When the Colorado Avalanche traded forward Mikko Rantanen to the Carolina Hurricanes, it was evident that the reason for the move was because the two sides wouldn’t be able to come to an agreement on a contract extension. While the addition of Martin Necas has worked out, there are two things in particular that make that trade look disappointing.
The first one, though not as major, was that the Avalanche traded one piece of that return already—Jack Drury. He was a solid depth center, but was traded to the Nashville Predators for Fedor Svechkov and Zachary L’Heureux. Svechkov is expected to take on a decent role for the Avs and L’Heureux’s status might come down to a competition.
The other part of the trade was Martin Necas. Necas had a spectacular year with the Avalanche in 2025-26, playing in 78 games and recording 38 goals and 62 assists for the first 100-point season of his career.
Unfortunately, the fears that come with Necas were realized later on. Through 20 postseason games in two seasons, Necas has two goals and 16 assists. I think the Avalanche probably figured they could get a new gear out of Necas in the postseason. But his previous playoff performances were a clear sign that it was a risky move.
I’ve got no problem with Necas in the regular season. He’s shown up a lot. But it would have taken a lot of things to go wrong for the team to not make the playoffs. So, while I respect Necas’ regular season production, the lack of playoff production is alarming. That’s what makes me question the deal.
I also can’t fault Rantanen for standing his ground and not taking a discount to stay with the Avs. He wants to make his money now and it makes sense as he is nearing 30-years-old and this could be the last time for him to cash in.
Rantanen was a decent playoff performer for Colorado. In 81 playoff games, he had 31 goals and 67 assists. That’s good for 1.21 points per playoff game.
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