Nashville Predators hire Chris MacFarland as president of hockey operations, GM

The Nashville Predators are hiring Chris MacFarland to be their president of hockey operations and general manager, hiring him away from their Central Division rival Colorado Avalanche.

>MacFarland, who has spent that last 11 seasons with the Avalanche, will take over the duties performed by general manager Barry Trotz. Trotz announced his retirement on Feb. 2, but will stay on with the Predators in an advisory role.

>MacFarland, 56, has been with Colorado since 2015, when he was named assistant general manager. In 2022, he took over the general manager position from Joe Sakic, who was elevated to president of hockey operations.

>While with Colorado, the Avalanche built a loaded roster that includes Hart Trophy winner Nathan MacKinnon and two-time Norris Trophy winner Cale Makar. MacFarland is directly credited with signing MacKinnon to an eight-year deal in 2022, but he also worked alongside Sakic during the Avalanche's rebuild era — an era that developed MacKinnon into a super star and added Makar, Mikko Rantanen, and others to the roster.

>MacFarland also oversaw several key trades, including sending Matt Duchene to Ottawa in 2018 in exchange for three draft picks and defenseman Samuel Girard in a three-team deal.

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>Colorado's success over the last decade is undeniable. After a last place finish in 2017, the Avalanche have made the playoffs nine consecutive seasons (2018-2026) and won the Stanley Cup in 2022. Accurately assigning credit for that success is difficult, but MacFarland had a role during all of it, which should count for something.

>Prior to his time in Colorado, MacFarland was director of hockey operations and assistant general manager with the Columbus Blue Jackets for 14 seasons (2000-2015).

>According to the Avalanche website, MacFarland has "worked in nearly every facet of the organization including scouting at the professional and amateur level, player contract negotiations, salary cap management and arbitration, collective bargaining agreement administration, budgeting and team scheduling issues."

>A New York native, MacFarland played hockey at Pace University, where he received a bachelor’s degree in business in 1992 and a law degree in 1998. He began his career as an intern in the NHL’s New York office from 1993-94 and also worked in the NHL's productions office.

>Alex Daugherty is the Predators beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Alex at jdaugherty@gannett.com. Follow Alex on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, @alexdaugherty1. Also check out our Predators exclusive Instagram page @tennessean_preds.

>This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Predators hire Chris MacFarland as president of hockey operations, GM