Jalen Brunson has become the face of the NBA after leading New York to its first championship in 53 years. And he had help — re-signing OG Anunoby and trading for Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges — because the star guard took $113 million less when he signed a four-year extension in 2024.

He wanted the freedom not to be burdened by what could happen if he were injured. It gave the Knicks financial elasticity to surround him with better players.

So, the Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic should follow this blueprint. That is what I have read and heard over the last week. And it could not be more incorrect.

The compensation model in professional sports is designed to suppress players’ earning power. There are caps when drafted, required waiting periods to enter free agency and short careers.

Listen, if a star wants to take less, it’s his choice.

Brunson wanted lifetime security sooner, and the byproduct was that it benefited the Knicks’ roster-building.

Jokic, 31, was a second-round draft pick. He made $4.129 million in his first three seasons. And he has maxed out his contracts since, leaving him with $302.6 million in career earnings.

When Jokic broke out as a star in his second season, he did not receive a raise.

Why should he take a haircut now?

He is a three-time MVP. He has earned every cent coming his way. Is it his responsibility to create financial wiggle room?

It’s unfair to ask if those conversations were not had last summer with Jamal Murray, who did not play like a max player until this past season.

Jokic is eligible to sign an extension this summer worth either $214 million over three years or $278 million over four seasons. There is a reason he declined to sign last year, to put himself in this position.

It is silly money. We all get it. But he is the greatest Nuggets player ever. If anyone deserves the biggest check, it is him.

He is also part of a union. There is a responsibility to take the most as an elite star because of the market it sets for younger and future players.

What bothers me is that it falls on the player, and if he doesn’t acquiesce, he is not obsessed with winning. Well, Jokic won a title. So, there’s that.

And he has made the Kroenke ownership group a ton of money through sellout crowds, merchandise and playoff runs. Why is it OK to believe Jokic should take a pay cut and not demand the Kroenkes enter the second apron?

It feels like a double standard.

The parade had not reached its conclusion down the Canyon of Heroes in New York City, and Knicks owner James Dolan proclaimed on WFAN that “There’s certain things in the NBA that you’d have to be suicidal to do. One of them is the second apron. Cannot go into the second apron.”

The penalties for doing so are harsh, like restrictions on picking up mid-level exception players and trading first-round picks for seven years out.

It is messy. No doubt. But that is the system the NBA created to prevent dynasties.

Brunson did what he felt was right. Good for him. But, just because he won a championship, his decision should not set a precedent.

Feeling a Draft: The chances of the MLBPA agreeing to a 12-round draft that makes high school players ineligible until two years removed from graduation are almost zero. It would help college programs, turning them into the minor leagues, a model that has long existed for the NFL. But college coaches are measured by winning at the highest levels, not development. So would they have the players’ best interest in mind? And what guarantee is there that MLB won’t turn around and cut even more minor league teams, eliminating jobs? Welcome to labor talks. It’s going to be a greasy next eight months.

What took so long? Nike is finally preparing to release Caitlin Clark’s signature shoe, years after the sides entered into a partnership. The Caitlin 1 goes on sale on Oct. 1. I will never understand how Nike, specifically, and the WNBA, generally, were not prepared to capitalize and maximize Clark’s star power. She remains a great player, but the mania is tempered.

In the lead-up to Tuesday’s draft, the Nuggets have primarily been gauging the trade market for Cam Johnson and Christian Braun, league sources have told The Post, confirming reports from other outlets. But Braun’s current value as a trade asset has been in question since the end of the season, and team president Josh Kroenke has said on the record that “everything is on the table” except for trading Nikola Jokic — a statement that raised eyebrows regarding the team’s willingness to listen to offers for Aaron Gordon and Jamal Murray as well.

Whoever ends up getting moved, lead executives Jon Wallace and Ben Tenzer will have a difficult needle to thread: shave salary ���Ի���bring back rotational talent (and perhaps recoup some of the draft capital Denver sacrificed during the previous front office regime).

Who might they be able to target? Here’s a comprehensive list of 50 players the Nuggets could consider, broken down into three tiers, ordered from highest to lowest 2026-27 salary.

Note: Free agent sign-and-trade candidates not included — only players who are already under contract in 2026-27.

High-risk star player shake-ups

Remember, Kroenke has rationalized the 2025 Michael Porter Jr. trade by pointing out that it’s no longer viable to build around three max players under the current collective bargaining agreement. (Porter was signed to his max contract extension before this CBA.) With that in mind, if the Nuggets are going to roll the dice on an expensive star this offseason, it would almost certainly be in exchange for Murray’s $50.1 million salary. These 10 players are worth mentioning, but consider them the least likely on this list.

Anthony Davis, Wizards F, $58.5 million: Ever since Dallas traded him in February, there’s been a lot of buzz that Davis might not want to stay in Washington long-term. If he wasn’t so pricey and injury-prone, he’d make a lot of sense as a complementary two-way big to pair with Jokic.

Jaylen Brown, Celtics F, $57.1 million: If the All-NBA wing is leaving Boston, it’s probably as part of a Giannis Antetokounmpo trade.

Kawhi Leonard, Clippers F, $50.3 million: Embroiled in a cap circumvention scandal but fresh off the best offensive season of his career at 34 years old, the two-time Finals MVP is the type of ceiling-raising gamble that a lot of teams could talk themselves into.

De’Aaron Fox, Spurs G, $49.5 million: The Spurs have signaled that they plan to stand by Fox after his rough Finals — but what if, instead, they wanted a guard who’s better from 3-point range and more versatile off the ball to fit with their young backcourt? And what if Denver wanted a quicker downhill guard to provide better paint penetration?

Zach LaVine, Kings G, $49 million: Ex-Nuggets GM Calvin Booth flirted with the possibility of LaVine a couple of years ago. Now he’s an expiring contract. Twelve years in, the two-time All-Star is yet to prove he can be a winning player.

Kevin Durant, Rockets F, $43.9 million: Probably not a fit with what Denver needs in a star shot creator right now, but also, it’s Kevin Freaking Durant.

Ja Morant, Grizzlies G, $42.2 million: Is there anything left in Morant’s legs? This would be the ultimate buy-low move.

Zion Williamson, Pelicans F, $42.2 million: If it’s rim pressure you seek, few can do it more explosively than Williamson. Work ethic and injury concerns have followed him for years.

Franz Wagner, Magic F, $41.8 million: A secondary scorer who can defend, but he played only 34 games last season.

Kyrie Irving, Mavericks G, $39.5 million: The 34-year-old is coming off a torn ACL, but he’s shown throughout his career that he can be a match made in heaven for other generational superstars (LeBron James, Luka Doncic).

High-end role players, $20 million+ division

The more expensive a role player’s contract is, the less that player should generally cost from a trade standpoint. That’s the appeal of some of these 15 candidates. But can the Nuggets make the math work if they don’t want bigger salary figures on their roster to begin with?

Jrue Holiday, Trail Blazers G, $34.8 million: A consummate winner, with two rings this decade and two years left on his contract. You’re not getting any younger, though.

Jordan Poole, Pelicans G, $34 million: Poole is one-dimensional and overpriced, but he’s also going to be an expiring contract next season.

Dejounte Murray, Pelicans G, $32.8 million: Another buy-low option, the one-time All-Star has played in only 27% of games over the last two seasons.

Immanuel Quickley, Raptors G, $32.5 million: David Adelman has made it no secret how much he wants more ball-handling on the roster next year.

Jalen Suggs, Magic G, $32.4 million: Orlando is another team that wants to shed salary on the trade market this summer, and Suggs is the obvious candidate to shop. Injury-prone and inconsistent offensively, he’s also a capable table-setter and one of the best defensive guards in the league at his best. His contract is descending over the next four years. One to watch, for sure.

Andrew Wiggins, Heat F, $30.2 million: The former No. 1 overall pick is a sturdy, veteran two-way wing on an expiring contract. And Miami might be looking to make a few corresponding moves to build out the roster around Giannis if he ends up there.

RJ Barrett, Raptors F, $29.6 million: Probably less enticing to Denver than Quickley would be, but Barrett has averaged over 19 points per game in five straight years. Unfortunately for both he and Quickley, their current legacy is having been the trade package for OG Anunoby in 2023.

Jarrett Allen, Cavaliers C, $28 million: Just hear this one out: If the Nuggets really want to get creative in rethinking how to build around Jokic, one way to try is by using the most position-defying center of all time as, well, not the center. Put Jokic at the four, and go double-big with a traditional drop-coverage big for rim protection and vertical spacing.

Trey Murphy III, Pelicans F, $27 million: The belle of the ball this offseason — positional size, scoring and spacing for great financial value. If the Nuggets try to get into a bidding war for Murphy, they will probably lose. Doesn’t mean it’s not worth trying.

DeMar DeRozan, Kings F, $25.7 million: The Nuggets were monitoring his situation before the buyout deadline in March, but Sacramento didn’t waive him. This salary figure might be too much.

De’Andre Hunter, Kings F, $24.9 million: Sacramento makes sense as a trade partner because it has several players in this salary range (Keegan Murray and Malik Monk also among them).

Jonathan Kuminga, Hawks F, $24.3 million: Kuminga might have outsized ambition for himself, but he could provide some much-needed youth in Denver.

Nic Claxton, Nets C, $23.3 million: Same idea as Allen, equally unlikely.

Dillon Brooks, Suns F, $21 million: You don’t want to rely too much on Brooks in the playoffs like Phoenix just did, but he’s coming off his first 20-PPG season and — more importantly — brings a bit of a deranged edge to any locker room he enters.

Shaedon Sharpe, Trail Blazers G, $20.1 million: Scoring guard entering a four-year, $90 million rookie extension.

Role players, sub-$20 million division

There are dozens of players closer to the bottom of the NBA salary scale that could make sense for Denver to acquire entirely because of contract-matching. Here are 25 of them.

PJ Washington, Mavericks F, $19.8 million: The streaky shooter got hot at the right time in 2024 when he helped the Mavs reach the Finals. Washington will be 28 in August.

Grayson Allen, Suns G, $18.1 million: Previously a 41.4% career 3-point shooter, Allen took a dip last season (34.9%) when his attempts increased.

Keldon Johnson, Spurs F, $18 million: The Spurs probably wouldn’t trade someone so important to their team culture, but what if they had an opportunity to get Gordon? Then again, why would the Nuggets help them get even better?

Lu Dort, Thunder G, $17.7 million: Welcome to the second apron, OKC. Are you willing to pay up? Jokic’s newest enemy is one of the role players who could be on the chopping block if not.

Klay Thompson, Mavericks G, $17.5 million: The future Hall of Famer is a bench player at this point, and his salary is a lot to pay for a bench player. Still, volume shooting is a nice luxury.

Nikola Jovic, Heat F, $16.2 million: Jokic’s Olympic teammate is coming off a down year in Miami.

Duncan Robinson, Pistons G, $16 million: Detroit has room to spend a little more on a wing upgrade. Denver needs a cheaper one to help make room for Peyton Watson. Robinson for Cam Johnson, anyone?

Obi Toppin, Pacers F, $15 million: If the Pacers want to create more playing time for Jarace Walker, Toppin is their most likely trade candidate. Key contributor to their 2025 Finals run.

Herb Jones, Pelicans G, $14.9 million: His three-year, $68 million extension takes effect in 2027. In the meantime, this is one of the best bargains in the NBA for an elite 3-and-D guy.

Bobby Portis, Bucks C, $14.5 million: Not that the Nuggets need another small-ball big, but this is an affordable salary with a 2027 player option.

Jonathan Isaac, Magic F, $14.5 million: Despite flashes of extraordinary defense throughout his career, Isaac averaged only 10 minutes off the bench in the 52 games he played last season.

Grant Williams, Hornets F, $14.3 million: Expiring money for a hard-nosed bench player with Finals experience (and an extensive injury history).

Corey Kispert, Hawks G, $14 million: The 6-foot-6 shooter was traded from Washington to Atlanta at the deadline last season.

Moses Moody, Warriors G, $12.5 million: Moody’s status entering next season is unclear after he ruptured his left patellar tendon in March, a grisly season-ending injury for a solid role player.

Jarred Vanderbilt, Lakers F, $12.4 million: Probably can’t be trusted to stay out of foul trouble or stay in your playoff rotation, but Nuggets fans know this defense-and-energy wing well. Los Angeles might have to attach picks to get off his contract.

Davion Mitchell, Heat G, $12.4 million: Another ball-handler Denver could take a chance on. Showed flashes of big-game potential in the 2025 playoffs.

Isaac Okoro, Bulls G, $11.8 million: The Bulls are under new management. What direction will they choose this offseason?

Sam Hauser, Celtics G, $10.8 million: Boston and Denver would make natural trade partners, as the two championship contenders that had the most disappointing playoff results last season.

Naji Marshall, Mavericks G, $9.4 million: Marshall has torched Denver’s shaky perimeter defense a few times in recent years.

Aaron Wiggins, Thunder G, $9 million: OKC is bursting at the seams with playable guys who don’t play. Wiggins and Isaiah Joe ($11.3 million) faded from the rotation in key playoff games, which is more of a commentary on the Thunder’s depth.

Tre Mann, Hornets G, $8 million: Charlotte is an ascending team with a surplus of rotation guards and a shortage of high-quality forwards. Could be allured by Johnson or Gordon.

Goga Bitadze, Magic C, $7.6 million: Easy salary filler, a potential cheap backup big to replace Jonas Valanciunas.

Gradey Dick, Raptors F, $7.1 million: Might be time for a fresh start for the 22-year-old wing who was drafted 13th overall out of Kansas in 2023.

Jake LaRavia, Lakers F, $6 million: LaRavia played in all 82 games last season, but defenses are rightfully skeptical of how threatening his 3-point shot is.

Kris Dunn, Clippers G, $5.7 million: The Nuggets played him off the floor by the end of their 2025 first-round series against Los Angeles, illuminating offensive deficiencies. But his point-of-attack defense might be more than worth the flaws.

If anything, it might be worse.

Joe Sakic and Josh Kroenke spoke about the end of the season and what’s next earlier this week. While plenty of Avs fans have clamored online for significant changes, it sure sounded like the two men at the top of the franchise’s food chain see a different path forward.

“Yes, we had a tough last week of hockey, but we still, from September on — we won the Presidents’ Trophy,” Sakic said Thursday. “We had the most points in franchise history. We played really well against L.A., really well against Minnesota. We played against a team that, just for that time, played better than we did. No excuses, but we’ll be ready for next year. So overall, it was a great year.”

That is the great dichotomy of this Avalanche team at this specific point. This was a wildly successful group for nearly seven months. This was a team that failed, in the span of one week, and ultimately won exactly half (eight) of the number of postseason games it expected to.

How Sakic, now the general manager along with his president of hockey operations duties, and the Avs move forward, does hinge in part on analyzing what went wrong against the Vegas Golden Knights in the Western Conference Final. But how much stock to put in four losses versus the previous 91 games?

How much does the failure against Vegas connect to the failures against Dallas the previous two seasons? For some fans, that is everything. For the people who run NHL franchises, there is nuance and context.

For Sakic, Kroenke and the Avs, the analysis of that nuance and context could define the remaining years of Nathan MacKinnon’s prime. What has transpired with the Golden Knights — and with the Carolina Hurricanes — has offered more context to analyze.

How have both of their runs offered insight into the Avs? It’s still pretty complicated, but let’s dig through some of it.

Let’s start with Vegas. If Carolina wins Sunday night in Game 6, it will be nearly impossible to not look at the Golden Knights’ 2026 playoff run as an outlier. And specifically, that this Vegas team, with 82 regular-season games and 18 other playoff contests outside of the conference final, beating Colorado in four games, will be one of the great outliers in playoff history.

That’s not to say Vegas didn’t deserve to beat Colorado. But how the Golden Knights did it is entirely antithetical to everything else about their playoff run and season at large. This was a championship-contending club on paper, but it rarely played like one. It may still win one, though something drastic will need to change after how Carolina has taken full control of this series — the Hurricanes are currently on a 13-6 run since falling behind 4-0 in Game 3.

Vegas absolutely devised a game plan to slow down Colorado and executed it to near perfection. For all but one period of four games, the Golden Knights looked like one of the best defensive teams in the sport.

For much of the other 17 playoff games against two inferior teams (Utah, Anaheim) and one similar club (Carolina) to Colorado, the Golden Knights have simply not been that same positionally sound, mistake-free juggernaut.

Vegas has allowed four or more goals nine times in 17 playoff games against non-Avs opponents. The Knights allowed four goals total in 11 of the 12 periods against the Avalanche, with one mistake-prone period in Game 3.

Here is Vegas’ expected goals allowed per 60 minutes, broken down by series, per Natural Stat Trick:

Utah – 2.69
Anaheim – 3.25
Colorado – 2.79
Carolina – 3.02

What changed against the Avs? Carter Hart’s six-game heater, beginning at the end of the Anaheim series, is definitely part of it. Hart went 6-4 with a .905 save percentage to start this playoff run, then 6-0 with a .948 and has followed that up with 2-3 and a historically bad .856 in the Stanley Cup Final.

How did Vegas play so well defensively against the Avs, and how has Carolina (and Anaheim) managed to find so much joy in the offensive end are two critical questions for Colorado’s front office to answer. There are other weird nuggets that point to Vegas having an out-of-body experience for a week against Colorado — like how the Golden Knights have found almost no depth scoring against the other three teams, but their “other guys” poured in seven goals against the Avs.

But for the Avs’ purposes, what went wrong for them against Vegas, and whether or not it is preventable in the future, is key. The Avs built a regular-season Terminator, and for two rounds, it looked great in the playoffs, as well.

Meanwhile, Carolina’s run to within a game of a championship offers other types of insight to ponder. Rod Brind’Amour has been one of the three most successful coaches of the past eight years, along with Colorado’s Jared Bednar and Tampa Bay’s Jon Cooper.

Those are the three teams with the most regular-season points accumulated in that span. But Brind’Amour has dealt with similar criticism as what Bednar has faced the past few seasons — namely, his style doesn’t translate to success in the postseason. Carolina made the conference finals three times before 2026 and went 1-12.

The Hurricanes stuck with their head coach, and are a win away from the ultimate reward. Cooper hasn’t won a playoff series in four years, but he has two championships on his resume and a third trip to the Cup Final.

Bednar’s resume falls in between those two. Will the patience and continuity preached by Sakic and Kroenke pay off?

There’s been another defining characteristic for the Hurricanes in the postseason under Brind’Amour — terrible special teams. From 2018-25, Carolina was 12th on the power play and first on the penalty kill across seven regular seasons. But, among the 23 clubs with 20-plus playoff games in that span, the Hurricanes’ power play cratered to 22nd, and the PK fell to 16th.

The day before this Stanley Cup Final began, Carolina’s power play was at 12.5% in this postseason. Then, against a Vegas team that had killed off 87.5% of its foe’s power plays through three rounds, it suddenly sprang to life.

Carolina is 6-for-16 with the extra man in this series, cooking at 37.5%, and one of the reasons why the Hurricanes have gained control. What happened, and what the Avs can glean from this Hurricanes run, could certainly be useful information.

Does there need to be structural changes with how this Avalanche team plays? Does there need to be more adaptability, or maybe just a different kind of adaptability, when a team tries to play the way Vegas did, or how Dallas played in 2025?

Is there something about the current personnel that needs to change to improve the odds in the postseason?

The answers are likely somewhere in between massive changes and none at all.

“Yeah, we’re in talks with a couple of different groups. A project that big, we just got to make sure we do it right, because we don’t want to have to redo anything down the road. But they are fun conversations.”

That was Josh, on building new facilities.

In 2017.

“We have the land around the arena, and over at Elitch Gardens. We’re part of a master plan there to develop that out, and the first phase of that will include, most likely, an Avalanche and Nuggets facility. … But there’s a lot that goes into that. We’re working as fast as we can.”

That was also Josh, also on building new facilities.

In 2022.

So you’ll forgive the army of cynics up in the Grading The Week offices for chuckling and shaking their heads when Josh, when asked about one of the best franchises in hockey still practicing in a local rec center with a giant arcade on the ground floor, said this to the cameras:

“There’s one final hurdle that we’re in and we hope to have some information relatively soon. But again, we’re dealing with the city, and we’re working on pedestrian access over Speer, in and around that. I don’t have an exact time frame, but we’re very close.”

That was this past Thursday. Also Josh. Also on new facilities.

In 2026.

Josh Kroenke’s practice facility promises — C

The kindest thing we’ll say about KSE and some overdue buildings for the Avs and Nuggets to call home — or, heck, even one facility for the pair of them — is this:

We’ll believe it when we see it.

It never ceases to amaze the basketball guys and gals on the GTW crew who’ve worked in other markets how a franchise with one of the 10 best centers to ever play the game (Nikola Jokic) basically shoots, trains, and lifts weights in this teeny-tiny space just above floor level at Ball Arena. We’ve seen church basements with larger, dedicated basketball and CYO spaces and better facilities than the Nuggets’.

And yet the basketball side of Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, or KSE, is palatial compared to its NHL counterparts down the road.

The Avalanche have won three Stanley Cups since 1996. That’s tied for the second-most in the NHL (Detroit — boo, hiss — has four) over the last 30 years.

And yet the directions for getting to the Avs’ locker room at the South Suburban Family Sports Center sound like something lifted from the movie “This Is Spinal Tap:” Go past the climbing wall in the lobby, veer left at the arcade and go up the steps. Yet they’ve been there since 1998. It feels like 1998. Actually, the whole thing feels incredibly bush league.

Ex-Nuggets voices staying classy while being stiffed by KSE  — A

We say this a lot in the GTW offices, but Scott Hastings is a better man than us. At least in front of a microphone.

“The young Scott Hastings probably would’ve thrown a fit, been upset, cussed people out, gone on the radio today and said, ‘You Em-effers,'” Hastings, the now-ex TV analyst for the Nuggets, said during his mid-day radio show on 92.5-FM earlier this week. “But it doesn’t do anybody (any) good. It’s not helpful.”

That said, we wouldn’t have blamed him for dropping a few expletives into the conversation. The Kroenkes did all their broadcast crews dirty, but especially those on the TV side, by squabbling with the even more stubborn jerks at Comcast in recent years. As a result, two of KSE’s best teams, the ’21-22 Avalanche and ’22-23 Nuggets, won championships in the NHL and NBA, respectively, while local broadcasts of their games were unavailable on many television sets in their home market.

Chris Marlowe deserved better. Hastings deserved better. So did Post alum Chris Dempsey, who, as anyone who’s met him will tell you, is an even better dude than he is a reporter and analyst. And that’s saying something.

Sakic was back in front of the assembled Colorado Avalanche media Thursday. MacFarland is gone, off to pilot his own franchise and what was old is new again in the Avs front office.

The message was similar, even if Sakic’s role has now changed. He sat next to Kroenke Sports & Entertainment vice-chairman Josh Kroenke this time, but belief in the Avalanche players and coaches was again a central theme.

“It’s disappointing. It stings,” said Sakic, now the president and general manager of the Avs with MacFarland in Nashville. “But we’ve got a great hockey team here, and this team was built for a 2-3 year run. We still got most of the guys coming back, and their expectations, our expectations, I know the fans’ expectations, is to try and win a (Stanley) Cup.

“And we’re hopefully going to accomplish that next year, but it really was, overall, an incredibly fun year.”

Colorado ran the league for more than six months, leading the NHL standings from Nov.  1 through the conclusion of the regular season. The Avs rolled past Los Angeles and Minnesota to reach the second half of the postseason tournament for the first time since 2022.

But the Avalanche express derailed at full speed, a stunning, fiery crash of a four-game sweep by the Vegas Golden Knights in the Western Conference Final. MacFarland is gone, but Sakic and Kroenke preached belief in the group and continuity throughout a nearly 30-minute press conference.

Sticking with Bednar

Not only will Jared Bednar return for an 11th season as head coach, but his assistants will also return. Bednar is entering the final year of his contract, but Sakic alluded to a potential extension coming later in the offseason.

“We haven’t thought about [that]. Right now, the priority is getting through the draft, free agency,” Sakic said. “Try and make our team as good as possible going into the summer. The rest of the stuff we will push that down the line. We’ll figure out later in the summer on all that stuff, but I don’t think he’s worried about it. He shouldn’t be worried about it. The contracts will come when they come.”

When asked why Bednar is returning, compared with title-winning coach Mike Malone, who was fired from the KSE-owned Denver Nuggets late in the 2024-25 season, Kroenke was succinct.

“I think he has absolute belief of the dressing room,” Kroenke said.

Sakic is now the GM of this franchise, and there is no acting or interim qualification. The structure from the past two seasons remains the same, just with MacFarland out and Sakic back in the GM chair.

While Sakic said he’s enjoyed the increased workload shifting back over the past couple of weeks, what his long-term future is and the front-office structure are still to be determined.

“I’m taking over being GM right now,” Sakic said. “We’ve got a great staff. Really confident in our group. It’s business as usual from our end. We’re going to try and, as a staff, make this team as good as possible so we can try and be a contender again.”

Colorado currently has 17 of its top 20 players from last season under contract for next year. No. 4 center Jack Drury is a restricted free agent. Two defensemen, Brett Kulak and Brent Burns, are unrestricted free agents.

The Avs do not have much room below the salary cap ceiling — a touch shy of $3 million, per PuckPedia — so just retaining those players is not an option. There is also work to be done filling out the depth beyond those 20 — extra forwards Joel Kiviranta (UFA) and Zakhar Bardakov (RFA) plus next-up defensemen Nick Blankenburg (UFA) and Jack Ahcan (UFA) all need new deals or replaced.

Sakic and Kroenke both spoke more about marginal changes than drastic ones.

“We could panic and try and blow everything up and start all over, but this team, what they’ve done over the course of the year was pretty remarkable,” Sakic said. “Now we want to give them an opportunity to try and do it again. I mean, the last two trade deadlines were meant for not just that year — to try and compete for a few years with this group and try and bring home a Stanley Cup. That’s the goal.”

Upgrades off the ice

This was the first time Kroenke spoke at an Avalanche-specific press conference since Nathan MacKinnon signed an eight-year, $100.82 million contract Sept. 20, 2022. Sakic addressed the next mega-contract Colorado expects to complete with co-franchise player Cale Makar this summer, and Kroenke had updates on a couple of other long-term franchise-building items.

One was progress on a new practice facility. The Avs currently practice at Family Sports Center in Centennial, where the team’s offices are also based. Both they and the Nuggets hope to have new spaces of their own downtown as part of KSE’s 55-acre development project around Ball Arena.

“There’s one final hurdle that we’re in,” Kroenke said. “We hope to have some information relatively soon. We’re dealing with the city, and we’re working on pedestrian access over Speer (Blvd.) in and around that. So hopefully once we are able to iron out and finalize that with the city, we’ll be able to announce something. I don’t have an exact time frame, but we’re very close.”

Another was the future of the Avalanche payroll. The NHL’s salary cap ceiling is in an era of unprecedented, rapid growth. The ceiling was $95.5 million this season, but will rise to $104 million for 2026-27 and is expected to spike to $113.5 million the following year with future, similar hikes also expected.

That has led to speculation in the NHL that far fewer franchises will be willing to spend up to or near the cap ceiling. Twelve teams, including the Avalanche, spent up to or within $1 million of the cap ceiling this year, and half the league — 16 clubs — spent more than $93 million, or within $2.5 million of the ceiling.

“I think we’ve been a cap team for how many years now?” Kroenke said. “I think with the core players that we have, we’re going to keep being as aggressive as possible. I think that some of that stuff can kind of go in cycles, but I think if you have a core of Nathan McKinnon and Cale Makar, led by Gabe Landeskog, and then the depth that we have. I think you better be pushing it, trying to go for Cups.

“I think going for Cups means you are spending as much as you can when you can, and using your resources as smartly as possible as well.”

The Avs have failed four consecutive seasons to reach the finish line. But did you see the speed, the passing, the scoring before the final lap? Amazing, right?

Sports make hypocrites of all of us.

And the Avs’ long-awaited, season-ending press conference Thursday nestled their leadership firmly into this category.

For a franchise that adopted a Stanley Cup-or-bust mentality in October, vice chairman Josh Kroenke and president/general manager Joe Sakic sure seemed satisfied with a seven-month process that came up embarrassingly short in an early Las Vegas summer.

“Our style worked all year,” Sakic said. “It just didn’t work for one week.”

“The continuity is what has established this core group,” Kroenke added, “as elite.”

In the wake of another playoff disappointment, I naively thought management would shed their long-held beliefs and focus on sobering truths.

The truth is coach Jared Bednar’s system no longer works in the playoffs. Colorado can outscore anyone, anywhere in the regular season. However, force the Avs to face a possession-oriented, defensive-minded team that protects the middle of the ice in the postseason and watch them melt. Sakic, in one of his few moments of critique, allowed that the Golden Knights “frustrated” the Avs. More like took their soul and made the hockey world question their strategy and pride. But sure, let’s go with frustration (insert eye roll).

The truth is the Avs need a new voice. Keeping Bednar — and there was no discussion of moving on from him or any member of his staff — feels like staying in the marriage for the kids. Not sure if you heard, but the guys in the room have his back. “He has the total confidence of the players,” Kroenke said when I asked why the organization was sticking with Bednar. Chipped in Sakic, “He’s the best coach for the group. They love playing for him. They believe in him. And I am going with the players.” Letting the players make this decision is like allowing children to choose breakfast and wondering why they have a stomachache from ice cream and Flaming Hot Cheetos.

Not saying that Bednar is a Disneyland dad. But he is not a disciplinarian. Of course, the players adore him because his style is frenetic and fun. But how do they reward him when it matters most? After losing consecutive home games to the Golden Knights, the Avs took a 3-0 lead in Game 3 and collapsed. A suspect penalty on Josh Manson hurt, and Nathan MacKinnon blocking a puck with his knee really hurt, but those are excuses.

The shift after MacKinnon exited, the Golden Knights scored. Want to show you love your coach? Rise up in the biggest moments, not on a lazy Tuesday night in Columbus. Carolina’s Rod Brind’Amour is considered Bednar’s coaching twin. How did the Hurricanes respond to heart-in-a-blender losses in Games 1 and 3 to Las Vegas? With character-defining victories. The Avs countered by getting swept.

The truth is Sakic’s motivation for next season’s team is flawed. “They will be hungrier,” he insisted. Older? Definitely. Hungrier? Nope. Seriously, how much bigger an appetite for redemption can they muster? They entered last year with an unhealthy obsession to avenge their playoff elimination by Dallas. So, climbing one rung higher and losing to a different team will lead to raising the Cup? Sorry. Not buying it. Nobody can question the Avs’ drive. They want another championship, but are they willing to adapt in the postseason to get it?

The truth is the Avs are not winning another title without the schedule breaking their way. We all loathe the NHL’s postseason format that pits good teams in early rounds and dilutes the value of a top seed. Only one of the last 15 Stanley Cup winners also won the President’s Trophy, a statistical oddity that does not exist in the NFL, MLB or NBA. But nothing sounds more limp than a great team asking for help. If the Avs faced Utah and Anaheim in the first two rounds, do they beat Las Vegas? Maybe. But the Avs put together one of the best seasons of all time, so the idea that they must have the perfect path to reach their goal is unbecoming.

The truth is the Avs must confront uncomfortable questions with their roster. They looked tired in the playoffs because they are getting old. The reality is that it is more likely that Brock Nelson, Valeri Nichushkin and Nazem Kadri regress than have greater success. Same goes for Parker Kelly.  The Avs must look to trade one of their big contracts to slow the aging process and leave them fresher in the postseason.

The truth is that one championship is not enough for the core of Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar and Gabe Landekskog. Yet, where the masses saw disappointment, Sakic saw accomplishment. “We could panic and blow it up and start it over. But what this team did was pretty remarkable. The last two trade deadlines were meant not just for that year but to bring another Stanley Cup (eventually).”

The Avs have a handful of needs this offseason — Mackenzie Blackwood must establish himself as the No. 1 goalie after Scott Wedgewood showed his ceiling and Colorado requires a new power play plan.

The Avs’ biggest need is not a change in their roster, but a change in their belief system. They must be willing to get more physical and tougher.

Otherwise, Makar will be wincing through pain trying to explain the unfathomable, Blackwood will be dropping F-bombs in disbelief and MacKinnon will be ducking reporters despite being the team’s best player.

Sakic said that the Kroenkes have given him everything he needs. There might be, Sakic hinted, a trade. But it is hard to see a seismic event matching what has occurred over the last two seasons. The roster, for the most part, is set.

The truth is the Avs cannot change the ending until they change their thinking. Their loyalty is going to prevent them from posting the necessary eight more postseason victories.

The Avs are going to be good next season.

But the truth is, they are not going to win another Cup without changing how they view their team. And those are just the cold hard facts.

A hockey general manager? Unacceptable.

When conducting an audit on the Avalanche’s dizzying collapse, we figured the Kroenke ownership group would do exactly what the team needed.

Instead, Stan and Josh Kroenke did just the opposite.

A week after the Golden Knights turned the Avs’ season to dust, Colorado lost Chris MacFarland, outbid by Nashville.

Not Montreal. Or Boston. But a division rival.

MacFarland did not have a wandering eye, and was not looking to leave. He broke down when breaking the news to his former coworkers. He cried at his introductory press conference with the Predators, struggling to come to grips with leaving a Colorado organization where he worked and excelled for 11 years.

Losing MacFarland is not a win for the Avs, despite what fans insisted on my social media timelines last week.

That was an appropriate response by Rockies fans when the Rockies mercifully moved on from futile general manager Bill Geivett and insufferable team president Greg Feasel.

MacFarland helped the Avs win the Stanley Cup in 2022. He is one of three finalists for the Jim Gregory NHL GM of the Year award this season. If he wins this summer, he will accept the trophy as a member of another organization.

And the Avs are better for this? Really?

I understand the love for president and resident legend Joe Sakic, who takes over in the interim through the draft and summer months. He served as the GM when the Avs claimed their last championship. But there is a reason he handed over the reins to MacFarland that next season.

McFarland was ready. And while he had misses like every GM, he was really good at his job. Nashville recognized this. The Predators went all in, throwing a bunch of money at MacFarland and a longer title for his business card — president of hockey operations.

He got the position because of his . Yes, that Nick Saban.

MacFarland is a grinder, a hockey lifer, a man who could watch film and scout until his eyes bleed. His success reflects his dedication to the process. Saban recognized this.

And the Avs let him out of the building.

If you want to stand on your porch or scream that it was all about the promotion to president, have at it. But let’s acknowledge that the Avs tried to keep MacFarland.

That makes his departure look worse.

It also raises a few questions. Are you going to tell me that they could not make MacFarland vice president, and provide him a big raise and a transition plan to succeed Sakic?

Given how emotional MacFarland was, given his family’s connection to the community, I think it would have been hard for him to say no. Maybe he still leaves.

But why not make it as difficult as possible given that the Avs are clearly, regardless of how disappointing the Las Vegas series was, in a championship window?

Which brings us to another issue.

The Avs did right by MacFarland in granting him permission to interview, unlike the petty and classless Golden Knights, who continue to hold former coach Bruce Cassidy hostage.

However, as the Predators’ pursuit of MacFarland picked up steam, Stan and Josh Kroenke were at Selhurst Park across the pond carrying the English Premier League championship trophy to Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta. Given how suspiciously and viciously the team’s fans reacted to their ownership through the years, the Kroenkes deserved this snapshot.

But who was manning the phones back at the home office?

As the Predators were making a final push for MacFarland, the Los Angeles Rams were acquiring Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett from the Browns, a seismic move that conjures images of Reggie White signing with the Packers. With the Super Bowl at their SoFi Stadium, the Kroenkes are all in with the Rams.

But are they spread too thin?

Nobody can question their success as owners. They have delivered championships in basketball, hockey and soccer. Forbes recently placed the value of KSE’s six-team sports empire at $21.7 billion.

And yet that does not make them immune from criticism.

They can be great and make mistakes. Letting MacFarland go is one of them.

Were the Kroenkes too busy, too distracted, too ambivalent?

They have Sakic as the safety net, so everyone keeps saying it is no big deal. But Sakic left the GM role by choice. He wanted to move upstairs, unburdened by the exhaustive duties.

And let’s be clear: Sakic did not succeed in a vacuum. His best days as a GM were with MacFarland as his right-hand man.

It just doesn’t sit right. The Avs are hockey royalty. They are the standard of excellence in our city with 22 playoff berths and three parades in 31 years.

With another championship in reach, the timing of MacFarland’s exit stinks.

We will find out more about this issue in the future, but Sakic filling the void made any debate over coach Jared Bednar’s future moot. Sakic was not firing Bednar even if his style has been exposed as ineffective in the playoffs against defensive, possession-oriented teams like Dallas and Las Vegas.

KSE’s strongest argument against finding a way to keep MacFarland is that the Kroenkes have navigated this territory before.

Former Nuggets GM Tim Connelly left for Minnesota under similar circumstances in 2022, accepting a five-year, $40 million package with equity in the team. Calvin Booth, if only briefly, showed acumen, making critical moves to help the Nuggets win their only NBA championship in 2023 before his sour relationship with coach Michael Malone led to both their firings in 2025.

So, give the Kroenkes the benefit of the doubt if you want. They don’t like paying top dollar for executives. I get it.

But watching them celebrate Arsenal, seeing them land Garrett, it sure feels like they squandered a chance to have a moment like this with the Avs by losing MacFarland.

Chris MacFarland left the organization Tuesday to join the division-rival Nashville Predators as president of hockey operations and general manager. He had been the Avs’ GM since 2022, when Joe Sakic was promoted to president of hockey operations and MacFarland was elevated from assistant GM.

MacFarland had been with the organization since 2015. That’s a key bit of information.

This franchise has not hired a GM with no ties to the organization since it arrived in Denver. Pierre Lacroix, hired by the Quebec Nordiques in 1994, was the last. Each of the club’s five GMs since Lacroix was either a current assistant GM or had been one recently.

The Avs said Sakic will re-assume GM duties through the upcoming draft and the start of the new NHL calendar year, according to a statement from KSE vice chairman Josh Kroenke. That means it could be a month or more before the Avs settle on a new GM.

Who are some potential candidates? Here are some very early names to watch:

Internal candidates

Joe Sakic, president of hockey operations 

Fans who want Sakic to just be the GM again should not get their hopes up. Sakic was elevated in 2022 in part to keep MacFarland away from other teams who wanted to poach him at the time, but also because the franchise legend wanted to take a step back from the day-to-day grind of being an NHL GM. It’s hard to believe that Sakic will want to step back into that role full-time unless the plan is for him to mentor someone who would be placed in a GM-in-waiting role.

Andrew Cogliano, special assistant to the general manager

Cogliano is young, just two years removed from playing, and a rising star in NHL executive circles. A bet on him being an NHL GM someday is a good one, but is he ready now? A better question might be — is he going to stay in Denver, or will MacFarland bring him to Nashville and promote him to assistant GM with the Predators?

Kevin McDonald, assistant general manager

McDonald has only been with the Avs since 2022, but he’s been an NHL executive for more than three decades. He was an assistant GM in St. Louis when the Blues won the Stanley Cup in 2019. He’s got years of experience running his franchise’s AHL team, but has never had the chance to be an NHL GM.

Arik Parnass, director of analytics 

Like Cogliano, he’s young and has never been an assistant GM. But Parnass has also been with the organization since 2016. Two of the GM hires in this cycle came from analytics-friendly backgrounds (Sunny Mehta in New Jersey, John Chayka in Toronto). The Avs are just about as analytics-friendly as any organization in the NHL.

External candidates

Brett Peterson, Florida Panthers assistant general manager

Peterson has been with Florida since 2020, and has helped build the Panthers into one of the NHL’s model franchises. Three straight Stanley Cup Final appearances, with two championships, before injuries derailed any chance of a three-peat this year. One potential issue: The Panthers already lost Mehta. Will they be OK with their front office being gutted, even if it’s for another promotion?

Tyler Dellow, Carolina Hurricanes, assistant general manager

Led by Eric Tulsky, who came from an analytics background, the Hurricanes are four wins from a Stanley Cup. Dellow has now worked for three NHL front offices — Edmonton, New Jersey and Carolina. He is one of the brightest minds in the sport and, like Tulsky, Mehta and Parnass, has carved a successful path in part because of his ability to blend old- and new-school hockey analysis.

Chris Clark, Columbus Blue Jackets, assistant general manager

Clark has been part of the Columbus front office since 2011, working his way up to director of player personnel, GM of the club’s AHL team, and, recently, assistant GM for the Blue Jackets. Does that resume sound familiar? Clark is a former player and NHL captain, so his path is a little different than MacFarland’s, but the Avs and Blue Jackets have been very familiar with each other for a long time now.

Rob Blake, former GM, Los Angeles Kings 

Blake would be closer to an internal candidate than the other names above, given his ties to the organization. He was the Kings’ GM from 2017-25. He oversaw the end of a championship era and a rebuild around the franchise’s star center and defenseman. On one hand, Blake’s team built the No. 1-ranked prospect pool while Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty were still impact NHL players. On the other, the on-ice results fell far short of expectations.

A current NHL player agent 

This is the wild card spot. Bill Zito was a longtime agent before turning the Panthers into a powerhouse. Kent Hughes was a longtime agent before taking over the Montreal Canadiens and … they sure look like a burgeoning powerhouse after reaching the Eastern Conference Final this year with a roster loaded with young stars. The last time this franchise hired a longtime agent, Lacroix’s success with the Avs led to a plaque in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

The league’s board of governors voted last week to institute a new system known as the “,” diminishing the worst teams’ odds of being awarded the No. 1 overall draft pick. The changes — which are designed to disincentivize teams from intentionally losing for draft positioning — will take effect in 2027.

• Sixteen teams will be in the lottery, up from 14 in the old system.
• A lottery drawing will be held to determine all 16 picks, rather than just the first four. (In the old system, Nos. 5-14 were determined by worst record in order of the remaining teams that did not receive a top-four pick in the lottery drawing.)
• The bottom three teams in the NBA can pick no lower than 12th. The remaining lottery teams can pick anywhere between No. 1 and No. 16.
• The bottom three teams in the NBA have only two lottery balls, resulting in a 5.4% chance of receiving the No. 1 overall pick and a 16% chance of getting a top-three pick. The seven remaining teams that miss the Play-In Tournament have three lottery balls, meaning an 8.1% chance at the No. 1 pick and a 24% chance of landing in the top three.
• The No. 9 and No. 10 Play-In seeds in each conference will receive two lottery balls each (same odds as the bottom three teams in the league), while the losers of the No. 7 vs. No. 8 Play-In games in each conference will receive one lottery ball each.

Nuggets team president and KSE vice chairman Josh Kroenke was on the competition committee that mulled over various solutions to the years-long tanking epidemic. But for the most part, the Nuggets have watched this issue take hold of the league from a safe distance, perched above the lower class of the league’s perpetual pursuit of the next superstar. They already have theirs. Nikola Jokic is coming off a sixth straight year as either MVP or runner-up, and Denver possesses the longest active streak of playoff appearances in the Western Conference at eight years. Tanking has not crossed this team’s mind in quite some time.

Still, the 3-2-1 reform will have ripple effects across the NBA — among them, a recontextualization of recent transactions.

Trade value on future draft picks

One widely anticipated downwind result of this new system is that the perceived trade value of future draft picks will change. First-round picks that belong specifically to the very worst teams will be less valuable than ever. But those odds have subsequently been redistributed, introducing more randomness than ever before (especially with 16 teams in the mix, instead of 14). That means more hope for more teams. Most first-rounders should therefore heighten in value, as middle-class teams will feel more inclined to keep their picks and cross their fingers.

Owning a high quantity of picks gives you a better chance at franchise-changing luck than owning one high-quality pick (or one that was previously considered high-quality). Stockpiling first-rounders in bulk is advantageous. Two teams in the West have done that especially well over the last few years, it just so happens: Oklahoma City and San Antonio.

Denver’s two most threatening adversaries in the conference have . That’s near-infinite flexibility to continue building through the draft, or to pursue upgrades on the trade market, or to pivot around the tax apron.

Meanwhile, the Nuggets are the only team in the league without a single trade-eligible future first-round pick. (The ones they do own, they’re forbidden from trading because of the Stepien Rule that requires teams to own at least one first-rounder every other year.)

Denver is allowed to trade this year’s pick (No. 26) on draft night, but the front office’s flexibility is severely limited beyond that. Only two future seconds are available to trade. Former general manager Calvin Booth made it his annual strategy to sacrifice future draft capital for immediate late first-round and early second-round talent — players he believed could be plug-and-play contributors for a championship team, such as Peyton Watson, Julian Strawther, Jalen Pickett and DaRon Holmes II. Those four players combined to log 26 minutes in Denver’s first-round playoff series against the Timberwolves this year.

The Nuggets were particularly cavalier with second-rounders in the 2024 offseason, which turned out to be Booth’s last at the helm. They sacrificed 2024, 2026 and 2031 picks to move up six spots and get Holmes 22nd overall. They also traded their 2025, 2029 and 2030 seconds to salary-dump Reggie Jackson and make room on the depth chart for Russell Westbrook. Their 2027 and 2028 second-round picks were already owed to other teams at that point.

The good news: The 2027 and 2029 first-round picks that Denver traded in recent years are top-five protected, in case the Nuggets slip into one of the 16 lottery spots. The bad news: Both picks are owed to … Oklahoma City.

Lucky timing for the Spurs

Another rule being implemented: Teams cannot draft No. 1 overall in consecutive years, nor can they be awarded a top-five pick in the lottery for three consecutive years. The idea here is to dissuade teams from prolonging their rebuilds.

But unfortunately for the Nuggets and other championship contenders, it’s all happening a little too late to slow down the Spurs.

Their meteoric rise to the NBA Finals required more than one stroke of luck. After San Antonio drafted Victor Wembanyama with the No. 1 pick in 2023, it received the No. 4 pick in 2024 (Stephon Castle) and the No. 2 pick in 2025 (Dylan Harper). That would no longer be permitted under the new system. But it worked out swimmingly for the Spurs: Their trio of top-five picks combined for 50 points on 50% shooting in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals last weekend.

Fewer tanking teams

Teams at the bottom of the standings will now be incentivized to win late in the season, as they’ll want to avoid having their lottery odds relegated. This, of course, is the core principle of all these rule changes. Tanking teams got more creative this past season, even benching high scorers for the fourth quarter of close games.

The Nuggets went 23-6 against the 10 teams that missed the Play-In Tournament. Their 12-game win streak to finish the regular season included four games against those teams.

There won’t be as many “easy” wins on the schedule going forward.

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.