months? I mean, what’s your take on where Colorado goes from here, and how long Joe might be back in that seat for?”
Elliotte Friedman: “I think at the very least it goes through free agency. I think it’s possible it’s longer. I understand that he indicated, just maybe, it was to his leadership group, I’m not exactly sure, but I’ve heard about this, that he will be staying as GM.
When you listen, now they haven’t talked yet, but I remember last year when they lost in the first round, watching Sakic at the end of your media conference, and boy, he still got the passion, like he still burns with losses. So anyone who thinks he’s kind of mailing it in or in semi-retirement, that’s not true.
The guy who wonders about their long-term is Andrew Cagliano. The one thing about Colorado is got a lot of really sharp people there behind the scenes. People like Kevin McDonald. People like Arik Parnass. But they don’t really, I don’t think they are necessarily ready for the GM chair yet.
Cogliano is probably not yet either, but I’ve heard they really think highly of him internally. So I wonder if, on some level, somebody gets maybe not a GM title, but a little bit more responsibility to kind of prepare for a step there in the future.
So, I would expect Sakic to keep it for a bit. I mentioned yesterday, I’ve already heard they’ve indicated (Jared) Bednar will be back; he’s got one year left on his contract, we’ll see what they do there.
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As for Nashville, it became pretty clear that the longer this went on, that they were determined, that they had been turned down to speak to Eric Tulsky during the season, but I think they were determined that when their two seasons ended, they were going to try again on Tulsky, to try to get him or MacFarland.
They really wanted their shot at the two guys. They got MacFarland. I mean, it all kind of unfolded yesterday, but clearly, they had permission on MacFarland for at least a few days. They met with him for dinner in Nashville on Monday night, and I think they basically just told him what it’s going to take.
Now, guys, I heard he got a six-year deal, that’s a big deal, and he wasn’t going to get that in Colorado. And Joe Sakic was there, like I said, Sakic is still very much invested, and if he wanted that kind of contract and that kind of opportunity, it wasn’t going to be with the Avalanche.
Nashville took some heat. I don’t have a problem with that. It’s better to go longer than short to make sure you get who you want. And not only did they get permission to talk to him, but they had to blow him out of the water, and they did.”
NHLRumors.com Note: The Nashville Predators introduced Chris MacFarland on Wednesday, and Bill Haslam confirmed that Nick Saban opened their eyes to the interview process.
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As NHLRumors.com has been reporting, Saban was there throughout the whole process. Saban knows how to build winning organizations. But there is work to do in Nashville for MacFarland. The roster needs work, and so does the prospect pool.
As far as Colorado goes, the Avalanche are doing the right thing by keeping Jared Bednar. He wasn’t the issue in the playoffs. Let’s see how Sakic handles doing both jobs moving forward.
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