Post-Mortem: Who Will Be The Colorado Avalanche's GM And Coach After Sweep?
For most of this season – and the Stanley Cup playoffs' first two rounds – the Colorado Avalanche were world-beaters.
They won the Presidents' Trophy as the NHL's best regular-season team. They swept the Los Angeles Kings in the first round. In the second round, they eliminated a very strong Minnesota Wild squad.
But in the Western Conference final, Colorado was smoked by the Vegas Golden Knights, losing in a sweep that saw them thoroughly beaten, bruised and demoralized.
The way Colorado fell apart in the Western Conference final raises questions about who the coach will be next season and whether one bad week should prompt major changes.
Golden Knights Don't Touch Clarence S. Campbell Bowl After Sweep
The Vegas Golden Knights did not touch the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl when they were Western Conference champions in 2023 and later went on to win the Stanley Cup. They didn't touch the trophy again in 2026.
What's Next For The Avalanche?
If it were the cold-blooded Golden Knights that folded like a cheap tent as Colorado did in the Western final, Vegas GM Kelly McCrimmon would make extensive changes.
Whether it's firing coach Jared Bednar – who has been on the job in Denver since August 2016 – or making a major roster change, the Avs must do something of consequence to keep up with the Joneses in the highly competitive Central Division.
But Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman is speculating that Avalanche GM Chris MacFarland could be a logical target for the Nashville Predators as their president of hockey operations.
That would be different than MacFarland's current situation underneath Avs president of hockey operations Joe Sakic. So the opportunity for MacFarland – one of three finalists for the Jim Gregory GM of the Year Award – to have the final say might prove sufficiently attractive enough for him to leave the Avs for the Predators.
Is Chris MacFarland The Reason The Avalanche Keep Falling Short?
After another postseason collapse capped by a sweep at the hands of Vegas, the uncomfortable question in Colorado is no longer about the roster alone, but whether Chris MacFarland's decisions have actually brought the Avalanche any closer to winning when it matters most.
If that opportunity is really available to MacFarland, he must make a decision quickly, because there are plenty of other decisions to make in Colorado.
Most of Colorado's players are under contract for the 2026-27 season, as pending RFA Jack Drury and UFA defensemen Brent Burns and Brett Kulak are the Avs' only prominent pending free agents. But they are projected to have only about $2.9 million in salary cap space, so if MacFarland – or whoever is running the team – intends on making material changes, they're almost certainly going to come via trades.
The chance to play alongside MacKinnon and Makar will make the Avalanche an attractive destination for players – even those who have some form of no-trade or no-move protection. We saw that this year when Nazem Kadri was traded from the Calgary Flames to the Avs despite having a 13-team no-trade list.
So Avs brass must shake the trees to see if there are trades that make sense to change up their roster. Perhaps that leads to improving the power play that struggled for most of the season, or perhaps they move out some underperforming players to make space for upgrades. Nichushkin only recording 17 goals and 49 points in 72 games is a good enough case to consider shopping him, for example.
That said, Colorado's wheeling and dealing has left it with little in the way of trade capital. In the first three rounds of the next three drafts, the Avs have one second-round pick in 2027 and one third-rounder in 2028. The Avalanche's cupboards are now bare, and MacFarland will have to be creative if he's going to shake up his lineup.
From Dominance to Disaster: Avalanche Swept by Vegas
Once destined for a Stanley Cup run that felt inevitable, the Avalanche instead saw their season unravel in shocking fashion as Vegas delivered a four-game sweep that exposed every flaw and left Colorado heading into the offseason with more questions than answers.
If the Avs think the roster is fine for now, then the focus returns to the coaching staff.
At one point, Bednar looked like one of the coaches of the year for leading the Avs on red-hot stretches during the regular season. They scored the most goals this season and allowed the fewest, so naturally, the coach deserves part of the credit for that.
But since winning the Stanley Cup in 2022, the Avalanche haven't gotten back to the final and won three rounds in four seasons. For a roster as strong as the Avalanche's, that's not enough success.
The Avalanche will be a playoff team next year, and they're a very good bet to finish in one of the Central's top two spots. But the challenge for Sakic & Co. now is transforming this core into two-time Stanley Cup champions and a potential dynasty.
The Avalanche can't accept the status quo, but they've also got to be careful not to mess up the good thing they've got going in Denver. It's a delicate balance, but the Avs have to navigate the waters in their division and hope for better luck on the health front at this time next year.
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This story was originally published May 27, 2026 at 5:46 PM.