5 Takeaways: Sakic, MacFarland Discuss Disappointing End To Season

We never used to get end-of-season press conferences from the Avalanche’s front office. But that changed in 2024 when general manager Chris MacFarland and Gabe Landeskog met with media to discuss the captains rehab.

This year looks a little bit different. The Avs bowed out in the first round after an epic Game 7 third-period collapse to the Dallas Stars. MacFarland held court to talk about how it all unfolded, but he was accompanied by team president Joe Sakic. That in itself was new. Sakic hasn’t spoken publicly in this manner since handing the reins over to MacFarland in 2022.

Given how things ended and the Mikko Rantanen saga, it was a good move for Sakic to also be there. MacFarland has spoken about Rantanen on multiple occassions.

Before diving into my five takeaways, I did want to note that MacFarland said the only notable injury was Ross Colton’s pulled groin. Others played with bumps and bruises but nothing worth mentioning. Simply, the Avs were beat by a better team.

No excuses from management.

“It wasn’t about the officiating at all. We just didn’t get it done,” MacFarland said. “We had three third-period leads, with 12 minutes to go and some crucial times where we had to come through, whether it was on special teams or whatever, to step on their throat early in the series and we didn’t do it.”

Added Sakic: “I went through as a player as well. Sometimes things just aren’t going to go your way. I look at Cale (Makar). Like Cale played so well. He had as many chances in the playoffs as he did in the regular season on a per-game thing. It might have gotten blocked, great saves, just missing the net at times. Those things happen, but it doesn’t mean you don’t play well. Sometimes it is just not going your way.

5 Takeaways

Ray Bennett Fired

Jared Bednar was given a full vote of confidence from the front office. But one of his longtime assistant coaches, Ray Bennett, was let go on Tuesday. Bennett has been on the Avs’ staff since 2017 and handled the power play.

The team has had a top 10 power play for several years but given how things unfolded in the postseason, it was time to move on. There’s no word yet on who will be hired to replace him, but they’ll have a full summer to find someone, although I doubt it takes that long.

I’ll write about some potential suitors soon.

Rantanen Trade? No Regrets. No Comments

This was expected. Neither MacFarland or Sakic were going to say anything different. Sakic reiterated what MacFarland told us back in January about the team’s lack of depth and making a tough decision to move on from a star player given the cap crunch.

But the part that stuck out to me was that neither would admit that it stung a little bit extra that Rantanen did what he did in that series. Neither was willing to comment on the trade that sent him from Carolina to Dallas or if they regretted not working with the superstar forward to ensure he signs in the Eastern Conference.

I know they saw my story and I still stand by it. It’s a fireable offense to let things play out the way they did. That opinion won’t change, even if MacFarland has a great offseason and rebuilds this team to a point where they can content again next year. And the reality is, he probably will.

Trading Rantanen is one thing. But finding out he wasn’t going to sign in Carolina at the same time as all of us is a bad look.

“We wanted to have him signed,” Sakic said. “I’m not going to go into details and talk about negotiations, but I know his agents. They know where they were at before the trade was made.”

Necas Extension Talks

Martin Necas is heading to the World Championships to play for Czech Republic. Him and Nathan MacKinnon will be the only two Avs players participating in the tournament.

I asked about getting a head start on the Necas negotiations — if the team is ready to sign him this summer a year before he becomes an unrestricted free agent or if they need to see more.

“In terms of any player, whether it’s Marty Necas or Parker Kelly, or anybody who’s got one year left and getting ahead of it type of thing, yeah, we’ll look at all that and try and see,” MacFarland said. “It takes takes two parties that have to want to get a deal done. We all know where the cap is going the following year. So we got to look at what those challenges are, and make those decisions.

“But when you have a year out, it’s not as pressing, obviously, if it’s a guy that’s up on June 30. But yes, we will look at all those things and see if we can make the puzzle pieces work and have those discussions like we do every year.”

I personally don’t think management should let this get to opening night without a contract. If they feel Necas is a long-term piece, get him signed by October. Don’t let this hang over your head like the Rantanen saga.

Landeskog’s Return is a Big Positive

Having Landeskog back and playing the way he did is one of the bright spots of an otherwise disappointing postseason. The most important part is, they can now plan to have him when building the roster. There isn’t this weirdness with accounting for his money while not knowing if or when he’ll play again.

The Avs are ultimately going into the offseason with all of their top four wingers under contract and healthy. They have Valeri Nichushkin, Artturi Lehkonen, Necas, and Landeskog all accounted for. They have a gaping hole at second line center and will look at bringing back Brock Nelson if he’s interested (I have my doubts that he stays).

But, they know Landeskog is back, he’s making $7 million, and is worth that cap hit. That’s a big, big positive.

Speaking of Landeskog, they also were asked about him not playing until Game 3 and said it was because of conditioning and ensuring he was up to speed and when he felt comfortable. I believe this.

I don’t buy for a second that they saved Landeskog for his return to be at Ball Arena. It’s the playoffs. If he and the coaching staff felt comfortable playing Game 1 or Game 2, he would’ve been in the lineup. Every extra day he had to practice and get up to speed at the NHL level helped.

Nabokov and Gulyeyev

These might be the only two high-pick prospects left in the Avalanche’s system that are worth following. Mikhail Gulyayev has one year remaining on his contract in the KHL and that was all MacFarland had to say about the possibility of him coming over to North America for the upcoming season.

As for the goalie, Ilya Nabokov, things are still up in the air.

“We have had discussions with Nabokov’s agent,” MacFarland said. “We’ll see if we can find (a deal). We would like to get something done there.”

Evan Rawal of the Gazette reported that Nabokov is taking his time to decide if he’d like to make the leap to North America.