The Colorado Avalanche played four games this past week and came away with a win in each one of them. They first took care of business in Chicago against the Blackhawks. Two days later, they upset Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals. Next, Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins were the team to feel Colorado’s wrath.
After that, on Thursday, they added another loss to the Winnipeg Jets’ 2025-26 campaign.
One of the biggest players to make an impact was Martin Necas. Necas, who was acquired in January of 2025 from the Carolina Hurricanes in the Mikko Rantanen deal, had eight points (three goals and five assists) in those four games. He even added a power play goal to his week against the Penguins. Colorado’s power play has struggled heavily this season but has started to come alive as of late.
His accomplishments this past week have earned him Player of the Week honors by the NHLPA. He has been a big part of the team’s success this season, playing alongside Nathan MacKinnon on the top line. Necas is absolutely destroying his previous career-highs in both goals and assists. He currently has 34 goals and 55 assists with 11 games remaining.
He also has a shooting percentage of 19.7%, which is also a career-high. His previous career-high was in 2019-20 with the Hurricanes (18.2%).
Necas is tied for second in the league with Nikita Kucherov for plus/minus of +45. The only player ahead of them is Nathan MacKinnon (+57).
It should excite Avalanche fans that the player they once loved who they traded, Rantanen, has just 20 goals and 49 assists in 54 games. Earlier in the season, Katie Bartlett proposed a bold prediction that Necas would outscore Rantanen in both the regular season and the postseason. So far, it’s accurate. It could be that the common denominator is Nathan MacKinnon, but it’s still awesome to see that yet another player is having the year of his life alongside the Avalanche’s best player.
Honestly, it wouldn’t surprise me if Necas earns more achievements this season. With the Avalanche on fire and no sense that they’re going to slow down, the sky is the limit for him. Next, I hope that he will help contribute to more scoring on the power play as we head into the postseason in just a couple of weeks.