Macfarland off to an excellent start
Bringing back Kadri as Colorado’s second-line center is still in play. "We've asked Naz's agent to keep us in the loop on it," Macfarland said.
Joe Sakic relinquished his role as Avalanche general manager on Monday, handing it to seven-year assistant Chris Macfarland.
How much Sakic, the reigning general manager of the year, still has a say on player personnel matters as president of hockey operations is unclear, but this front office has continued to make shrewd Stanley Cup-worthy moves since Macfarland took over.
Wednesday’s in-house free agent signings, coupled with what Sakic and Macfarland accomplished last week, far outweighed the inevitable free-agent departures for the Stanley Cup champions.
And bringing back Nazem Kadri as their second-line center is still in play.
“We’ve asked Naz’s agent to keep us in the loop on it,” Macfarland said late Wednesday afternoon, seven hours after the market opened and with Kadri still an unrestricted free agent.
“Obviously, he’s a high-priority player, deservedly so … that’s the best I can say on that.”
Kadri might want to help keep the band together like a handful of others have chosen to do.
Two days after locking up power forward Valeri Nichushkin to an eight-year deal — preventing the big Russian from testing the free-agent market — Macfarland did the same with shutdown defenseman Josh Manson and depth forward Darren Helm, signing both Wednesday.
In the 11th hour before free agency began at 10 a.m., Macfarland made Manson and Helm unavailable to outsiders. Manson agreed to a four-year contract worth $18 million and Helm signed for one year and $1.25 million.
An hour later, and under no urgent timeframe because of ex