Avalanche's Martin Nečas receives $10 million contract update

Colorado Avalanche general manager Chris MacFarland can right some wrongs with Martin Nečas.

MacFarland incited rage among the fanbase after shipping superstar winger Mikko Rantanen to the Carolina Hurricanes for Nečas, Jack Drury, a 2025 second-round pick, and a 2026 fourth-round pick.

Rantanen was an expiring contract, and while he wanted to stay, MacFarland must have felt that Nečas’s extra year of team control and inevitable fit alongside Nathan MacKinnon would ease any doubts.

Now, MacFarland has to sign Nečas to a long-term deal to avoid a complete disaster. According to NHL Analyst Nick Kypreos, “the feeling is Martin Nečas could get $10 million or more.”

Nečas had a productive back half of the 2025 season with the Avalanche, netting 11 goals and 28 points over 30 games. He brought his yearly totals up to 27 goals and 83 points over 79 games.

Nečas will not turn 27 until next January, and has the speed and skill to handle MacKinnon’s heavy demands. However, should he earn $10 million annually, it begs the original Rantanen question: why not just pay him the $12 million the Dallas Stars handed him?

MacFarland and the rest of the front office could believe that, as good as Rantanen is (as evidenced by his spearheading efforts to eliminate Colorado in the first round of the playoffs), he does benefit from playing with MacKinnon.

Why not go for a cheaper, younger option in Nečas, who can serve as a franchise cornerstone behind MacKinnon and Cale Makar?

Whatever Nečas signs for, he will, fairly or not, draw Rantanen comparisons for the remainder of his career.