Do Avalanche Fans Have A Right To Be Pissed At Chris MacFarland For Botching The Rantanen Situation?

Do Avalanche Fans Have A Right To Be Pissed At Chris MacFarland For Botching The Rantanen Situation?

When the first Mikko Rantanen trade went down, Avalanche general manager Chris MacFarland provided the dumbest reason of all-time as to why they pulled the trigger on the deal. Now that the deadline has passed and Rantanen finally found a long term home with Dallas, the details that have come out are downright shocking.

The details that have come out should have Avalanche fans furious to the point where I’m surprised they aren’t rioting outside the stadium with pitchforks…

Frank Seravalli on his latest podcast episode on the DFO rundown essentially said the Avalanche’s finally offer was $11.5 million AAV. Rantanen was asking for $14 but told management that he was willing to take less to stay and would sign if it was a $12 million AAV, which is below Nathan MacKinnon and the cap is spiking at a significant rate.

Rantanen was traded the next day.

All of this was essentially confirmed on the Spittin Chiclets podcast. That Rantanen actively tried to meet with management to get it resolved and they essentially disrespected him every step along the way.

For a player who has performed in the playoffs and helped the team win a Stanley Cup, I am shocked at the way the franchise treated a player who is bound to become a first ballot Hall of Famer.

This is the biggest problem Avalanche fans should have. It’s one thing to trade Rantanen. It’s another to do it weeks before the actual deadline and have zero interest in actually trying to get an extension done for a generational player. It’s another when you plan so poorly, you actually give the acquisition team a chance to flip the player so he winds up back in your division.

This entire situation reeks of bad karma and the Stars have essentially aligned to where Dallas and Colorado will square off in the first round of the playoffs. If and when Dallas knocks out the Avs out of the playoffs, you could argue fans in Colorado have the right to demand MacFarland’s head on a spike for his asinine poor planning.

MacFarland’s job should be on the line and I’m not sure how that’s even debatable given how this entire situation was handled.

Side note: The prospect nerds absolutely love Cal Ritchie. If he turns into a stud and the Brock Nelson trade turns into a significant overpay… he should probably be fired for that too.

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