Nashville Predators Announce New General Manager Hiring
The Nashville Predators have officially found their new general manager.
Per a media release Tuesday, the Predators are hiring now-former Colorado Avalanche general manager Chris MacFarland to be the next general manager and president of hockey operations. MacFarland is now the third general manager in the Predators’ franchise history and the second to hold the position of president of hockey operations.
MacFarland spent the past 11 seasons with Colorado, including the last four seasons being the general manager of the Avalanche. MacFarland has helped manage Colorado to be one of the most successful franchises in the NHL right now. Colorado won the Stanley Cup in 2022 and made an appearance in this year’s Western Conference Finals.
“We could not be more pleased that Chris has elected to join the Predators organization and lead our hockey operations group,” Predators Chairman and Majority Owner Bill Haslam said. “We conducted an exhaustive search and were able to meet with several very qualified and impressive candidates, but all along, we were hopeful to interview Chris. He turned out to be a perfect fit for us – just what we were looking for to lead our organization moving forward.”
This past season, MacFarland was a finalist for the Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year for the work he did in Colorado over the past few seasons. The Avalanche have had a terrific duo of Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar that MacFarland helped to build around. Among the additions, MacFarland helped bring in Brent Burns and Brock Nelson.
The hiring of MacFarland comes at a pivotal time in the Predators organization. MacFarland is replacing Barry Trotz, who is now set to retire with the general manager position now filled. Trotz will be in an advisory role within the organization going forward.
“I know this is a proud organization with a solid track record of putting together teams that the fans of Smashville support wholeheartedly. My goal here is to build a winner, working with Bill Haslam, Sean Henry and our hockey operations staff and players to put a team on the ice that will compete for the Stanley Cup. I am excited about our future,” MacFarland said.
The Predators are coming off a season in which it fell four points short of making the playoffs. It was the second consecutive season that Nashville missed the postseason. With MacFarland now in, though, the Predators seem to have a positive trajectory going forward. If he is able to make similar things happen that he did in Colorado, Nashville could soon get back to being a winning franchise.
“As we considered the leader of our hockey future with the search committee, Chris’ name continued to rise to the top as a candidate we’d really like to focus on if we could,” Predators CEO Sean Henry said. “His background in Colorado, coupled with his extensive experience, makes him the perfect leader to propel our organization to new heights. He is a proven builder and winner and respected throughout the NHL. We extend a warm welcome to him in Smashville!”
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Graham Baakko is a lead writer for both Nashville Predators On SI and Vanderbilt Commodores On SI, primarily covering football, basketball and baseball. Graham graduated from the University of Alabama, where he wrote for The Crimson White, WVUA-FM, WVUA 23 as he covered a variety of Crimson Tide sports. He also covered South Carolina athletics as an intern for GamecockCentral.