Avalanche sign Martin Necas to eight-year extension

After potential 2026 UFAs Connor McDavid, Kirill Kaprizov, Jack Eichel and Kyle Connor all signed extensions over the past several weeks, Necas and Artemi Panarin were left alone at the top of the class for next summer. Instead of waiting to see what Necas might have been able to land on the open market for the first time in his career, he’s making a long-term commitment to Colorado.

Martin Necas has emerged as key player for Avalanche

As for the Avs, they didn’t have much of a choice but to keep grinding away until they got a deal done. Necas became a top-line cornerstone and their de facto No. 2 forward behind Nathan MacKinnon when they initiated a series of blockbuster trades midway through last season. 

Colorado was unable to make tangible progress on an extension with star pending UFA Mikko Rantanen, so it traded him to the Hurricanes and received Necas back as the centerpiece. Rantanen was similarly unable to come to terms on a deal with Carolina and was flipped to the Stars at the trade deadline, where he did end up signing an eight-year deal.

Leaving Necas in lame-duck status for much longer risked the same situation developing that torpedoed the relationship with Rantanen less than 12 months ago. It’s hard not to see the terms of the contract as a net positive for the Avs, who get Necas locked in for $500,000 per season under what Rantanen ended up receiving from Dallas. 

They also keep their internal salary structure intact by keeping his cap hit well below MacKinnon’s $12.6M mark, giving them more added flexibility when starting up extension talks with potential 2027 UFA Cale Makar next summer.

Aside from that drama, the Avs are evidently pleased with what Necas has brought to the table in the last nine months. The 2017 No. 12 overall pick had flashes of top-line play in Carolina throughout his development, but never put a pair of back-to-back star-level seasons together. That looks to be changing now. Necas crossed the point-per-game threshold for the first time in 2024-25, racking up 27 goals, 56 assists and 83 points in 79 appearances between the Canes and Avs. 

He had 28 of those points in 30 games with Colorado. He’s off to a similarly hot start this season with seven goals and 13 points in 11 contests while averaging a career-high 21:15 per game.

In signing his deal, Necas becomes the seventh Avalanche player signed through 2030 or longer. He joins MacKinnon, Valeri Nichushkin, Devon Toews and Mackenzie Blackwood as the team’s core pieces locked in for that long, while depth forwards Parker Kelly and Logan O’Connor are also signed to lower-cost, long-term deals.

Now, the Avs hope Necas’ emergence since the beginning of 2024-25 is sustainable for the rest of his prime. Through his first five full seasons in Carolina, Necas only averaged 23 goals and 58 points per 82 games. Now, he ranks 25th in the league in points per game since October 2024 among those with at least 25 appearances. 

Possession play, previously an intermittent concern in Raleigh, has also seen improvement since his arrival in Denver. He posted a dominant 60.6% CF% at even strength for the Avs down the stretch last year and has continued humming along with a 57.6 percent mark with a 62.2% xGF% this year.

Necas was finishing up a two-year, $13M contract he signed with the Canes as an RFA in July 2024. Now, he falls just outside the top 10 highest cap hits for the 2026-27 season. Six of the 10 players ahead of him have signed their contracts in the last calendar year.

The extension doesn’t cripple the Avs’ salary-cap picture for 2026-27, but it’s still uncomfortably tight. They have $16.125M in projected space, assuming a $104M cap, but nine roster spots are unaccounted for, per PuckPedia. That’s an average of just $1.79M per spot. 

The good news is that none of their remaining pending free agents currently make more than that figure. Their eight highest-paid forwards, their four highest-paid defensemen and their highest-paid goaltender are all signed through at least next season, meaning that $1.79M average to fill out their depth could end up being a feasible number to work with.