It’s just a business after all, right?
This organization needs a fresh start, and it starts by breaking a few hearts.
It starts with GM Chris MacFarland. When he makes the right moves on the battlefield, MacFarland comes off as a genius, but like most of your friends were while playing Call of Duty Zombies, the quick trigger finger would come back to bite the team, and occasionally, he’d end up shooting his own guys.
On January 25, MacFarland shot the heart of this team when he traded Mikko Rantanen to the Carolina Hurricanes. In return, we got Martin Nečas, Jack Drury, a 2025 second-round pick, and a 2026 fourth-round pick. Oh, those draft picks are also gone; we let those walk to get Brock Nelson in a trade with the New York Islanders. However, we also gave up Oliver Kylington and top prospect Calum Ritchie.
All this was done for a shot for another run at a Stanley Cup with a window closing quickly. But for the second straight season and for the third time in the last six years, the Colorado Avalanche were eliminated in the playoffs by the Dallas Stars. It’s also the third time in the past five years that the Avs were eliminated by Stars head coach Pete DeBoer, who was also behind the bench when Colorado was eliminated in the second round of the playoffs in 2021 by the Vegas Golden Knights. The pain doesn’t stop there as DeBoer eliminated the Avs in 2019 as coach of the San Jose Sharks, too.
MacFarland really outdid himself this time. He traded Rantanen to Carolina over a nugatory amount of money. $500,000 is all that was needed to satisfy one of the NHL’s best players, but instead, he traded him to Carolina, only for the Canes to flip him to Dallas after 13 games. This isn’t just the worst trade in Avalanche history; it might be the worst trade in the modern era of the NHL.
Rod Brind’Amour was probably right. Rantanen wanted nothing to do with the Canes. He was perhaps heartbroken and felt betrayed. Who wouldn’t after 10 years. Therefore, Rantanen wanted to be on a team with the best chance of inflicting pain on the Avalanche organization. What better option than the Stars.
Mikko manifested this moment and took everything out on the organization that abandoned him. And honestly, good for him.
And yes, this friendly fire incident was one that MacFarland will never be able to live down.
Colorado Got Exposed
Consistency, whether it’s hockey, baseball, football, or even racing, makes a championship team. This writer comes from the fighting world. There are so many cases where top fighters lose a match, and the first thing they do is fire their trainer and hire a new one. 99% of the time, those fighters never reach their full potential. That chemistry between fighter and trainer is the bread and butter; the same goes with hockey players. That brotherhood is built and developed over a sustained period of time. It requires a special bond to produce something as rare and esteemed as a Stanley Cup championship. You can’t add a new ingredient to the sauce with abandon and possibly think that people loyal to your restaurant for years won’t notice that something seems a little off with the taste. No disrespect to Nečas or Drury, or Nelson, they’re all solid players, but it takes time to build chemistry. You can’t expect to bring in a bunch of random players late in the season and expect for magic to be unearthed. This isn’t The Mighty Ducks.
When healthy, Rantanen was averaging about 94 points a season for the Avalanche. Why risk it? This was the video game equivalent of clicking the fantasy draft button on franchise mode and praying you’d get a line of studs.
Long story short, MacFarland needs to be fired.
Jared Bednar
Bednar is a good man and a solid coach, but he’s not a great coach. Take a young fighter with a lot of power, for instance, and put him up against an experienced former world champion who can weather a storm. The young fighter lights up the older fighter for the first four rounds. The young guy thought he’d take his adversary out early. Well, he’s still there, and he’s getting stronger as the rounds go on. The young fighter only knows one way to fight, going forward. On the other end of the ring, his enemy has 15 different tools in the toolbox. He can box; he can bang; he can tie you up on the inside; he can lean on you and wear you down, etc. This is how it’s been for Bednar against Pete DeBoer because he doesn’t make adjustments. That younger fighter always played his cards too early, and the more experienced warrior was able to stop him late. The difference is that in hockey, it’s a seven-game series and despite having the extra opportunities, Colorado continuously blew third period leads because we went out there with the same plan basically each game and expected different results.
Game 7’s have traditionally been a sore spot for the Avalanche since 2002, and in particular, with Dallas. Joel Kiviranta, who ironically is on our team now, scored a hat-trick in Game 7 of 2019-2020 postseason, Matt Duchene sent us home last year, and Rantanen made us miserable for another offseason. And with that, probably for the remainder of his contract with Dallas.
As great as Bednar has been for this team, he’s won a championship in every level of hockey he’s coached, but it’s time to go. We’re not moving in a solid direction, and we keep repeating the same cycle every season. Thank you for all you’ve done, Coach.