It sounds like the Avalanche and Martin Necas haven’t yet gotten into “the nitty-gritty” of their negotiations yet, according to an update from NHL Insider Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic and TSN.
Necas and the Avs have been in communication, and the Avs want to keep him. We heard this from Martin Necas on the opening day of training camp last week. But the pending unrestricted free agent and the team haven’t yet exchanged numbers on what a new deal could look like.
This appears to be by design.
“There’s no question Colorado has communicated clearly to the Necas camp that it wants to extend him at some point this season. And there have been preliminary talks,” LeBrun wrote in a story on Thursday. “But my sense is that they haven’t yet gotten into the nitty-gritty of exchanging offers and counteroffers.
“It sounds like they’ll let the season get started and see how things are going before taking those discussions to the next level. There’s lot of time between now and July 1.”
LeBrun also said Necas likely won’t be one of the first free agents from the stacked list of pending UFAs to sign. Which makes sense.
We’ve heard all summer that the reason why so many of these guys haven’t signed extensions yet is because nobody wants to be the first to set the market with the rising cap.
For example, what if Necas signed for $9 million and then Adrian Kempe gets $11 million+? It wouldn’t look great for the Avs forward and his agent.
Also, Necas had his first point per game season in 2024-25 and he just missed the mark with the Avs after the trade for Mikko Rantanen. It’s wise for the Avalanche to see how he looks in another 20–30 games with the team before deciding his value.
But it still makes sense that they eventually find a way to come to terms on a deal that works for both sides.
We’ll just have to wait and see how it unfolds.
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