The Nashville Predators are hiring Chris MacFarland as their president of hockey operations and general manager, bringing in a top executive from the Colorado Avalanche to steer the franchise’s hockey side. Barry Trotz, who had been handling the general manager duties, announced his retirement on Feb. 2 and will stay with Nashville in an advisory role.
For the Predators, the move resets the chain of command at a moment when the job has been open at the top. For MacFarland, it closes an 11-season run in Colorado and sends him to a Central Division rival that is trying to redefine itself under new leadership.
MacFarland has been part of the Avalanche organization since 2015, when he was named assistant general manager. He took over as general manager from Joe Sakic in 2022, after Sakic was elevated to president of hockey operations, and he leaves behind a stretch that included the Avalanche’s Stanley Cup title in 2022. Colorado also reached the playoffs in nine consecutive seasons, from 2018 through 2026, after finishing last in 2017.
His time in Denver carried real weight inside the organization. MacFarland is credited with signing Nathan MacKinnon to an eight-year deal in 2022, and he also oversaw the 2018 trade that sent Matt Duchene to Ottawa in a three-team deal that brought back three draft picks and defenseman Samuel Girard. Before Colorado, he spent 14 seasons with the Columbus Blue Jackets as director of hockey operations and assistant general manager from 2000 to 2015.
What Nashville gets is an executive who has worked in nearly every corner of an NHL front office, from scouting and contract talks to salary cap work and arbitration. What it loses is none of that burden falling on Trotz, who will remain nearby in an advisory capacity but is no longer the person running hockey operations day to day. The open question now is when MacFarland will officially start, because that part of the move has not been announced.
That timing matters because the Predators are not simply filling a vacancy. They are handing the keys to a new leader after Trotz’s retirement and asking him to bring the lessons of a championship organization into a division where every decision is measured immediately against a rival that just spent the last decade winning more often than not.
