Hurricanes re-sign Martin Necas via two-year, $6M contract

As Chip Alexander noted for The News & Observer, Carolina Hurricanes president and general manager Don Waddell said last Thursday that a deal with restricted free-agent forward Martin Necas was "going to get done" ahead of preseason training camp. 

Waddell was spot-on with that assessment. 

Per the NHL's website and the Associated Press (h/t ESPN), Necas put pen to paper on a two-year, $6 million contract with the Hurricanes on Tuesday. The AP adds that the 23-year-old will earn $2.5 million next season and $3.5 million for the 2023-24 campaign. 

The Hurricanes are the only NHL club Necas has known, as they drafted him No. 12 overall in 2017. He finished this past regular season with 14 goals and 26 assists over 78 games but then only contributed five assists in 14 playoff matchups before Carolina was eliminated from the tournament by the New York Rangers in the second round. 

"I've got to help the team more, got to produce way more," Necas admitted after that postseason defeat. "That's what everyone kind of expects from me. I didn't do it this year. So, like I said it was disappointing for me."

In total, Necas has accumulated 45 goals and 74 assists across 203 career NHL regular-season games, with three goals and 11 assists in 33 career playoff contests. 

"Martin is a dynamic young playmaker," Waddell said Tuesday. "He has an elite combination of speed and skill and we think he'll only continue to improve."