The NHL’s general manager of the year award is a tough one to quantify.
Is it the GM who did the most this season to affect his club’s performance? Or is it the work he’s done over the past few seasons to set his team up for success this year?
Colorado Avalanche GM Chris MacFarland made it easy on the voters this year. He should be the Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year, regardless of which way they interpret it.
No GM in the NHL has done more over the past two seasons to improve his club. No GM increased the chances of his outfit lifting the Stanley Cup since July 1, which is the start of the NHL’s 2025-26 calendar year.
When the Avalanche welcome the Vegas Golden Knights to Ball Arena for Game 1 of the Western Conference Final, Colorado will be the favorite to win the Stanley Cup. It is likely that 10 of the 20 players who dress for that game were not part of the organization two seasons ago, when the Avs reached the second round of the playoffs.
Building ‘The Lumberyard’
MacFarland’s retool on the fly, for a team that felt it was a Cup contender the day Valeri Nichushkin was suspended in that second round, effectively ending the season, until now, while the Avs continued to win big, is nothing short of remarkable.
It started with the goaltending, of course. Colorado had the league’s worst save percentage the day MacFarland sent Justus Annunen and a sixth-round pick to Nashville for Scott Wedgewood, then flipped Alexandar Georgiev, Nikolai Kovalenko and two picks to San Jose for Mackenzie Blackwood.
“The Lumberyard” allowed the fewest goals in the NHL this year, earning the William Jennings Trophy, for a combined price of $6.75 million. There are 10 goalies who make more than both combined.
Winning the Rantanen trade
The defining move was obviously sending Mikko Rantanen to the Carolina Hurricanes for Martin Necas, Jack Drury, two draft picks and the promise of building a deeper team. Even if someone disagreed with trading Rantanen at the time, that deal — and the subsequent moves the Avs have made while Necas counts $6.5 million against the cap this year when Rantanen would have cost at least $5 million more — looks emphatically strong for Colorado this season.
Necas found a new level during the regular season and has been an impact guy in the playoffs. Drury is anchoring arguably the best fourth line in the NHL. Necas and Brock Nelson at nearly the same cost as Rantanen and a league-minimum guy have been a huge win.
Flexibility pays off
Every major transaction MacFarland has made this season has worked out for the Avs, helping them reach the second half of the NHL’s postseason for the first time since 2022. Technically, signing Nelson to a three-year contract and the trade that sent Charlie Coyle and Miles Wood to Columbus for Gavin Brindley, a draft pick, and cap relief happened before July 1, but they were in service of the 2025-26 team.
That space allowed the Avs to sign Brent Burns to a contract with a $1 million base salary plus incentives. The flexibility allowed Colorado to add Brett Kulak, Nicolas Roy and Nazem Kadri before the trade deadline.
Burns and Kulak were critical against the Minnesota Wild, particularly when either Josh Manson or Sam Malinski was missing in every game, and when Cale Makar was clearly not at 100% by the end of the series.
Roy and Kardi have helped buttress an already loaded forward corps to the point that Colorado went 2-0 without Malinski and Arrturi Lehkonen, one of the great all-around playoff glue guys in the league. Roy and Kadri have six points each in this postseason — they are the co-leaders among forwards who were added before the deadline.
“It’s massive. That’s what you need,” Manson said of the club’s depth. “Our management has done a great job in bringing in players that we can all trust on the ice in all situations. That’s what you get. That’s what it takes to win.”
Wild GM Bill Guerin swung the biggest trade of the season, landing Quinn Hughes from Vancouver. But MacFarland outflanked him and three-time GM of the year winner Jim Nill in Dallas at the deadline. Anaheim GM Pat Verbeek has done a great job surrounding a talented young core with veteran players.
The votes are already in and second-round results don’t matter, but MacFarland was the correct choice before that, anyway. The job of the GM is always to keep one eye on the present and one on the future.
Well, MacFarland has signed four players to contracts that don’t start until next season since July 1. Wedgewood, the NHL’s leader in goals against average and save percentage, is inked for $2.5 million.
Malinski, one of the breakout players at his position in the NHL this year, is locked in at $4.75 million. Parker Kelly, a completely under-the-radar addition two offseasons ago, just scored 21 goals and is signed for $1.7 million.
Then there is Necas, who just racked up 38 goals and 100 points, and now has 11 points in nine playoff games. He is signed for $11.5 million.
This whole era of Avalanche hockey was teetering a bit after a sluggish start to the 2024-25 season. Gabe Landeskog was an unknown. Nichushkin’s future felt like an unknown. The goaltending was a mess.
The core was still world-class, but it needed help. MacFarland delivered. The city might celebrate another Stanley Cup championship in about a month as a result.
He built the NHL’s team of the season on the fly. He deserves to be the NHL’s GM of the year.
