Avs promote Joe Sakic to president of hockey operations; Nichuskin signs 8-year contract

The Avalanche is shaking up its front office structure while it continues to build for its defense of the Stanley Cup.

General manager Joe Sakic was elevated to president of hockey operations Monday. Sakic will be replaced by Chris MacFarland, previously Colorado’s assistant GM. The team announced both moves with a joint news conference at Ball Arena.

“A huge day for our organization,” Sakic said. “I’m really happy for Chris here. This has been in the works for a couple of years. … It was the right time.”

Soon after, the Avs announced they were re-signing forward Valeri Nichushkin to an eight-year contract that runs through the 2029-30 season. The deal is valued at $49 million, according to multiple media reports.

Nichushkin, 27, set career highs in goals (25), assists (27) and game-winning goals (five) last season. The 6-foot-4, 210-pound right wing was phenomenal during the Stanley Cup run with 15 points (nine goals).

The dual front office changes are in response to MacFarland’s candidacy for vacant NHL GM positions. He joined the Avalanche in 2015 as assistant general manager and helped construct Colorado’s incredible turnaround from a league-worst 48 points in 2016-17 to winning the Stanley Cup. MacFarland, 52, also spent 16 years previously with the Columbus Blue Jackets organization.

“Chris has been ready for quite a while now, in my opinion, and he’s very well respected around the league,” Sakic said. “There’s been a lot of requests to interview Chris and I know they’ve gone well all the way back to when we were in the bubble in Edmonton. I think he interviewed with a couple of teams there. … Every day working with Chris, seeing the respect he gets from the coaching staff and the players, and around the league, he’s ready for this.”

MacFarland said. “It’s truly an honor to step into the GM chair and continue to work with Joe and remain a part of this organization with him. That was really a crucial part for me.”

MacFarland will assume “day-to-day” duties as general manager. Sakic, 53, will remain a key voice in personnel decisions looming ahead of free agency, which opens Wednesday. He is the first person in NHL history to win a Stanley Cup as a captain and GM of the same organization.

“He’s got great ideas, too,” MacFarland said. “We bounce everything off each other. It’s incredible to continue to work together.”

Sakic added: “We’ve talked every day for five or six years about hockey and going over things. We’ve always done stuff together and with our staff. That’s still going to continue.”

The Avalanche moved ahead in pursuit of back-to-back Stanley Cups with its leadership core intact despite title changes.

“It’s obviously a challenge in a flat-cap world,” MacFarland said. “We’re going to have to make tough decisions as an organization to try and find the right pieces that fit into the right holes that give us a chance to be one of the teams that has an opportunity for the next ‘x’ number of years. That remains the goal.”

Signing Nichuskin was a step in that direction.

“Signing Val to a long-term deal was a top priority for us this offseason, as he would have been one of the most sought-after forwards on the open market,” Sakic said. “Val is a big, strong, fast, tenacious winger who is relentless on the puck. He can play on the first line with our top guys, you can move him up and down the lineup. He plays power play, penalty kill, any situation you need him to.

“He works hard off the ice as well in the gym and is a humble person and great teammate. He is such an important player in our lineup and a huge reason why we won the Stanley Cup.”

Colorado has several significant contributors who are pending unrestricted free agents in forwards Andre Burakovsky, Nazem Kadri, Darren Helm and Nico Sturm — plus defensemen Jack Johnson, Josh Manson and Ryan Murray. Starting goalie Darcy Kuemper will not return to Colorado after the Avs traded for Alexandar Georgiev (Rangers).

The Avalanche has re-signed forward Andrew Cogliano and defenseman Jacob MacDonald.