What happens with Martin Necas, both on and off the ice, could define this Avalanche season

The eyes of four players in dark jerseys followed Nathan MacKinnon as he roared down the right wing and swooped behind the net.

When he reached the goal line to the left of the goaltender, Martin Necas slowed up just before the opposite faceoff circle. By the time MacKinnon reached the other side of the net, the guys in dark jerseys were already cooked.

Necas had glided to his right, and the 2024 MVP slipped the puck past all four of them to him. Necas calmly received the pass, took a beat and fired home the first goal of the Colorado Avalanche’s 2025-26 season.

The 26-year-old from Czechia added another goal on another wicked wrister later in the game. Colorado’s season was off and running with a 4-1 victory in Los Angeles. It couldn’t have started any better for Necas, who is in the final year of his contract and what could be a life-changing campaign.

“My agent is talking with them. We’ll see what comes up,” Necas told The Denver Post. “I just focus on myself. It’s been great. Training camp has been great. Just going to keep rolling, and these things will get figured out.”

In a season with Stanley Cup-or-bust expectations for the Avalanche, what happens with Necas could define it. He is a wildly talented player, fresh off a career-high 83 points.

His coach would like him to shoot the puck more, and the two goals he scored on opening night were proof of concept. Necas’ career high is 28, but he could blow past that this season.

The chemistry he develops with MacKinnon could create one of the most potent partnerships in the NHL. Colorado needs Necas to be a star to increase its chances of winning the championship.

“His on-ice skill is bananas,” said Avs defenseman Brent Burns, who was teammates with Necas for Carolina. “It’s the way he can skate, stickhandle, the way his brain can keep up with his hands and feet — it makes him one of the best players in the world.”

Necas also needs a new contract. He is one of the best players in the league who doesn’t have one for next season.

The Avs went down this road a year ago with the player who used to reside in Necas’ place on the depth chart. He was at Ball Arena this weekend, but with the Dallas Stars just months removed from crushing the Avs’ dreams at the end of last season.

Necas is not Mikko Rantanen. Neither side can let what happened with the Avs and Rantanen affect this negotiation, but the shadow of it lingers for everyone who isn’t privy to the conversations between Colorado general manager Chris MacFarland and agent Michael Deutsch.

“I’ve talked to the agent,” MacFarland said. “We’re not going to get into the day-to-day, week-to-week type of stuff. We’d like to get something done.

“We’re super excited to have Marty and think he has a fantastic role. He’s an important player for us. … The bottom line is we want to get something done, and we’ll see if we can. I’m not worried about it.”

Necas signed a two-year, $13 million contract with the Carolina Hurricanes before last season. He didn’t finish the first year with the club, arriving in Denver as the marquee piece of a trade package for Rantanen.

That Rantanen ended up in Dallas six weeks later, and ultimately ended the Avalanche’s season, is out of Necas’ control. That Rantanen ultimately signed an eight-year $96 million contract, below what he had reportedly been seeking while still in a Colorado uniform, is out of the Avs’ control.

The economic landscape has changed in the NHL since that late January trade. The league announced significant increases for the cap ceiling over the next three years, one week after the deal.

Rantanen and Mitch Marner, the top two wings in the 2025 free agent class, signed identical contracts with $12 million cap hits. But the top wing in the 2026 class, Minnesota’s Kirill Kaprizov, has already signed the biggest contract in league history, an eight-year pact with a $17 million cap hit. That’s $3 million more than the second-highest average annual value in the sport.

Winnipeg’s Kyle Connor, a great player but not one considered to be quite at the same level as Rantanen or Marner, just signed the same 8-by-$12 million contract they did to stay with the Jets.

Necas is one of four high-level wings, including Artemi Panarin, Adrian Kempe and Alex Tuch, who are still pending UFAs as the regular season gets rolling.

“When he was going through it in Carolina, when he signed his two-year deal, I was like, ‘This guy’s going to be a $10 million player.’ That’s not even knowing what the cap was going to do,” NHL Network analyst Brian Boyle said. “Now, things have changed a little bit. That’s the talent level he has.

“If he finds the right spot, this guy is a superstar. If he adds a little bit of consistency, the tools are there. Just a superstar. What is he lacking offensively on that team? So you position your top six to just be complete weapons. You have a decent third line. Martin Necas is a huge part of this. If you have him going and (captain Gabe Landeskog) is healthy, how do you match up against that?”

When Rantanen was traded to Carolina, he did not have much time to decide if he wanted to play for the Hurricanes for up to eight more seasons. Necas and the Avs have the luxury of more time to get to know each other.

Rantanen was, and remains, a proven playoff star. Necas was not early in his career, but the past two postseasons — one with Carolina, one with Colorado — have been an improvement.

Given the rising salary cap, Necas may face a similar situation that all of the elite free-agent wings will grapple with next offseason. There could be another team out there desperate to land a star player to build around, and therefore be able to offer more money than the Avalanche, who already have MacKinnon at $12.6 million per season and will soon have Cale Makar at a massive number.

“You want to be on a winning team,” Necas said. “That’s a big part of it. Whatever (the media) wrote in the summer, those are just rumors. I didn’t know about any of them. I’m happy how we’ve started here. I’m excited for the rest of the season.

“I was shocked (by the trade), but you just play and don’t really think about it. Now, having the whole summer, the whole camp feeling good here, I think it’s way easier to see it now. When I was in Carolina is in the past. I’m here now, and this is my home.”

The Avs were lucky to replace Rantanen with Necas. It’s hard to trade a star player in the NHL and quickly replace him with someone of similar talent and production. The Toronto Maple Leafs held on to Marner for one last playoff run — and that fell short of the Stanley Cup. The Leafs then dealt him to Vegas in a sign-and-trade just before July 1, received and modest return, and didn’t didn’t add anyone close to Marner’s level after that.

Part of Colorado’s message after the Rantanen trade was that the club lacked depth, so adding Necas, Jack Drury and draft capital that helped facilitate another move made it worth losing one of the most popular players in franchise history.

Now? The Avs have spent all training camp raving about the depth of their lineup. They need the high-level play from Necas and their other stars to meet their expectations.

“I think every team has the same mindset at the beginning of the season, but you really know when you have a chance and when you don’t,” Necas said. “This is the most talented team I’ve been on in my career. If you add the other aspects of the game, it’s really hard to play against us.

“It’s going to be an exciting year.”

The NHL wing market

Here’s a look at the top wings in the NHL who signed new contracts for the 2025-26 season, along with the top wings who need a new one for next year. The statistics are over a three-year span, from 2023-25.

Source: puckpedia.com

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