General manager Chris MacFarland is leaving the organization to become president of hockey operations and GM with the Nashville Predators, the Avs’ Central Division rivals announced Tuesday.

Colorado’s president of hockey operations, Joe Sakic, will be the club’s interim GM.

“We would like to thank Chris for all he did for the Avalanche organization,” KSE vice chairman Josh Kroenke said in a statement. “Chris was instrumental in our success over the last decade and a key part of our 2022 Stanley Cup championship. This was an opportunity for him to take on a bigger role with the Predators while being closer to his family. We wish him and his family all the best in Nashville.

“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. In Joe’s previous stint as GM, he helped build the current roster and led us to the 2022 Stanley Cup. 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.”

, and the Predators moved quickly to complete a deal. The Predators have been searching for a new lead executive since GM Barry Trotz announced Feb. 2 that he was retiring from the role.

MacFarland was promoted to GM for the Avs in July 2022, shortly after the club won its third Stanley Cup. He has been with the organization since May 21, 2015, when he was hired as an assistant general manager to Sakic, who was then the club’s GM.

One of three finalists for the Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award, MacFarland has overhauled the Colorado roster around the club’s title-winning core over the past two seasons. The Avs were atop the NHL standings this season every day from Nov. 1, winning the Presidents’ Trophy with a club-record 121 points.

They were the Stanley Cup favorite until the Vegas Golden Knights swept them out of the playoffs in the Western Conference Final.

“Very well deserved,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said of MacFarland’s nomination before the conference final. “I think it’s probably a couple years coming. But oftentimes with the work you put in and the blood, sweat, and tears, there’s a delayed reaction, a delayed recognition of that. This team for me wasn’t just built in this year, it was built over the last couple years.

“To me, the decisions … I look at a lot of the tough ones that we’ve made over the years, especially in the last couple of years, they all seem to be turning out and working out pretty well for us again this year. It doesn’t always guarantee success, but I mean, I think he’s putting us in a position to have success year over year.”

MacFarland and the Avs made a historic number of in-season trades for a contending team a year ago. It started with swapping out both of the team’s opening-night goaltenders 10 days apart, becoming the first NHL team to do so before Christmas. The Avs were last in the NHL in save percentage the day of the Scott Wedgewood trade. He and Mackenzie Blackwood won the William Jennings Trophy this season for allowing the fewest goals in the NHL.

MacFarland’s biggest move came in January 2025, when he sent Mikko Rantanen to the Carolina Hurricanes for Martin Necas, Jack Drury and two draft picks. Necas set career highs with 38 goals and 100 points this season, and will begin an eight-year contract next season with an $11.5 million cap hit.

Rantanen ended up in Dallas six weeks later, where he knocked the Avs out of the 2025 playoffs with an epic Game 7 performance. He also just completed the first season of an eight-year pact with a $12 million cap hit. The Hurricanes, without Necas and Rantanen, reached the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in 20 years and will play Vegas for the 2026 championship.

The Avs have been among the most aggressive teams in the NHL, trading prospects and future draft capital to strengthen their current roster for several years now. The new GM will inherit a roster that just set the standard in the league for six months but fell short yet again in the postseason, and now the prospect pool and war chest of draft picks are among the league’s shallowest.

Nashville has missed the playoffs the past two seasons, and has not won a round in the postseason since beating the Avalanche in the opening round of the 2018 tournament. The Predators reached the Stanley Cup Final in 2017 but have not won a championship since joining the league as an expansion franchise in 1998.

“We could not be more pleased that Chris has elected to join the Predators organization and lead our hockey operations group,” Haslam said in a team statement. “We conducted an exhaustive search and were able to meet with several very qualified and impressive candidates, but all along, we were hopeful to interview Chris. He turned out to be a perfect fit for us – just what we were looking for to lead our organization moving forward.”

FOOTNOTE: Avs star defenseman Cale Makar finished second in the Norris Trophy voting this season. Columbus’ Zach Werenski is a first-time winner of the award. Makar has been a finalist six times in first seven years. He won in 2022 and 2025, and was also the runner-up in 2021.

He arrived at Colorado Avalanche training camp a year ago fresh off a tough first AHL season, and promptly went out and won a spot on the opening-night roster. After spending two-thirds of the season with the Avs, he was sent back to the AHL with the Colorado Eagles.

He’s going to have to prove himself again next year at Avs training camp. It’s just what he does.

“If I’m being honest, I think this is his training camp,” Eagles coach Mark Lestestu said. “With the Avs being out, the full staff is here watching games, watching him play against his peers at the most important time of the year. I think what they do at this time, him in particular, says a lot about who he is.

“I think he’s passed (the test), like his playoff numbers and how he’s playing and taking on a new position. He’s done some things that I think have probably opened up eyes and given himself a leg up on maybe others at training camp.”

Brindley played for Letestu last season, when both were in the Columbus Blue Jackets organization with the Cleveland Lake Monsters. The former was coming off a decorated sophomore season at Michigan, where he was the Big Ten player of the year.

He was injured at the start of the year, and the transition wasn’t easy. Brindley finished with six goals and 17 points in 52 AHL games. He was the No. 34 pick in his draft class, but after one year of pro hockey, the club that drafted him was willing to part ways.

That looked like a mistake when he became one of the early-season surprises for the Avalanche. On an older team, Brindley injected youth, speed and versatility, moving up the lineup when injuries struck. His production slowed as the year went on, and this return to the AHL has allowed him to play more and in more offensive situations.

“Couple big acquisitions at the deadline, and I know the spot that I’m in,” Brindley said. “It is what it is. It����ap a good opportunity for me to come here and help the team win, and get a little more offensive, just get more minutes and develop my game, round it out, and just try to be the best pro that I could be. So it’s been great so far, and hopefully keep this thing going.”

Brindley had six goals and 13 points in 56 games with the Avs. He’s got five goals and 12 points in 21 contests for the Eagles, including three goals and six points in the 2026 Calder Cup Playoffs.

The Eagles won Game 2 at home on Saturday night against the Chicago Wolves and are now tied 1-1 in the best-of-seven Western Conference Final. Game 3 is Tuesday night in Rosemont, Ill.

Brindley, at 21, is the youngest player to play for the Eagles in the AHL playoffs.

“It’s kind of been that way my whole life, just playing against older players, bigger players, stronger players,” Brindley said. “Just trying to find the ins and outs in the game that try to help me and learn from mistakes. It����ap been good so far. It’s kind of crazy how it all works, being the youngest kind of everywhere you go, but wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

He might be the youngest, but Brindley has played a big part in helping his old Michigan teammate, T.J. Hughes, get settled with the Eagles. He’s also moved to center, in part because captain Jayson Megna was injured earlier in the playoffs after taking a puck to the face.

Brindley and Hughes could be part of a group of young players jostling for a spot on the Avs roster next season. Colorado has 11 forwards under contract plus Jack Drury as a restricted free agent, but one or more of those 11 forwards could be on the move this offseason to free up some salary cap flexibility and also help reshape the back half of the defense corps.

If there’s a competition to take part in, Brindley will be ready.

“He has a tremendous amount of belief in himself, and I think when you’re 5-8, you have to get to this point,” Letestu said. “What I see now is a more confident player with the puck. He has a better understanding of what pro hockey and success in pro hockey is, and playing on the inside, and how hard he checks and competes.

“It’s good to see him take those steps. I’m sure there are a few more that he’d like to take along the way.”

FOOTNOTE: The Avs signed goaltender Nikita Novosyolov to a two-year, entry-level contract Monday. Novosyolov, 21 is an undrafted goaltender in the Avtomobilist system. He appeared in three games for Avtomobilist in the KHL this season, but mostly played for Gornyak-UGMK in the VHL, Russia’s AHL equivalent.

He was positioned between the two benches as part of ESPN’s broadcast team while the Vegas Golden Knights stunningly swept the Presidents’ Trophy out of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs in the Western Conference Final. It’s been a few days, but the shock of the result is still fresh.

For more than six months, the Avs set the standard in the NHL this season. Then, it was washed away in a week.

“In each of the first three games, there was a point in the game — like a significant moment — and Colorado lost all of those moments,” Ferraro told The Denver Post. “It����ap not like they lost 5-1. They were in every game, but in those big moments that were available to turn each game, they lost every one.”

So now the offseason beckons, and it has suddenly become arguably the most important one of the Nathan MacKinnon-Cale Makar era. Everything was building over the past two years, from the historic in-season overhaul two seasons ago to the high-profile additions ahead of the March trade deadline, towards a championship run this spring.

For two rounds, the Avs looked like a juggernaut. Now, there are questions everywhere.

Will this group be able to win a second championship together? What can they possibly do now, after this dream season didn’t produce a title?

“When you’re in the air Colorado is, to nudge forward it����ap a really high bar to climb over. Where they are, to improve some of the decisions are pretty minute,” Ferraro said. “You can change the system. You can change a coach. But if the top end of your roster gives you no goals, then you lose.

“To me it becomes simple, but the solutions probably aren’t simple. In my mind, it’s how would you improve a really good team? And it’s not easy.”

‘They’re not the chances you need’

As the series against the Golden Knights progressed, Colorado’s ability to create high-level chances diminished. The Avs had plenty in Game 1, but Vegas grabbed the lead and Carter Hart kept the league’s top offense at bay.

In Games 2 and 3, the Avs had more shot attempts, more shots on goals and, at least in their minds, enough quality scoring chances to win. By Game 4, the mounting injuries and frustration were too much to overcome.

After losing a series in 2025 where the Avs felt like they outplayed Dallas, is there a through line to be drawn?

“I don’t think they made the right adjustments,” said Bruce Boudreau, former coach and NHL Network analyst. “When you’re playing a team like Vegas or Carolina that clogs up the neutral zone and is very aggressive against you, you’ve got to change your tactics a little bit.

“They’re the best team in the league at coming up the ice with four guys. But when they don’t have the neutral zone ice to skate it in and make those plays, they need to figure something else out. … It����ap not easy to check, because they have some great, skilled players, but the formula is easy to check, if that makes sense.”

Boudreau was at the helm of a dynamic, electric offensive team in Washington. Those Capitals teams, led by Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom, were young and had not won a championship. They were inundated with questions about whether they could play the right way at the crucial time of year.

This Avalanche team has won. Jared Bednar’s plan worked, and this core executed it with near-flawless precision in 2022.

But each of the past four seasons has produced an ending more agonizing than the last. The questions that are usually reserved for teams and players who haven’t done it are now resurfacing for this Avs group.

“It is a good question. I don’t know if it is a major change,” said Cory Schneider, an analyst for NHL Network and MSG Network. “Maybe just a small philosophical change of not getting stubborn. It does seem like they can get frustrated, like you can frustrate them, you can frustrate some of their top guys if you don’t give them what they want. If the other team is saying we’ll give you A, but we won’t give you B, then if we can get some good goaltending, we can frustrate you.

“I don’t think it����ap a major overhaul, but how can they find another way? It probably starts at the top with the top guys. It might be more of a mentality change than a big personnel change.”

Colorado’s top six scorers during the regular season did not score a goal against Vegas. The top guys didn’t score enough. The depth guys didn’t score enough.

“That reminds me of 2010,” Boudreau said of his Presidents’ Trophy-winning club in Washington. “We had 121 points, but then all of a sudden you run into some adversity and the power play doesn’t go, and I can see some similarities so quickly. It����ap the frustration of … this never happened to us before, so what do we do?”

Vegas found a way to stifle the Avs, just as Dallas has done the two previous years. It was excellent defense. It was great goaltending, at times.

What are some potential solutions for when this problem arises again could be the key to unlocking another title, regardless of any personnel changes that might happen.

“What can be different? Until they get in between the circles for their chances, they’re not the chances that you need,” Ferraro said. “How do you generate more Grade A chances? I think they had probably as many as Vegas. They didn’t finish as well, and they did not, in my mind, between the circles as much as Vegas did.”

‘It����ap going to be an interesting summer’

The first big domino is Bednar’s status.

The Avs pushed their end-of-season media availability to early next week. A year ago, it came three days after losing to Dallas in Game 7. The power play’s failure in that series cost assistant coach Ray Bennett his job.

Bednar is the winningest coach in franchise history. He’s the second-longest tenured coach in the NHL, behind Tampa Bay’s Jon Cooper. The Lightning have not won a single playoff round since Bednar’s Colorado team defeated them in the 2022 Cup Final, but there has been far less chatter about Cooper’s job security.

“I happen to think Bednar is really good,” Ferraro said. “He’s a really, really good coach that coaches a team that just had 121 points. If they’re letting him go, they better have a really good idea of who’s coming next.”

The other big domino is general manager Chris MacFarland. Multiple outlets have reported that Nashville wants to speak with MacFarland, who is nominated for GM of the Year. If he were to leave, that opens the door to an entirely new set of questions for this offseason.

If MacFarland stays, the biggest long-term item on the to-do list is Makar’s next contract. But, in the short term, what can or will the Avs do that will affect the 2026-27 edition of the team?

There are 17 players who appeared in at least three of the club’s 13 playoff games under contract for next season. Jack Drury is a restricted free agent. Defensemen Brett Kulak, Brent Burns, Nick Blankenburg and Jack Ahcan are all unrestricted free agents, along with forward Joel Kiviranta.

Colorado has a shade below $3 million in cap space, . That’s not enough to revamp the back half of the defense corps, not to mention a new deal for Drury and room for a 13th forward.

“I’m reading different opinions on “blow it up” and I don’t think people quite understand A) the impossibility of that and B) would you look at a team that had 121 points, or would you look at seven days?” Ferraro said. “I can almost guarantee they’re not going to have eight new players next year. That����ap not happening.”

At least one, if not two, of those 17 players under contract will need to be moved to create the cap flexibility to fill out the roster. The Avs were in a similar spot last summer. They traded Charlie Coyle and Miles Wood to Columbus.

That allowed them to sign Brent Burns, and it gave them enough breathing room below the cap ceiling to add Kulak, Nicolas Roy and Nazem Kadri before the trade deadline.

To do more than that will be its own challenge. The Avs are short on draft picks and prospects to use in trades, but there are also lots of teams with plenty of cap space who might want to add one of the Colorado veterans.

“I think it must be the most torturous and difficult task to sit there and go, ‘I think we should be patient. I don’t think we should make major moves,’ ” Ferraro said. “It must be really disappointing and really frustrating, because you’re close, and then you’re losing four games, so are you close? That’s what they’re wrestling with.”

When the season ends the way it did, it feels like everything and anything could be on the table. There were similar feelings a year ago, with a stunning Game 7 loss to Dallas still fresh in everyone’s minds.

MacFarland, along with team president Joe Sakic, preached patience then, and belief in this group. They were rewarded with the best regular season in franchise history, and an 8-1 romp through the first half of the playoffs.

But then the Western Conference Final happened. How the Avs respond will affect not only their chances of winning the Stanley Cup in 2027 but also years beyond that.

It’s an aging group. It’s also a group that just ran the league for six months. The forthcoming decisions are not going to be easy.

“It����ap going to be an interesting summer, because they’ve shown they will be aggressive,” Schneider said. “They’re similar to Vegas in that sense, where they’re not afraid to make a change. There’s no sacred cows there. If anybody was willing to pull off a pretty bold move, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was them.”

Mikko Rantanen sent his friends and former teammates home in a blur — his third-period hat trick and assist to erase a 2-0 deficit happened in the final 13 minutes of a do-or-die Game 7. That painful night in Dallas now feels merciful, compared with what this Avs team just experienced. A four-game sweep by the Vegas Golden Knights was somehow worse. It was an internal injury diagnosed too late, triggering a week-long spiral of physical and mental anguish.

“I think it just feels like a waste, to be honest,” Avs forward Logan O’Connor said. “Eighty-two games, you get tons of great pieces and feel as though you have a team that can do something special. We said it in training camp — it’s Cup or bust for us. Regardless of where you fall short, we fell super short of that goal.”

For nine months, that loss in Dallas looked like a prologue, the catalyst for a historic start to this season and eventual legacy-cementing championship for Jared Bednar, Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar and the rest of the Avs who reached the mountaintop five years ago but have languished through a variety of playoff disappointments since.

The Avs won the most games, scored the most goals and allowed the fewest during a dominant regular season. They steamrolled through the first half of the tournament, losing just once while scoring more than four goals per game.

Then the Golden Knights broke them. It took a week — a blink of an eye in the context of a long season, but the adjectives to describe how players felt in the Avalanche locker room Tuesday night were strikingly similar to that night in Dallas.

“Frustration. Sadness, I guess,” Avs defenseman Josh Manson said. “Really felt like we had a good team. We didn’t do the job. We lost. The expectations for this organization are high. And, just … didn’t go the way we wanted.”

By Game 4 of this series, the only way to tell it was the Avs on the ice at T-Mobile Arena was the uniforms. Colorado looked nothing like the team that demoralized opponents all year with its offensive and defensive prowess.

Every aspect of the Avs’ invincibility was punctured by a team that fired its head coach 51 days before this Western Conference final began and lost more games than it won during the regular season.

Colorado scored just seven goals in four games for the first time since early in the 2023-24 season. Scott Wedgewood, the NHL’s leader in goals against average and save percentage, was outplayed by a goaltender who, this time a year ago, was one of five defendants in a messy sexual assault trial and who wasn’t signed to an NHL contract until late October.

This Avs team was 45-0 when leading after two periods, until Vegas made it 45-1 in Game 2. Colorado was 52-0 when building a multi-goal lead at any point in a game, until Vegas made it 52-1 in Game 3.

This was the deepest team in the NHL, built to survive the war of attrition in the Stanley Cup playoffs. It was one of the healthiest teams in the league as well, but by the end of this run, the Avs’ injury luck was nearly as bad as their shooting woes.

Everything was leading to one outcome for the Avs — a second championship in five years, another parade and immortality for all the key figures. A week later, everything has changed, and there’s just as much uncertainty — maybe more — than the morning after Rantanen donned a green-and-black cape in Game 7.

“I mean, this one … I feel like it����ap going to take some time to kind of digest and process,” Avs forward Brock Nelson said. “I’m not worried about next year right now.”

A more complicated offseason

Colorado’s offseason looked pretty straightforward a week ago.

Brett Kulak and Brent Burns are unrestricted free agents. Jack Drury is a restricted free agent. The biggest potential storyline was Cale Makar’s massive new contract, but that one doesn’t start until the following season.

The Avs have very little cap space, so someone under contract will likely need to be traded to retain Drury and one of the defensemen, or to replace Kulak and Burns. Pretty simple stuff, relative to what other offseasons might look like.

Now? Everything has to be on the table.

The questions begin with the future of the coaching staff. Colorado fired one of Jared Bednar’s longtime lieutenants, Ray Bennett, last May after the power play failed in the Dallas series. The power play was still a problem for much of this season, the one source of consternation, even when all of the other parts of this club were at the peak of their powers.

If the Avalanche decide to let Bednar go, he would be fielding calls from other NHL teams before the end of the day. The one candidate who has a resume similar to Bednar’s who isn’t currently one of the 32 head coaches is the guy John Tortorella replaced in Sin City, Bruce Cassidy. But one of the biggest off-ice stories of this postseason has been the Golden Knights denying Edmonton and Los Angeles permission to speak with Cassidy because he’s still under contract with Vegas.

The next major question, with both short- and long-term ramifications, is the state of the roster. This team was built to win the Stanley Cup in 2026, and every core piece is under contract at least through next year.

That felt like a great thing 10 days ago. If this Avs team did go on to win the Stanley Cup, they’d be one of the top favorites for 2026-27 as well.

Now? The Avs looked old against the Golden Knights. Beyond Burns, who will be 41 when next season begins, Colorado has six key figures who will be 32 or older when the 2027 Stanley Cup Playoffs begin — Nazem Kadri, Brock Nelson and Manson will be 35 or older, while Gabe Landeskog, Wedgewood and Devon Toews will all be at least 32.

Then there are Valeri Nichushkin and Artturi Lehkonen. Having those two excellent two-way players on team-friendly contracts has been part of Colorado’s secret sauce since 2022. No other NHL team has two secondary stars like them when they are healthy and playing well.

Their style of play and injury history, not to mention Nichushkin’s off-ice troubles, have made them high-risk, high-reward players in recent seasons. Lehkonen was hurt in the second round and far off his typical impact against Vegas. Nichushkin couldn’t finish the conference final because of an injury, and this year was his worst per-game offensive output since the 2020-21 campaign.

Martin Necas is the youngest core player on the team, but his new contract at $11.5 million per season kicks in next year. He was great against Minnesota, but the external allegations that he isn’t a postseason player resurfaced after he was one of the least impactful players on the roster against Vegas.

The Avs chose not to move any core players after losing to Dallas last year. The rationale was that they shook up the roster so much in-season that some stability going into this year would help fuel another run.

For nine months, that plan looked perfect. Staying the course looks far more uncertain now.

“I certainly hope so,” Landeskog said when asked if this core has another run in it. “I believe in that.

“It’s hard, but I think at the end of the day, if there’s one thing I learned over the last handful of years, it’s get knocked down, you just get right back up. Yeah, that’s the only way to do it.”

It is time to put this series to bed.

Holding the equivalent of a 16 at the blackjack table, the Avs impressively shifted the odds in their favor Sunday night before revealing why this city is nicknamed Lost Wages with a second-period gag for the ages.

T-Mobile Arena provided a stage for a character-defining victory. Instead, the talented Avs did the unthinkable, proving Game 2 was not a fluke by falling flat on their red faces again.

Sunday night was worse, a new nadir.

The Avs squandered a 3-0 first-period lead. To Las Vegas. Not the 1977 Montreal Canadiens. Not the 1984 Edmonton Oilers. To Las Vegas? Yes, Las Vegas!

All the Avs had to do was tie a knot and hold on for 40 minutes. Instead, they collapsed, went splat in one of the worst playoff periods in franchise history.

Colorado boasted a 74-1 record when leading by three goals in a playoff game. The Knights were 0-19 when trailing by that deficit. So much for the past predicting the future.

Colorado made Las Vegas look like the Legion of Broom. That is all that is left for the Avs now, showing enough pride to avoid the indignity of a sweep.

Does it really matter at this point?

Only four NHL teams have ever won a postseason series of any kind in any round when trailing 3-0. There is no reason to believe the Avs will pull off a miracle.

Not with Cale Makar compromised — he provided a solid effort given his shoulder injury — and Nathan MacKinnon hobbled.

The Golden Knights are a bigger, stronger team.

But the Avs suffered a foundation-shaking loss because of things that go well beyond how players fill out uniforms.

Blame the MacKinnon right knee injury if it makes you feel better. The Avs were sliding into the abyss long before he blocked Shea Theodore’s shot with his leg in the second period, leaving him crumpled on the ice.

Moments after MacKinnon got hurt, Keegan Kolesar deflected a shot off the pipe, then poked the rebound past goalie Scott Wedgewood to tie the score at 3. If you haven’t heard of him, other than his relatives and Golden Knights’ fans, few have. It was his first point of the postseason, eloquently capturing the gravity of the Avs’ meltdown.

Magicians on The Strip don’t make things disappear this easily.

The common thread in the folding? Defensive breakdowns. And Marty Necas and Brock Nelson remain firmly in the witness protection program.

The Avs looked cooked, done in Denver. But in the hours before the puck dropped, they spoke with confidence about overcoming the sordid history of teams dropping the first two home games in the conference finals.

Why? They were 17-2 in their last 19 road games and won twice in Las Vegas during the regular season. That’s something, right? Nope.

“We won the President����ap Trophy for a reason,” forward Logan O’Connor said five hours before the puck dropped. “It����ap time to fight for our lives.”

If you haven’t noticed, numbers are irrelevant in this matchup.

The Knights mocked the trends, while the Avs mocked their own fans.

The Avs didn’t need to be better skaters. They needed to be tougher. They needed to put a fist to a face to stop a rally. An elbow to the chops to slow a rush. A hook to place the Knights on their heels.

Instead, the Avs were left with their heads spinning.

The Golden Knights opened the second period on a power play, and Mark Stone, returning from injury for his first action, scored in 19 seconds.

The place they called the Fortress erupted. The crowd was back into the game. And so were the Golden Knights.

This was the time to make a statement. And the Avs did. With a message so wrong, it is time to wonder how many of these players are the right fit moving forward.

The Avs could not clear the puck, a common theme over the final two periods. William Karlsson scored. It was his first goal. It was also the lone goal of the postseason for Kolesar.

And Tomas Hertl put the Avs out of their misery with the go-ahead shot at the 8:21 mark of the third, pushing the Golden Knights within a whisper of their third Stanley Cup Final in nine years.

Where were the role players for the Avs to shine? I will hang up and listen.

Everything about this loss came with an asterisk. The Avs blew a first-quarter lead. Something they never do. They squandered a second-period lead on Friday, something they had never done.

The Avs were dominant during the season, but no longer resemble that team. They cannot finish. Even when they play well, they cannot sustain it. Talk all you want about the positives, like three starburst goals from Gabe Landeskog, Nazem Kadri and Jack Drury.

They went from great to grate. Again.

It seems unthinkable for a team with this talent. But Colorado is not good enough or tough enough to beat the Golden Knights.

If Las Vegas is “Forged in Gold,” their playoff motto plastered in nearby hotels, the Avs are “Forged in Old.” They look tired, beaten. They didn’t have a shot on goal for nearly 15 minutes in the third period.

With Makar and MacKinnon not themselves, this was the moment for Necas and Nelson to pull their weight. They have been anchors.

Necas had flashes, but still did not score. And Nelson has been arguably the worst player on the ice for either team.

The Avs talked with bravado. The Golden Knights played with it.

“It wasn’t a great first period but we knew we could do it.” Hertl said. “We have done it so many times we never quit. A massive game for us.”

Then a three-goal lead disappeared as quickly as it was created, another superstar was injured, and this once-dream season is officially on the brink.

The Vegas Golden Knights rallied after yielding the first three goals of this game, with Tomas Hertl providing the game-winner in a 5-3 victory in Game 3 of this best-of-seven series at T-Mobile Arena.

“It’s frustrating,” said Avs star Cale Makar, who returned after missing the first two games of this series. “I mean, we’ve been on the other side of that, obviously coming back from that, and it’s going to happen. But it can’t happen at this time of the year. I felt like they got some lucky bounces, but we’ve got to find a little bit better way to kind of challenge ourselves in those moments and come out of that.

“Just unfortunate. We still had a chance, obviously, in the third there.”

Vegas leads the series 3-0. The Golden Knights can complete an absolutely stunning sweep of the Presidents’ Trophy winners on their home ice on Tuesday night.

To make matters worse, Avs superstar Nathan MacKinnon was injured blocking a shot during the second period. He tried to play through it after taking a hard shot from Shea Theodore off the outside of his right knee, but his mobility was clearly limited.

MacKinnon took one normal shift in the third period, then went on the ice for Colorado’s power play. His three even-strength shifts after the injury totaled a combined 88 seconds, and the Avs were without the NHL’s leading goal scorer this season while trying to come back until MacKinnon went out again for a 6-on-5 shift.

That shift ended with Brett Howden’s empty-net goal to seal the Vegas victory. MacKinnon still managed to play 4:05 in the third period, but that’s maybe 40 percent of what he’d play when healthy in this situation.

Avs coach Jared Bednar also noted that Valeri Nichushkin was injured in the third period. Nichuhskin did not play in the final 22 minutes of this contest.

“Well, it����ap low,” Bednar said when asked about the emotions of his team after a loss like that. “As low as it can get, because it����ap a big hill to climb. The next 24-to-36 hours is for … you’ve got to find a way to get over it, regroup and go again.”

A tale of two periods

The first period couldn’t have gone much better for the visitors. The second period couldn’t have gone much worse.

Colorado blew a three-goal lead in less than 13 minutes. Vegas scored three times in the period on just eight shots.

“Everything,” Bednar said when asked what fell apart after the first. “Yeah, the first 9 minutes (of the second) kind of looked like portions of Game 1 for me and parts of Game 2 where we mismanaged the puck on breakouts. Then they just got more competitive and we didn’t stay with that intensity for nine minutes. A little bit of communication, some talk and we just didn’t dig in and match their intensity at the start of the second quick enough.”

The Golden Knights began the middle period on the power play. It took them 19 seconds to convert. Vegas captain Mark Stone, who returned after missing the past five games with an injury, tapped home a pass from Mitch Marner near the right post after a perfectly executed dump-in and retrieval.

William Karlsson made it a 3-2 game at 4:05 of the period. Marner shot the puck from the right point. Scott Wedgewood made the first save, but the rebound bounced off Parker Kelly’s stick and right to Karlsson, who whipped a shot inside the near post before the Avs goaltender could get square to him.

It was the first goal of the postseason for Karlsson, who is one of the original Vegas ‘Misfits’ from the inaugural season, but missed a huge chunk of this year before returning during the last round.

MacKinnon took a hard shot off the outside of his right knee with 7:54 remaining in the period. He was writhing on the ice for 9 seconds before play was stopped.

Keegan Kolesar tied the game at 3-3 on the next shift. Kolesar deflected a shot from the top of the zone by Dylan Coghlan off the right post and then tapped the rebound into the net for his first goal of this postseason.

“To me it����ap the full 60(-minute) effort, competitiveness at times, puck moving and some turnovers that can get you,” Bednar said. “They’re going to make it difficult on you, but you have to try create enough chances and finish off enough to win a hockey game.”

Colorado’s offense roared to life at the start of this contest after two rough nights back home at Ball Arena.

Landeskog put the Avs in front just 3:21 into this contest. Devon Toews beat Noah Hanifin to a loose puck in the neutral zone, which created a 2-on-1. Hanifin took a penalty trying to defend Toews as he took the puck to the net, but Landeskog was there to put home the rebound.

That is five goals for Landeskog in the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs, just another chapter in his remarkable comeback story.

That was also Colorado’s first lead of the series. Nazem Kadri, moved up to the second line and to the wing for the first time in this postseason, doubled the advantage at 7:03 with one of the best team-effort goals of the season.

Josh Manson faked out Nic Dowd behind the Colorado net to free up space for the defenseman to hit Martin Necas with a tape-to-tape outlet pass beyond the red line. Necas split two defenders, then left the puck for Kadri, who buried a shot from the inside of the left circle for his third of the postseason.

Vegas thought it cut the lead in half during a Golden Knights power play. Pavel Dorofeyev batted the puck out of mid-air with a cross-checking motion near the edge of the Colorado crease. An official immediately waived off the goal, citing that Dorofeyev put the puck into the net with his hand.

After a lengthy review, the officials said the call on the ice was correct. Even if they had reversed it and awarded the goal, Colorado may have challenged for a high stick.

Either way, the Avs extended their lead to 3-0 just 43 seconds later. Parker Kelly backhanded the puck out of the Avs zone and two Vegas players missed it when trying to keep it in, leaving Jack Drury alone for a shorthanded breakaway. His deke fooled Vegas goaltender Carter Hart, and the Avs had a three-goal lead with 6:45 remaining in the opening period.

That lead was gone a little less than 20 minutes later. The season will end Tuesday night if the Avs can’t find a way to extend this series and get back to Ball Arena for a potential Game 5.

“You can go so many different ways, but we need to play better,” Landeskog said. “Simple as that. We need better, and we need to find a way to score more goals, and I thought we did a good job of that tonight. Obviously, build a lead, and then they claw their way into it. They’re a good team over there.”

Golden Knights: 39-26-17, 92 points; 3.22 goals per game (14th); 2.95 goals against per game (12th)

Avalanche: 55-16-11, 121 points; 3.63 goals per game (1st), 2.40 goals against per game (1st)

Offense

Minnesota had star power on par with Colorado, but the Wild’s depth was wanting. Vegas is, on paper, the most complete team the Avs have faced. Jack Eichel and Mitch Marner are two of the best players on the planet, though they have been playing on different lines recently. Mark Stone is one of the best two-way forwards in the league, but he missed the end of the Anaheim series, and his availability remains in question.

Pavel Dorofeyev is a pure goal scorer and particularly lethal on the power play. William Karlsson missed most of the season with an injury, but returned against the Ducks and centers the second line between Marner and Brett Howden, though Stone’s return would shake up the forward lines. Ivan Barbashev is another under-the-radar strong offensive player.

Tomas Hertl and Nic Dowd are better than any depth center Minnesota or Los Angeles was able to throw at the Avalanche. Brandon Saad and Reilly Smith are no longer impact players, but when everyone is healthy, they are the 13th and 14th forwards for the Golden Knights — a testament to the club’s depth up front.

Sixteen players scored for Colorado in the five-game series against Minnesota, while Nathan MacKinnon scored in every game. Martin Necas had four multi-point games against the Wild, including two key primary assists in both Games 4 and 5.

The least productive line of the four against Minnesota was the second unit, but that trio also shoulders significant defensive responsibilities. The Avs could use a breakout game or two from Brock Nelson or Valeri Nichushkin on the offensive side of the puck in this series.

Gabe Landeskog continues to be Jared Bednar’s fixer, moving from line to line and immediately helping that unit play better. Parker Kelly and Jack Drury had two goals each from the fourth line against Minnesota. If Artturi Lehkonen is able to play, the Avs are fully healthy up front and still the deepest group in the NHL.

Advantage: Avalanche

Defense

Both of these teams are excellent defensively, and that includes the forward groups helping out the defense corps. This series features a handful of the best defensive forwards in the league.

Cale Makar’s health is the dominant storyline at the start of this series. Makar missed games near the end of the regular season with an injury, but was excellent against the Kings in the opening round. Then he took an awkward hit in Game 1 against Minnesota and was clearly favoring his shoulder in Game 5. Bednar has said he’s “dealing with some stuff,” so it’s probably multiple ailments. Will he be able to play in this series, and how effective will he be?

The Avs are better on the blue line … if Makar is close to his normal self. Vegas lost Alex Pietrangelo for the year, but was able to add Rasmus Andersson ahead of the trade deadline. Andersson, Shea Theodore and Noah Hanifin are the strong top-half of the defense corps — not as good Minnesota’s top three, but a strong trio. Brayden McNabb is a solid No. 4 guy, though he was ejected and suspended for a game in the last round for a dumb, late hit. Jeremy Lauzon hasn’t played since the Utah series, but could be another depth option if he gets healthy.

Avalanche star Cale Makar out for Game 1 of Western Conference Final

Colorado beat Minnesota in part because it was able to mitigate injuries to Sam Malinski and Josh Manson better than the Wild could handle not having Jonas Brodin. How will the bottom half of Vegas' defense corps perform in this series?

Advantage: Avalanche, assuming Makar can play

Special teams

Vegas was, on paper, a great team at the start of the year. The Golden Knights did not win like a great team for most of the year, in part because of poor goaltending. This was an excellent club on special teams, though. The Golden Knights finished the regular season sixth in the NHL on the power play and seventh on the penalty kill. Vegas and Pittsburgh were the only teams to finish in the top 10 in both.

It's been more of the same in the playoffs -- 25.7% on the power play (fourth) and 86.8% on the penalty kill (fifth). Vegas has also scored four times while shorthanded. No other club has more than one shorthanded tally in this tournament.

Colorado's power play started this postseason 0-for-9, but then scored six times in the next five games. It's been more effective, even in opportunities where the Avs don't convert. That said, the Avalanche allowed the most shorthanded goals during the regular season and one against Minnesota, so that will be something to watch out for.

The Avs' penalty kill was No. 1 in the NHL during the regular season. It has allowed six goals in this postseason, but two were 4-on-6 with the other goalie pulled, one was 3-on-4, and one was during the second half of a double minor. The traditional 4-on-5 PK has still been quite strong.

Advantage: Golden Knights

Goaltending

On form, Vegas goalie Carter Hart has been better of late. On track record, both Avalanche goalies were better this season.

Hart is a controversial figure. He was acquitted of sexual assault in July, reinstated by the NHL in September, signed by Vegas to a two-year contract in late October and made his return to NHL action in December. After a rocky start, Hart won his final seven decisions of the regular season, including six in April to help Vegas win the Pacific Division. He's 8-4 with a .915 save percentage in this tournament.

Scott Wedgewood was one of the best stories in the NHL this season, combining with Mackenzie Blackwood to win the William Jennings Trophy while making a career-high 43 starts. Wedgewood led the NHL in both save percentage (.921) and goals against average (2.02). He also had a sterling opening round against Los Angeles with five goals allowed in a four-game sweep.

That said, both Colorado goalies were pulled from games against Minnesota. Blackwood had a chance to take control of the net, but gave it back after just two starts. The guy with the best NHL postseason experience in this series is Vegas' Adin Hill, who led his club to the Cup in 2023 but has become an afterthought since Hart's play improved.

Advantage: Avalanche

Avalanche vs. Wild: 5 storylines to watch

1. How effective will Cale Makar be?

The Avs were able to get by against Minnesota at the end of the series, but Makar was clearly compromised in Game 5. He's had a week to heal up. He hasn't practiced, but Bednar said Tuesday he's not worried yet. His offensive impact waned in the Minnesota series, but the Avs were still getting it done defensively when he was on the ice. They're obviously going to need the best version of Makar that he can offer against Vegas.

2. Can Colorado keep up on special teams?

Colorado's dominance this season has been rooted in even-strength play, with a side of elite penalty killing. Now that the power play is improved, will the Avs be able to keep the Golden Knights from stealing games on special teams? This Vegas club is dangerous, both on the power play and the kill. If Colorado's PK has a good series and the Avs don't allowed shorthanded goals, the Avs should advance.

3. Who gets the inside track?

The DNA from Vegas' 2023 Cup run is still in there. The Golden Knights were shaky at times against Utah and Anaheim -- inferior opponents compared to Colorado — but when it was winning time, they locked it down defensively. They are adept at suppressing the best scoring chances. If there is an exposed thermal exhaust port in the Avs' 5-on-5 Death Star, it's that sometimes they will settle for Grade B-level chances and lean on their shooting talent instead of working to get into the Grade-A areas. If Vegas can lull them into that, and Hart can make the good-to-really good saves, this series will get tricky.

4. Will the Avs' goalie(s) rebound?

Wedgewood had an .872 save percentage against the Wild. Blackwood ... also had an .872 save percentage against Minnesota. It didn't hurt Colorado, because the Avs blitzed Minnesota with 24 goals, including 23 in the four wins. MacKinnon said Tuesday that he doesn't see how this won't be a long series. If it is, the Avs will likely need one of their two goalies to take control of the net and rattle off some better performances.

5. Are the Avs just better?

This could be the first storyline, but to put it bluntly ... is this Colorado team just better than Vegas? The Golden Knights, on paper, have an excellent roster. They have not played like an excellent team all year. Even this 15-4-1 run with John Tortorella as coach includes a bunch of wins over non-playoff teams and two series victories over young, untested opponents. There were times against Anaheim when it looked like Vegas had found its mojo. Is that the version the Avs will see in this series, or will Colorado have its way in a similar fashion as the last round? Minnesota was, on paper, an excellent team, too.

Avalanche vs. Wild series predictions

Corey Masisak, beat writer: If we knew on Wednesday morning that Cale Makar is good to go and close to 100%, then it feels like there aren't a lot of paths to victory here for Vegas. Carter Hart could play out of his mind. The Golden Knights could steal a game or two on special teams. Maybe this is finally the spot where the Avs beat themselves. This Colorado group has proven its mental toughness in the small spurts of adversity it has faced, though. Avs in 5.

Sean Keeler, sports columnist: Vegas can roll two lines that match Colorado's, especially if Mark Stone returns to the fold. But not four lines. No way. Per MoneyPuck.com, 25 different forward combos this postseason with at least 11 minutes of ice time had posted an expected goals percentage better than 66%. The Avs accounted for five of those tail-kicking combos -- the Kings had none; The Wild had two; Vegas has one. Cale or no Cale, Mitch Marner is on a serious heater right now. But if the Knights winger has to log more than 25 minutes per game, he'll be running on fumes by next Tuesday. Which, if you're Jared Bednar, is kind of the point. Avs in 6.

Troy Renck, sports columnist: There are some talking themselves into this as an even matchup. It is not. The Avs are the better team. But there are a few wrinkles of concern. Cale Makar doesn't look healthy, and how many more times is coach Jared Bednar going to pull the goalie before it affects Scott Wedgewood and Mackenzie Blackwood mentally? The Knights are equipped and designed to defend well in space. They have championship experience. But if Mark Stone, the Knights' version of Gabe Landeskog, remains sidelined, there is no chance Las Vegas upsets the Avs. Avs in 6.

Lori Punko, deputy sports editor: Even with the addition of Mitch Marner (ironically, traded by Toronto to Vegas for now-Av Nicolas Roy), the Golden Knights don't have the depth to keep up with the Avalanche. And Vegas could be without captain Mark Stone, who suffered a lower-body injury in Game 3 against the Anaheim Ducks, for at least several games. Colorado is averaging 3.31 goals per game to Vegas' 2.54. And the Avs, behind the tandem of Scott Wedgewood and Mackenzie Blackwood, are giving up just 1.97 goals per game to Vegas' 2.56. The Golden Knights will put up a fight, but they don't have the firepower to outscore Colorado. Avs in 5.

Kyle Newman, sportswriter: The Golden Knights were fined $100,000 and stripped of their second-round pick in this year's draft after the team didn't open the locker room and coach John Tortorella refused to meet with reporters following Vegas' series-clinching win over the Ducks last week. It seems like Tortorella is trying to cultivate an us-against-the-world attitude with his team, and that he believes blowing off the NHL's playoff media guidelines will somehow hyper-focus the Knights into beating the Avalanche. That is an approach a team would take only when they know they are seriously outmatched. Avs fans, start making Stanley Cup Final plans. Avs in 5.

Few moments in recent seasons have been tougher than the shocking end to Game 7 in Dallas last year. MacKinnon and the Colorado Avalanche were 13 minutes from the second round with a two-goal lead before ex-teammate Mikko Rantanen had three goals and an assist to give the Dallas Stars a 4-2 win and the series.

In a stunned locker room, MacKinnon said it best: “I don’t know what we’re going to do.”

He was referring in part to how well the Avs had played, how the Stars had two critical players injured for most of the series and still, this core group’s quest for a second championship came up painfully short.

“Now that you ask me about it, I still think about it,” Avs forward Parker Kelly said. “It’s something you’re not going to forget. It’s definitely tough the whole summer, then once you get back to training camp, it’s like, ‘Hey, it’s a new year, new season. We’ve learned from it, and we’re going to try and use it as motivation.’

“You never totally get over it.”

It was a crossroads moment for the players, for the organization. Three straight years, Colorado fell well short of postseason expectations. This one, because of how it ended — and who the main antagonist was — felt a little different. Every NHL team that makes the Stanley Cup Playoffs but doesn’t win the title has a collective empty feeling at the end.

This was a different level of pain.

“Yeah, I probably felt sick to my stomach, physically, for a week or two,” Avs forward Jack Drury said. “Like, awful. Then, the rest of the summer, it sticks to you a little bit. You just try to grow from it. I think your whole life, any losses stick from when you’re 14-years-old on.

“I’ve heard Nate say it before, like you can use those things sometimes to make your team tighter and grow from it, and hopefully we can keep using it going forward.”

Colorado’s management group set the course for this 2025-26 team almost immediately after the Game 7 loss. President Joe Sakic joined general manager Chris MacFarland for the end-of-season press conference. Sakic’s appearance was rare and surprising, but the message was clear.

Sakic and MacFarland believed in this group, and felt they had a roster capable of winning the Stanley Cup. There would be no massive upheaval. This group would get another crack at it.

The Avs retained key trade addition Brock Nelson before he even had a chance to hit the open market. They signed Brent Burns to a one-year deal. Twenty players appeared in at least five games against Dallas, and 17 of them returned for training camp.

“I think that one, even still thinking about it, stings in a way,” Logan O’Connor said. “We felt as though we had a team that had an opportunity to go on a pretty good run. We came up short of the goal in a Game 7 in a series we felt could have gone either way. For me personally, you really think about it for a couple weeks, but then it honestly lingers until the next season starts.

“I think losing that way with the group, and we had a very similar group coming back this year, it just bonds a group together, failing in that way, as hard it was. You use it as motivation through this run, knowing that these opportunities don’t come around every year. Have the team management has assembled, it’s on us to go do the job now.”

Multiple players pointed to MacKinnon as the guy who has helped put that stunning Game 7 loss into the best perspective.

“It definitely stung,” Avs captain Gabe Landeskog. “Hard to put a time limit on it. Whenever you lose in the playoffs and they’re still going on, it’s always a little bitter. For at least one round, I just have zero interest in it. You’re just pissed off.

“Nate has said it numerous times, about losing can bring the group closer together and actually can be a good thing for your group if you take it the right way. I think it meant a lot. It was something like, you don’t come into training camp ruminating over something that happened four months ago, but you definitely keep it with you, for sure.”

The Avs certainly arrived in training camp as a focused, re-committed group. Colorado reeled off a 31-2-7 start to the season, which allowed the Avs to be the NHL’s pacesetter.

Even with some injuries and a bit of a lull in the dog days, no one caught them. Winning the Central Division and earning the top seed in the Western Conference — something this group zeroed in on in large part because of that painful night in North Texas — has already paid clear dividends.

Now, the Avs face the Vegas Golden Knights in the Western Conference Final. There’s a parallel to be drawn here.

Colorado’s six-game defeat by Vegas during the 2021 playoffs — after the Avs won the first two games, right when this group thought it was about to arrive — left a similar bitter taste in their mouths. That series loss hurt. It lingered.

It provided some added motivation the following year, when Colorado stormed to the Stanley Cup. Now, this group is four wins away from the Cup Final, again.

“No question, it (had affect on this season),” Avs coach Jared Bednar said of Game 7 in Dallas. “I had the same feeling in 2021. The disappointment and the heartbreak kind of sets you for the next season. There’s a lot of similarities with the way we came into camp, the focus of the group, the consistency we played with all year. We knew there were some important milestones that could help us come playoff time. No guarantee, but I think we did a good job of focusing on those short-term goals and some longer-term goals from the regular season that has helped us through the playoffs.

“The messaging was the same. Everything that we were going to do was going to be in preparation for the playoffs. It’s always like that, but I think the buy-in from our guys both in 2022 and this year — it’s at a different level, because they know what the stakes are.”

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.

Nathan MacKinnon wristed home the game-tying goal with 1:23 left in the third period of Game 5 against the Wild on Wednesday, to the slimmest of windows on the top left shelf to beat Minnesota goalie Jesper Wallstedt.

The score, which came in a six-on-five in an extended shift for Colorado’s top line with Avs goalie Scott Wedgewood pulled, completed Colorado’s comeback from a 3-0 deficit. It forced overtime in the Avs’ 4-3 victory that was capped by Brett Kulak’s game-winning goal in the series-clincher to send Colorado to the Western Conference Final.

“I was exhausted to say the least,” Landeskog said of his reaction to MacKinnon’s goal. “Just such a special player, making a special shot, at such a clutch moment.”

MacKinnon’s shot also left forward Parker Kelly, who was watching from the bench, in disbelief.

“Unbelievable,” Kelly said. “I mean, it didn’t really look like there was much (space) there… and you just see it kind of hit the top of the net. Just, what a shot. Elite player, big-time player, gamer — that����ap why they call him the Dogg, man. He shows up in those big moments. And we’re super fortunate to have him.”

MacKinnon got the puck in the left faceoff circle off a feed from Martin Necas, and the generational center had plenty of time to decide what to do with it. Wild defenseman Jake Middleton went down to the ice in front of MacKinnon to attempt to block a low shot, just before MacKinnon lasered the puck to the slimmest of spaces above Wallstedt’s right shoulder.

“I just saw a little daylight and I just threw it there,” MacKinnon said. “It doesn’t always go where you want it to. I’m happy it did then.”

MacKinnon’s seventh goal of the playoffs left Wild head coach John Hynes metaphorically shrugging his shoulders at the precision of a player who led the NHL with 53 goals in the regular season.

“It was a shot outside the dots from a bad angle,” Hynes said. “It was a heck of a shot by an unbelievable player. When you look at where it goes in, he had a pinpoint shot. (The Avs) had a net front, a bumper player, a backside player. We had all those areas covered, and MacKinnon made a heck of a shot.”

Landeskog said that at the time of MacKinnon’s goal, the Avs weren’t thinking about time ticking away toward a looming return trip to Minnesota for Game 6.

“(Our mindset was) just go,” Landeskog said. “We had a plan, six-on-five. Obviously, we were able to get some momentum (with Jack Drury’s goal a couple minutes earlier). We know those guys (for Minnesota) had been in for a little bit. They’ve been playing a lot all series. So we were able to find a way to get the puck in Nate’s hands.”

MacKinnon said the energy in the arena after his goal was a memorable moment in his career. And after he lit the lamp, the Avs were playing with house money heading into overtime, a flip of the script after Landeskog admitted the Avs were “shell-shocked” by the Wild taking a 3-0 lead in the first period. That early stumble resulted in head coach Jared Bednar pulling Mackenzie Blackwood from the net in favor of Wedgewood.

“I could definitely feel (the energy), and hear it,” MacKinnon said. “… It was a really cool moment. And obviously coming back from 3-0, we felt good going to overtime.”

With Wednesday’s third-period goal, MacKinnon has now scored in six straight games, the second-longest playoff streak Valeri Nichushkin (2024), Claude Lemieux  (1997) and Joe Sakic (1996) are all tied for the record with seven straight. ]]> 7757660 2026-05-13T23:02:25+00:00 2026-05-14T06:16:43+00:00