Deen's Daily
Deen’s Daily: MacFarland Will Talk Tuesday; Jets Stun St. Louis Blues in Game 7
The Avalanche’s general manager, accompanied by the President of Hockey Operations, will meet with the local media on Tuesday. Also, if you thought the Dallas Stars had a crazy comeback in Game 7, you should see what the Jets did to the Blues.
All that and more on this edition of Deen’s Daily — May 5.
Colorado Hockey Now
So many questions need to be answered. And most of them will be asked on Tuesday when Chris MacFarland and Joe Sakic meet with the media after a disappointing first-round exit. I wrote on Monday that MacFarland should lose his job for how the Mikko Rantanen saga unfolded, and I still stand by that.
When the Avs traded Rantanen to Carolina, I wrote that MacFarland deserves trust and patience to make his next moves. And how this all unfolds will determine his fate. The reality is, it unraveled, and the way the season ended should absolutely determine his fate. MacFarland did something that doesn’t happen in this league. He let go of a superstar talent — one of the best playoff performers in recent history — in the prime of his career, only for that player to end up back in the division with a team the Avs already struggle with.
You better have things work in your favor if you’re going to do that. They didn’t, and he should lose his job for it. Will he? Probably not, given that he’s going to address the media on Tuesday. But I still think it’s a fireable offense.
Also, Nathan MacKinnon is joining Sidney Crosby at the World Championships for Team Canada. Do your thing, Nate. You’ve probably tried before and failed. But it doesn’t mean you can’t try again.
On that note, I will write more this week about MacKinnon’s postgame comments from Saturday.
Read More: Flynn’s Take: Avs Needed Big Win, Suffered Epic, Embarrassing Loss
Stanley Cup Playoff Recap
Winnipeg Jets vs St. Louis Blues: The Jets trailed Game 7 by a score of 3-1 before pulling within a goal with 1:56 remaining. Then, they got the game-tying goal with 1.6 seconds left on the clock before winning late in double overtime to advance to the second round. What a spectacular comeback for a team (and a goalie) who needed a win in the biggest of ways. The Jets will face Dallas for the right to advance to the Western Conference Final.
Tonight’s Schedule
- Game 1: Florida Panthers at Toronto Maple Leafs (6 pm MT on ESPN)
Around The NHL
Pittsburgh Hockey Now: Marc-Andre Fleury is also joining Team Canada. He’ll play with Crosby one last time.
Montreal Hockey Now: What kind of contract extension will Lane Hutson get?
Florida Hockey Now: The Panthers didn’t need home-ice advantage in their series against Tampa. They won all three road games. They’re cool with starting on the road again in Toronto tonight.
San Jose Hockey Now: It’s Draft Lottery night! The league is adding a twist to this year’s event.
Deen’s Daily: What To Do With Drouin; Dallas on Verge of Third Straight WCF; Ken Holland to LA?
Leave or Stay: Jonathan Drouin Enters Third Straight Year as UFA
Deen’s Daily: Stuart Skinner Has Arrived; Canes Win Again; What Should Avs Do at 2C?
Avalanche Mailbag 4.0: Clearing Cap Space, Offseason Changes & Should Avs Re-Sign Nelson?
Nazem Kadri Throws Shade at Avalanche’s Management — Was There More to His Post?
Avalanche Mailbag: Let Your Frustrations Out — Ask Us Anything!
5 Takeaways: Sakic, MacFarland Discuss Disappointing End To Season
Avalanche Mailbag 2.0: Revisiting the Mikko Rantanen Saga
Avalanche Retain Jared Bednar, Fire Assistant Coach Ray Bennett Following Early Playoff Exit
Avalanche Mailbag 1.0: Coaching, Management, & What Went Wrong in the Playoffs?
I’m still waiting for apologies (not you Karl lol)! From the regulars around here that gave me rations of shit for crucifying McFarland from the jump when he made that idiotic trade. I love how everyone who for no apparent reason based on 3 years of subpar to dog shit trades & free agent signings thought this guy even deserved the benefit of the doubt in trading a future hall of famer in his prime (Aarif included). Now these people want to turn around & pretend they weren’t the same people applauding him & sniffing Martin “ice princess” Necas farts… Read more »
It amazes me that trading away a superstar talent was even a talk. I mean what is this guys problem. We won’t give MIKKO RANTANEN the time of day to reach a deal, but we’ll sign Casey mittlestadt to whatever he wants. MacFarland has been a god awful GM since he was promoted. The fact that he won’t lose his job over this (but the nuggets will fire their coach and GM) shows that we’ve become an unserious franchise. I said from the get go that this team would suffer from this trade, everyone gave me crap for it, and… Read more »
For the record I don’t think either McFarland or C Putz are getting let go. I’m indifferent towards Bednar. I don’t think he’s lost the room or the respect of the players. And in hockey those things go a long way. And he’s won a lot of games & obviously a cup. So until he has an unmitigated disaster of a season. He’s earned some rope. With that said. I wouldn’t shed any tears if he was let go. I don’t think he’s an exceptional coach by any means. And isn’t a very good tactician. And can be extremely stubborn… Read more »
I’m making over $13k a month working part time. I kept hearing other people tell me how much money they can make online so I decided to look into it. Well, it was all true and has totally changed my life. This is where I started
.
HERE—————⊃⫸ https://tinyurl.com/4e9eczre
Do you remember me? I’m the fool! Necas finished with 5 points in 6 games with a +2 differential. He is not on the ice when the opponent pulls his goaltender, which affects his differential. As for Rantanen, he finished with a minus-1 differential. If we take away his 2 points scored in an empty net, his differential is -3. By the way, the differential is a 5 vs 5 statistic. Necas finishes the series with a Corsi (puck possession) of 65.4% at 5 vs. 5. Meanwhile, Rantanen finished the series with a Corsi of 41.1% at 5 vs 5.… Read more »
Do you remember me? I’m the fool! During those playoffs, Necas posted 6.59 hits per 60 minutes played while Rantanen posted 4.36 hits per 60 minutes played. But our BIG Jeremy nicknamed Necas a princess on ice. Necas has 28 points in 30 games with the Avalanche but that’s not enough according to our Great Jeremy because many of those points have been collected on the PP. He seems to have forgotten how mediocre the numerical advantage was during the last 2 months with Rantanen when the PP was less than 13%. Is he the guy who said Landeskog should… Read more »
I hated the trade. Then became hopeful, Then thought it may have worked out. Now I hate the trade and want someone’s head to roll.
I get why people were optimistic. And yeah..the first month of Necas gave some reason to be.
I just knew from watching him. The style in which he plays. His past playoff performance. It wasn’t going to work, when the games really..really meant something.
He’s a highly skilled good player. But you don’t trade hall of famers in their prime for a good player & a 4th liner.
This trade deadline was a bust. Coyle is a solid 3rd line center but overpayed alot. Nelson was inconsistent and now avs will be stuck again trying to find another 2nd line center as Nelson won’t be resigned. Vesey was a solid 13th forward. Lindgren had up and downs but I’d resign him if the price is right. Wedgewood was a good trade. Blackwood was a good trade but I think signing him to 5 year contract was a little premature. We can keep crying about the rantenen ordeal but whoever thought he would’ve ended up in Dallas. I certainly… Read more »
Yes. Something else that we’ve had conversations about. No issue with the Blackwood trade. He was the only desirable starting caliber goalie available. Maybe if he (McFarland) hadn’t gone into another season with the Georgiev/Annunen tandem. That wouldn’t have been the case (Linus Ullmark anyone?) Regardless though. There was zero reason a few days after acquiring Blackwood to immediately ink him to a 5 year extension at 5 plus. Maybe see if the guy can handle the workload & pressure of being a 1A on a team with cup aspirations. Before doing so. Not to mention the guy had never… Read more »
Blackwood cost half as much as Ullmark and will cost about 3M less over the next few years. The Great Jeremy’s team:
Rantanen : 14 M
Mackinnon : 12.6 M
Ullmark : 8.25 M
Total : 34.85 M
Nearly 35M for 3 players. A chance that he knows how to count. Blackwood would have cost more as the free agent market approached and the Avalanche could have lost him. The Avalanche gave up virtually nothing to get him.
So MacF is staying? Ok fine, if they keep any of the coaches, I will become a Dallas fan moving fwd!
“Yeah, I don’t know, I don’t know what we are going to do”. If that doesn’t scream coaching change required, not sure what does. The Avs don’t have the cap space and/or picks/prospects to make a major roster overhaul. With Cale and Nate there is no way they go the complete rebuild route. That leaves making the current team better. Bednar, Pratt and Bennett certainly aren’t bad hockey coaches, but seems like they have run their course here and their message either isn’t received or not taken seriously. Really like JB as a person, but since CMac painted us into… Read more »
Bednar,& Pratt sure. But Bennet is either a complete moron or the most stubborn,inflexible,& predictiable underachieving PP coach in the NHL And this goes way beyond just this yr or this series. Unless he has blackmail material on Bednar there’s no good reason he still has a job. Nichuskin not being on PP1 is a fireable offense. If I have to explàin why -then you (or whoever) must be a casual-its beyond obvious statistically,eye test,common sense-whatever you want. I’m fine if they axe Bednar-pending who would take óver cuz you could get worse. But I’m not sure you can do… Read more »
Hard to argue with the PP summary. While the PK results have been better, mostly because OC, Kelly and Nuke are excellent, I don’t like the diamond scheme. Leaves way too many cross ice back door plays open. The Avs are excellent at shots against but middle of the pack on giving up High Danger chances. That is a schematic issue IMO. Like I said, none of these guys are bad hockey coaches, but to put a fresh face on what will be a pretty similar lineup next year, we need to change up the staff. I figured to a… Read more »
The Avs played a half-ass diamond PP kill and were caught in the middle. Not enough pressure at the point and then easy passes into the lower circle. And then what – – Sammy G to clear down low? I think Cale was hurt. That’s my only guess based on his horrific performance all series long. Maybe this will or won’t come out. Makar insisted on playing catch with Oettingers left hand and never went to the blocker side. And his shots weren’t high enough – – not accurate at all. Not the Cale we’ve been used to.
When you’re best player says “I don’t know what we are going to do,” that’s a sad state of affairs. If that isn’t a failure, coaching wise, I don’t know what is. But I think they’ll keep Bedsie with the same results as this year sans a roster overhaul. The only coach that is available and of interest to me would be Rick Tocchet. He’s a no nonsense coach that doesn’t take any shit. He’d see through this weak Avs backbone and drive hard to make this a more physical unit.
So..you think after that loss if you’re reading anything into Mack’s comments. You take that quote as an indictment of Bednar & the coaching staff?? I’m not saying they’re blameless. Ultimately I’m sure the majority of the guys in that room hold themselves responsible for not playing better & having a better series (Cale, Coyle, Nelson, etc). With that said, are you honestly going to tell me that Landy, Mack, Cale, Toews. Aren’t thinking or going to talk amongst themselves & wonder why their buddy & core member of their team was in the opponents sweater? Literally everyone in the… Read more »
Here’s another Nate quote…yes I read this that he is unhappy with the coaching staff as well as trading Moose. Both things can be true.
“I don’t know,” a justifiably dour Nathan MacKinnon told reporters Saturday. “Make better adjustments. We had looks. Not going in. Yeah. Bad adjustments.”
This is a completely different quote than what he was referencing. Don’t provide cover for that goof Rico lol. Absolutely this quote is a direct indictment of the coaching staff. And he’s not wrong. But as I’ve stated. The Jared Bednar is a good/elite head coach isn’t a hill I want to lay claim to or die on. I’m not some moron like Eric Lacroix, who thinks he’s the best coach in hockey. He’s had an embarrassment of riches as a head coach. And his teams have only got out of the 2nd round once. If he were let go.… Read more »
Your a major A-Hole Jeremy. As I mentioned before, CHN needs a blocking feature so I can permanently block your asinine comments. You’ve become older than “old hat,” and your daily diatribes and bullshit liter this forum on a consistent basis.
The Avalanche management looks stupid. But are they really? They were 12 minutes away and dust away to pass for geniuses. There is a very fine line between victory and defeat. Rantanen’s goals could have been scored by Johnston, Duchene, Seguin, Hintz, Granlund, Roberston (if he had played), etc. But the hockey gods wanted it to be Rantanen just like the hockey gods wanted it to be Kiviranta a few years ago. The advantage of the Avalanche’s early elimination is that it will lead to the departures of MacFarland and Bednar. That allows Mackinnon to join Crosby at the World… Read more »
Reading this thread, it would appear as if our back & forths have completely broken your brain. I would respond. But you’re so unhinged, spewing complete nonsense that I don’t know where to start.
You’re right Martin Necas is great. A perfect fit in Colorado. Thank you for setting me straight.
Reading your answers, it seems rather my comments that bother you.
Not at all. Opinions don’t bother me. But we’ve been going in circles over the same issue for a bit now.
You are obviously a huge fan (understatement) & believer in Martin Necas. Why…who the hell knows? I am not.
I feel like the end result vindicates my belief that the Avs shouldn’t have traded Rantanen. Let’s just agree to disagree at this point.
And yes, please tell us your views on the Rantanen trade. We haven’t heard them before.
Another jack-off response from King Jeremy.
Jesus Christ, Jeremy. Give it up on Rantanen. It wasn’t the reason that the Avs lost the series. Forget the “buddy crap.” One thing is consistent in all your posts and we’ll see from now to eternity is your blind devotion, infatuation and worship of Mikko Rantanen and your hate for CMac and the Avs organization. That’s a 100% guarantee.
If he’s talking I guess that means he isn’t getting canned. He’s got to go! If you’re going to trade a player like Rantanen you need to make sure he doesn’t end up on a division rival. Talk to him tell him we’re
trading you if you don’t accept this contract offer, where would you want to go? You know, how Carolina did it. Blindsiding him with it was idiotic at best. Necas was terrible in the series. Makes MacFarland look pretty bad.
Necas finished with 5 points in 6 games with a +2 differential (-1 for Rantanen). Necas finishes the series with a Corsi (puck possession) of 65.4% at 5 vs. 5 (41.1% for Rantanen). Necas performed relatively well. Read a little less of Grand Jeremy’s nonsense and read mine instead.
Lol..he played 7 games. There’s 7 games in a series. And honestly who gives a shit about Corsi. It’s a stupid made up statistical formula. As are most hockey analytics.
Made by dorks, for the dorks. So they could integrate themselves into a sport & culture they felt left out of.
Stars win cups. Not analytic darlings.
What do you think coaches look at when they try different experiments with the lines? Corsi. In game #7, two points from Rantanen in PP and an empty-net goal less than 3 seconds into the game when the game was already over. And Rantanen only made one point at 5 vs. 5 in Game #7. And you who have fun reducing the importance of Necas’ PP points during the season. Boots don’t follow lips.
So many dumb moves since he’s been here. Miles Wood 6-years 15 million? The Ryan Johansen fiasco. The list goes on and on.
The move that did me in was the Nelson trade. You just can’t trade the best prospect in the system by a large margin, especially one as thin as ours and a first for a 34 year old UFA who we have zero chance of resigning. Winning the cup is always a long shot, and that price tag is way too steep for 2.5 months of a guy who certainly wasn’t a slam dunk answer.
I agree completely. Nelson contributed a whopping zero goals in the playoffs.
That’s ridiculous-if anybody should go it’s Bednar.Im not saying I’d fire Bednar-he is a good coach. But McFarland did his job. Id do that trade again all day.Yes Mico was great-as I figured he would be.And yes he got his ultimate revenge on the AVS but they didn’t trade him to Dallas-they traded him to the East,& couldn’t forsee him no showing in Carolina,& ending up in Dallas. But because of the trade-Mcfarland was able to give Bednar,& staff-the deepest centers in NHL,& deepest forward corp weve had in cap era. The players,& coaches choked vs a Dallas team missing… Read more »
People are so ignorant. If you’re going to so ardently voice your opinion. Know what you’re talking about. Trading for Coyle & Nelson had literally NOTHING to do with trading Rantanen. If the goal/plan was to go all in this year. Why trade your 2nd best forward, 2 months before loading up at the deadline? And trading away what few futures you had left. They could’ve had all 3 for this postseason. I’ve already gone over how inking Necas to an extension along with Drury means they really aren’t saving any money against the cap aside from next year. But… Read more »
The plan was to bet everything this year? Rantanen’s value is much higher than late draft picks, Calum Ritchie, Zellers or similar prospects. MacFarland traded Rantanen because he didn’t want to risk losing Rantanen for nothing. If he lost Rantanen for nothing in the summer, MacFarland would probably have been fired very quickly. MacFarland also wanted to give his team a chance to win in the coming seasons. It’s no hiding place for anyone that by using a good chunk of the team’s payroll only on a handful of players, it significantly reduces a team’s chances of lifting the big… Read more »
I’d like the thank the head moron in charge for stoking the fires of hate and regime change.
what happens after the first of the year s nothing sort of remarkable, from goalies to center depth, remarkable.
yes losing Mikko sucked, still you have to have bad eyes to give him or his agent a pass. And to blame C-Mac singularly is childish and incredibly naive.
not another penny – this last couple days has been utter rubbish from CHN
Well, the DU Pioneers just signed HC David Carle to a multi-year extension. A very smart move by the Pios. I think the Avs will roll with Bednar until his contract expires (two years) or there is a disaster next year in not making the playoffs.
Go Jets! Jets! Jets!
Really fire him,
46 players, we had no 2,3,4 line centers and shit goal tending. We were going to lose Mikko for nothing. He should win GM of the year. I think I’ll cancel my subscription. What a reactionary and not a macro (journalist) point of view. Disappointed
He’s been the GM since the summer of 22. The reason the center depth was garbage to begin with was because of the moves he made. And guys he opted not to sign.
The goaltending needed to be bandaged because despite all evidence pointing to the contrary. He went into another season with Georgiev & Annunen.
Georgiev was not the cause of the eliminations against Seattle and Dallas. In the two full seasons with Georgiev as a starter, the Avalanche have 107 and 109 points in the standings, which is very good. The Avalanche have never struggled with Georgiev except this season. So your premise that it was a bad decision by MacFarland to start the last season with Georgiev and Annunen doesn’t hold water. Georgiev took up very little salary space, offered flexibility to the team and got the job done. MacFarland reacted quickly by replacing his goaltenders, finding that his goaltenders had lost confidence.… Read more »
So let’s get this straight. The two players you really want to go to bat for are Alexander Georgiev & Martin Necas. Have fun with that. I don’t recall calling you an idiot or a fool. But if the shoe fits…
I think you really don’t understand. I don’t care about Georgiev or even Necas. In fact, I don’t care about any Avalanche player. The only thing that matters to me is performance. What I defend above all is the truth quite simply.
And something you don’t give credit for. Barely a passing grade for Blackwood and meh on Wedgewood. Your hockey acumen astounds me. But I’ll give you high marks for bullshit on a consistent basis.
MacFarland had to leave and Necas’ performance was in no way in question. MacFarland’s mistakes were numerous. Among other things, he liquidated assets such as Bowen Byram to get nothing in return. He paid a high price during the season by trying to build a competitive team in the middle of the season while a team is built in the summer where prices are much more reasonable. Losing some of your best prospects to players who haven’t performed well and who will be free agents is not an interesting option when a team has virtually no draft picks. MacFarland failed… Read more »
Somebody has to lose their job over the 3-22 PP stat. There’s no way it can go unpunished.
I have never been a fan of rental players. The only time it’s worked out was when the Avs signed Ray Bourque. And we rented him essentially for 16 months. So the real issue with the Avs in this series was terrible, terrible inconsistency. Game 1 – Great… Game 2 – ok, but can’t finish. Game 3 – shit and can’t get it done either. Game 4 – boom…a Stanley Cup winning formula! Game 5 – whoops, what happened there? Game 6 – first period – amazing!!! second period…wtf?!?!? third period – I knew they could do it. Game 7…well… Read more »
Time to blindside MacFarland the way he blindsided Mikko. Use this press conference as a chance to inform him that he is being replaced by Rob Blake.
Wouldnt mind that LOL
Is there a set time for this press conference today, or anywhere we can watch live?
Asset management is biggest issue for MacFarland. Last year Georgiev was issue in goal and he did nothing in offseason. San Jose picked up Blackwood last summer for a 6th round pick. Avs gave up Kovalenko, 2nd round pick and a 5th round pick in a mid season desperation move to get Blackwood. Bowen Byram for Casey Middlestadt did not work out. Then trades Middlestadt, Zellers (player of year USHL) and a 2nd round pick for Coyle. For Brock Nelson he gave up Ritchie and a 1st round pick.Brock is probably not staying next season. Just these moves have killed… Read more »
Going to leave the Moose trade alone, been beaten to death on the site. As for the rest… Nelson trade, the worst overpay of the bunch and was never going to be a long term solution at 2C Coyle, another huge overpay on a player with term but isn’t worth near his cap hit. If we were willing to pay $5.5m for a 3C, should have just kept Compher, much younger and a better scorer. Byram for Mittelstadt at the time was a solid move IMO. Hot Rod was already making $4.75 on a 2 year bridge deal. He will… Read more »
It will be interesting to see how well Ritchie will do in the NHL Not a great world junior tournament for him but all of Canada junior team was bad this year. Yes should just keep Mittlestadt at #3C instead of giving away Zellers and a #2 for same salary Coyle at #3C. Coyle was solid when with Wild but he definitely is not the same player. The EJ and Lindgren Vessey trades I had no problem with. All the other overpays are going to hurt franchise for a long time. Need another bigger shut down defense at #3-#4 to… Read more »
The Avs could have easily win that series. PP struggles and Mikko going beast mode are the main reasons. But I take you back before the trade deadline when you suggested. Maybe it was a lost season. This team was not a contender for most of the season and McFarland did it an amazing job to put them in a position where they had a chance. I look at GM’s like goalies. Do they give you a chance to win. And McFarland did that. Your suggestion that he’d be fired is pure clickbait. Maybe there needs to be some retooling… Read more »
He did give them a chance to win but at what cost? The cupboard is dry now for prospects and draft picks. They went all in for the Cup this year and couldn’t even get out of the first round. Now they are pretty screwed as well for the future.