MacFarland Wins NHL GM Honor
Chris MacFarland named NHL's General Manager of the Year; replaces Barry Trotz for Avalanche
Chris MacFarland finished runner-up for the Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award after leading the Colorado Avalanche to a historic 2025-26 season. The announcement came June 26 during the first round of the NHL Draft in Buffalo, with Minnesota Wild GM Bill Guerin taking the top honor. NHL.com confirmed the final vote tally on June 27.
MacFarland actually earned more first-place votes than Guerin — 20 to Guerin's 14. But Guerin appeared on more total ballots, 37 of 40, to win on aggregate points, 131 to 123, according to NHL.com.
Avalanche Post a Historic Season Under MacFarland
The Avalanche finished the regular season with 121 points, the most in franchise history. That mark secured Colorado's fourth Presidents' Trophy. The team scored 298 goals while allowing just 197, making them only the fourth team in the expansion era to lead the league in both categories in a single season, per NHL.com.
MacFarland built the roster through aggressive moves. He landed Brock Nelson and Charlie Coyle at the 2025 trade deadline. He also signed veteran defenseman Brent Burns in the offseason. The Avalanche led the league in points every day from November 1 through the end of the regular season, according to NHL.com.
Why Guerin's Quinn Hughes Trade Tipped the Voting
Bill Guerin won the award in part because of one massive move: the mid-season trade for star defenseman Quinn Hughes. Sportsnet analysts called Guerin's victory a "narrative win" driven by that blockbuster deal. Guerin also served as GM of the gold medal-winning 2026 U.S. Olympic team, adding to his resume.
The two narratives clashed in voting. MacFarland ran the league's best team from top to bottom. Guerin made the single move that "changed the trajectory" of his franchise most dramatically. The award voters rewarded breadth of impact over sustained dominance, per NHL.com.
MacFarland Leaves Colorado for Nashville Job
Even before the award was announced, MacFarland had already moved on. The Nashville Predators hired him as President of Hockey Operations and General Manager on June 2, replacing Barry Trotz, who retired to an advisory role. Sportsnet reported Predators Chairman Bill Haslam called MacFarland the "perfect fit" to lead Nashville's rebuild.
MacFarland said of the new role, "My goal here is to build a winner... I am excited about our future," per NHL.com. He wasted no time reshaping the roster. At the 2026 Draft, he traded former Nashville first-rounders Fedor Svechkov and Zachary L'Heureux to Colorado for Jack Drury and Chase Bradley, according to Lower Broad Hockey.
Colorado Now Faces a Tough Offseason Without Its GM
Joe Sakic, the Avalanche's President of Hockey Operations, has stepped back into the GM role on an interim basis. The team must now navigate a depleted prospect pool. MacFarland's "win-now" trades cost Colorado key draft assets. The most pressing task is a major contract extension for star defenseman Cale Makar, per the Denver Post.
MacFarland spent 11 seasons with Colorado. He served as Assistant GM under Sakic during the 2022 Stanley Cup run before being promoted to GM in July 2022. His exit marks a significant loss for a franchise seen as the gold standard for analytics-driven roster building, according to The Hockey News.
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