How Martin Necas and Jack Drury have impacted the Colorado Avalanche one year later

Not only has one year passed since the Rantanen trade for Necas and Drury, but a full season of 82 regular season games has also been played in that span. Playoffs aside, it is time to delve into what impacts those two players have had directly on the ice for the team as well as some indirect impacts that have played a huge role in how the Avs are constructed as a whole.

Martin Necas – Coming into his own

Of the 82 games the Avs have played since the trade, Necas has been on the ice for all but three of them. Over those 79 matches, he has tallied 33 goals and 57 assists for a total of 90 points, which is tied for 15th in the NHL over that span and is three better than Rantanen.

Necas has blossomed alongside Nathan MacKinnon. He has acknowledged that he used to pattern his play after MacKinnon and that being his linemate is a dream come true. Both players think and play the game at a fast pace, and it has been great to see them learning to feed off each other.

The responsibility of playing on that top line has also meant learning how to elevate his game further, whether that be on the walls or making more of an effort to get to the middle of the ice to create chances net-front through his own puck touches or providing traffic to make life hard on the defensemen and goalie. There is a belief that Necas has not found his ceiling yet and that Colorado is the best place for him to see just how high it can go.

Jack Drury – Locking it down

Jack Drury is the only Avs player to suit up for all 82 regular season games that the team has played since the trade. He has produced a modest 12 goals and 12 assists for 24 points over those games, but his contributions run much deeper than the scoresheet. The most notable contribution has been at the faceoff dot. An area that this iteration of the Avs has historically struggled in, he leads the team with a solid 57.73% win rate.

He has also provided many valuable minutes on the penalty kill. Between winning d-zone draws and using his positioning to gap up and deny passing and shooting lanes, Drury has given the Avs extra depth when down a man, which has been extra valuable this season since Logan O’Connor remains unavailable due to injury.

Drury has played in an elevated role this season as the third-line center, which has provided some stability in the Avs’ bottom-six amongst a lot of moving parts around him. While his wingers are ever changing, Drury’s consistent play makes his line one that is hard to play against because they strive for control of the puck at all times and never let up.

Locking down the 2C position

One of the biggest criticisms of the Avs pre-trade was that they were a one-line team offensively and that, if MacKinnon & Co were having an off night, the team would struggle to win. Because of the flexibility that Necas’ current contract has provided, the Avs were able to shore up a position that has bedeviled them since their Stanley Cup run – that of second line center. With the extra cap space, they were able to trade for and extend Brock Nelson. His presence on the team has been a huge boon both on offense and defense. It has given the Avs another consistent scoring line as well as one that can take tough matchups when needed because of their size and heaviness with which they play.

While the ultimate success of this trade will be judged on playoff success this season and the next few seasons, it is undeniable that the Colorado Avalanche front office has put themselves in the position to come out as the winners of this trade, something almost unheard of when you are the team trading away the best player. The combination of Necas’ rising star and Drury’s unflagging steadiness as well as the other players they have been able to sign along the way has produced a greater sum total than Rantanen would have provided on his own.  Hopefully, Necas, Drury and the Colorado Avalanche can finish this season strong and bring those same contributions to a successful run in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.