One Year Later, the Impact of the Rantanen for Necas Trade Lingers for the Avalanche (+)

Jack Drury always knew Martin Necas had this level of production in him. It took playing for the Avalanche to uncover what could be a 100-point superstar winger in the NHL.

“It felt like Colorado would be a good fit for him,” Drury told me on Friday, referring to last January’s blockbuster trade that brought both forwards to Colorado in exchange for Mikko Rantanen.

Saturday marks the one-year anniversary of that deal. One year since general manager Chris MacFarland shocked the hockey world, trading a world-class goal scorer and a key piece of the Avalanche’s roster to shore up the team’s depth.

MacFarland sent Rantanen to Carolina for Necas, Drury, and two draft picks. Rantanen was later sent to the Dallas Stars ahead of the 2025 trade deadline.

Necas, 27, and Drury, 25, are both key pieces of the Avalanche now. Necas directly replaced Rantanen in the lineup, riding shotgun on the first line alongside Nathan MacKinnon. Meanwhile, Drury settled in as a strong fourth-line center during the Stanley Cup playoffs last spring, but has played 3C this year following the offseason Charlie Coyle trade.

He’ll likely be back on the fourth line by the time the trade deadline comes around. But Drury has become a key faceoff and penalty kill guy for the Avs, and has given the team the kind of depth it hasn’t had since the 2021-22 season.

“I love Mikko as a player and as a person, and I was sad to see him go, but our team would look completely different than it does now,” head coach Jared Bednar said.

Rantanen extended with Dallas for $12 million per season. Necas will be just behind that number in 2026-27 when his eight year, $11.5 million AAV contract kicks in. But at just $6.5 million this year, the Avalanche were able to load up for the 2025-26 season before the cap makes a substantial jump in time for the Necas extension.

“Whether that’s Jack, Marty, the ability to sign Brock Nelson. Like all those things I’m sure come into it in the offseason,” Bednar said. “So I’m kind of under the mindset that I coach the players that I have, and I love our team.”

Necas is on an incredible pace. With 22 goals, 40 assists, and 62 points in 49 games, he’s just two points back of where Rantanen was last year when his tenure with the Avs ended. Rantanen had 25 goals, 39 assists, and 64 points in precisely 49 games before he was sent away on Jan. 24, 2025.

Last season was the best of Necas’ career. He had 83 points in 79 games. With the Avalanche, he had 28 in 30 games while adjusting to a new system, role, and linemates.

“It’s been good, especially this year. Last year, a lot of emotions and just not really being used to being here,” Necas said. “But this year I feel completely different. It was a good place in Carolina, but I’m extremely happy to be here. And being here for another eight years is great.”

Necas and the Avs were a perfect match from the onset. His speed, skill, and puck possession ability are best utilized in Bednar’s system.

Oftentimes, players get traded to teams they’re not familiar with. And the team acquiring them might not know much about the player. But that wasn’t the case.

Necas had prior knowledge of what he was coming to.

“Honestly, Colorado was probably the team that I watched the most, especially with the time change and the way they play,” he said. “I was always trying to learn from MacK, whatever he did on the ice. I was super happy when I saw it was Colorado. It would probably be the number one team that I would pick if I could pick one in free agency. So I’m happy to be here.”

The magnitude of a trade like this also indicates the team did a lot of homework. It wasn’t just Joe Sakic and MacFarland.

Bednar also had to know what he was getting. After all, he’s the one using the player.

“[MacFarland and Sakic] do their homework, and if something’s getting close, they’ll come to me and say we want you to watch this guy on the pro side,” Bednar said, “It’s good, because they don’t want to get a guy and then not have me deploy them the way that they see him being deployed, right?”

It’s a long process that further underscores the front office’s trust in their long-tenured head coach.

“Like, what can this guy do for us, and where do we think we can take his game? What do you see in his game? Can we fix some things? Can we get him to be better in certain areas? What are his strengths?” Bednar continued, describing the process of what management asks of him. “And so we get our heads together, kind of last-minute on that. It doesn’t take long for me to be able to pick up on a player and watch 10 games of his.”

Added Bednar: “It’s a good philosophy that Joe and Chris both have, because then you’ve got a really clear picture from your coaching staff and from management on what the player could probably do.”

Even a year after that move, the roller coaster emotions are still being felt. It’s no secret that Rantanen got the last laugh at the end of last year’s first-round series between the two clubs. It also likely won’t be the last time Rantanen and the Avalanche face off in the postseason.

But if that deal proved anything, it’s that MacFarland, Sakic, and the rest of the front office are willing to do whatever it takes to bring another Stanley Cup to Colorado.

With Necas locked in, Drury under team control, and cap space to maneuver, it’s likely not the last of the bold moves. But it would take something drastic to match the surprise factor of the deal they struck 365 days ago.

Author’s note: Jack Drury was nice enough to give me more than five minutes of his time after Friday’s morning skate to discuss the trade from his perspective. He spoke highly of Necas and went into detail about how the move has helped him grow as a player. He was eloquent and a wonderful interview. Unfortunately, my audio recording cut out after the first two minutes, and I lost several of the great quotes I wanted to use. That’s why this story lacks the Drury angle. I couldn’t quite recreate what he had said.