Avalanche Lock Up Martin Necas To Long-Term Deal

The Avalanche signed Martin Necas to an eight-year contract extension, the team announced on Thursday.

The bonus-laden front-loaded deal will carry an $11.5 million AAV and has a full no-move clause for the first seven years, before shifting to a modified no-move.

Necas #GoAvsGo 8 x $11.5M Cap Hit extension:

Yr 1: 6M Base & 8M Signing Bonus
Yr 2 & 3: 5M & 9M SB
Yr 4: 4.9M & 9M SB
Yr 5: 5.9M & 4.5M SB
Yr 6 & 7: 1.65M & 7M SB
Yr 8: 1.5M & 6.9M SB

No Move Clause & 15 team no trade Year 8

Rep'd by @Mike_ESMHockeyhttps://t.co/nPQx63nXjC

— PuckPedia (@PuckPedia) October 30, 2025

Necas, 26, is in the last year of his current contract and would’ve been an unrestricted free agent on July 1. He was the main piece the Avs acquired from the Carolina Hurricanes in the Mikko Rantanen trade last January, and will make $500,000 less than Rantanen on an annual basis.

Rantanen eventually landed in Dallas and signed a $12 million AAV — less than what many expected him to get. Ever since the contract was signed, the focus had shifted to Necas, who was also looking to capitalize with his new club.

Necas could’ve been the big UFA on July 1, given that others like Kirill Kaprizov, Connor McDavid, Jack Eichel, and Connor McDavid had already signed extensions with their respective teams.

“Now I can just focus on playing hockey games and doing whatever it takes to bring a Cup back here to Colorado,” Necas told reporters after Thursday’s practice.

Necas was a complicated player in Carolina. On one hand, he was probably their most purely talented skater, but on the other, he never really got the role he wanted and was often playing behind Sebastian Aho, Andrei Svechnikov, and other core pieces.

His current two-year contract, which carries a $6.5 million AAV, was signed in the summer of 2024, months before the Hurricanes used him as a trade chip to acquire Rantanen. After his entry-level contract, which lasted five seasons, Necas signed two more contracts with Carolina, both of which were two years in length.

This is his first time locking in a long-term deal.

“It’s nice to see that trust from them and trust in me, and that’s something new,” he said.

Through the first 11 games of the year, Necas has seven goals, six assists, 13 points and is averaging a career-high 21:15 per game. He’s riding shotgun with Nathan MacKinnon on the top line and is a regular on the top power-play unit.

Necas’ stock has been rising over the last 18 months, and, if his chemistry with MacKinnon continues to develop, he could be a regular 90-100 point producer on a talented Avalanche team.

His playoff production wasn’t there in his first opportunity in Colorado, but that’s something he and the team both expect will evolve.

“He’s an electric top line winger,” general manager Chris MacFarland said. “He’s a very good hockey player, and we’re lucky to have him.”

Starting next September, players will no longer be allowed to sign eight-year contracts, as the new CBA will max deals out at seven. The Avs, who previously signed Valeri Nichushkin and MacKinnon for eight years, will now shift their focus to Cale Makar, who is eligible for a new deal starting July 1.

With MacKinnon at $12.6 million, and Necas just over a million less, Makar’s contract is expected to blow past both numbers, and could even see him become the highest-paid player in the NHL — a status currently held by Kaprizov ($17 million AAV).

Once Makar’s locked up, preferably for eight years, the Avalanche’s core will all be under contract for the foreseeable future.

The Necas deal helps steer them in that direction.

“He wanted to stay, we wanted to have him,” head coach Jared Bednar said. “I’m really glad we were able to get it done.”