The Nashville Predators shocked their fanbase, as well as much of the hockey world last week, when they traded Luke Evangelista to the New Jersey Devils. Predators General Manager Chris MacFarland addressed the media minutes after the trade occurred and explained his thought process, yet it still was no less shocking to most who follow Predators hockey.
To deal away an ascending 24-year old forward who is coming off easily his best season and is still under contract makes no sense on the surface. It is possible that they had preliminary discussions on Evangelista's next contract and those were a big factor in the trade, as negotiations between the organization and his camp on his current deal were rocky last year.
We will never know for sure what role his contract played in the trade, but we do know that making moves like this is nothing new for MacFarland. Since he arrived in Colorado, he has been part of some big trades that sent some prominent players packing, most of which he has seen work out.
Nashville Predators fans should be encouraged by Chris MacFarland's track record of trading players away
Now, it must be acknowledged that MacFarland did not officially become the Colorado Avalanche GM until July 2022, so many of the moves mentioned here are not fully tied to his name. That being said, he has at least played a role in many decisions to trade away some big-time players, so it is safe to say he knows how to handle such situations.
Within the first few weeks of him arriving in Colorado, the team traded away a player who Predators fans have become very familiar with -- Ryan O'Reilly. His contract was nearing its end, and the two sides were growing apart, so Joe Sakic made the decision well ahead of time to move on and garner a massive return for the future.
Coincidentally, MacFarland finds himself overseeing a similar situation with O'Reilly now and going forward, so he may very well have to make the same decision.
Just over two years later, when the Avalanche were deep in their rebuild, they made a move to trade another former Predator in Matt Duchene. The Predators themselves were directly involved in the move, as they acquired Kyle Turris from the Ottawa Senators, and it aged poorly for them.
It worked out greatly for MacFarland and the Avalanche, however, as they got a major return including then Predators prospect Sam Girard, who played a key role to help win their Stanley Cup in 2022.
They also got a second round pick, and while it was not directly used, it undoubtedly helped them trade for Philipp Grubauer, which they did with their other second round pick that year. While he did not win the Stanley Cup with them, he was their starting goaltender who helped them emerge into a contender, so that trade was undoubtedly crucial.
Going back to the Duchene trade, it turned out that MacFarland was a key reason why it went down the way it did, which shows you how important he was to the Avalanche front office.
During the 2019 offseason, after they had just gotten back to the playoffs, they were at a contract impasse with yet another player, Tyson Barrie. This time, the Avalanche were clearly much farther along in their rebuild, so they used this situation to help acquire a proven big time player in Nazem Kadri.
Kadri was still under contract for three more years at this point and he ended up being one of the key centers who helped them win the Stanley Cup. It was nothing short of brilliance by the Avalanche front office, as they came out of a potential mess with an actual roster upgrade.
When the Seattle expansion draft was looming in the 2021 offseason, the Avalanche were caught between a rock and a hard place with Ryan Graves. They had several key players and not enough available protection slots, so they were forced to cut their losses and trade him to New Jersey for a prospect and a second round pick.
The Avalanche certainly would have wanted to get a bigger return, in a perfect world, but they were in a position where everyone knew they had to trade Graves. To no fault of their own, they had virtually no leverage, yet they still did what they could and got a top-100 pick in return, which is more than respectable.
Chris MacFarland's past work helped set up his very own masterpiece
Just under four years later, well after MacFarland had assumed GM duties, he made what is still easily the biggest move of his career. He put the jaws of the hockey world on the floor when he traded superstar forward Mikko Rantanen to the Carolina Hurricanes during the middle of the season.
It is still one of the more stunning roster moves in recent NHL history, because the Avalanche were still deep in their contending window and Rantanen was one of their top players. But, like many others on this list, he was nearing the end of his contract, and it eventually became clear that the team and player were not going to agree on a long-term deal.
MacFarland did not delay the inevitable and let Rantanen walk, he did not cave and pay him more than he wanted to, nor did he reluctantly deal him at the last possible moment when he had no leverage. He stared a situation of adversity in the face and managed to turn it into a best of all worlds scenario.
MacFarland sent Rantanen to the Carolina Hurricanes and got back a significant package including forwards Martin Necas and Jack Drury, who has since been reacquired by MacFarland in Nashville.
Some hockey fans are more critical of MacFarland than others regarding this move, but the way I personally look at it is this -- he turned a significant player he had to make a decision on, but did not want to re-sign, into major assets including a proven NHL winger who has fit in seamlessly with the Avalanche and has since been signed to a new contact.
As crucial as Rantanen was to the Avalance, he was never as important as Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar, and MacFarland probably saw him as not totally irreplaceable. And to his credit, the Avalanche have been virtually unaffected by this move, as their team has still been lethal and as mentioned, Necas has been a more than adequate replacement.
Chris MacFarland's strengths were on full display in Luke Evangelista trade
When you look back at the significant trades the Avalanche made in the time that MacFarland was there, the one word that stands out to describe them is assertive. They have dealt with contract impasses and other conflicts well before they have reached the crisis point, and have done so in many different ways.
They have turned these situations into help for the future by adding prospects, draft picks for future moves, as in the Grubauer trade, players who can help in the present, or even simply making the best out of cutting losses, as in the Graves trade.
The Evangelista trade showcased some of those very aspects of MacFarland's expertise, and while we do not know for sure if this was another contract impasse, there is a very good chance that it was, and MacFarland made a decision well ahead of time and flipped him for a strong return for the future, which can also help them make future moves.
His history indicates that he knows when a player no longer fits or has overplayed his hand relative to his worth to the team's vision, and handles them in the best way possible for the team. The Evangelista and Rantanen trades also show that MacFarland is good at keeping information under wraps, which is part of how he has had leverage to net big returns in trades.
Evangelista will certainly be missed in Nashville, but the contract situation as well as MacFarland's own reasoning make it understandable why he pulled the trigger. Predators fans should trust that he knows what he is doing until his track record tells us otherwise.
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