RALEIGH, North Carolina: After a summer filled with rumors about the future of Martin Necas, the Carolina Hurricanes have announced that he’s sticking around.
A fan-favorite, Necas was signed to a two-year, thirteen-million-dollar deal on July 29. The forward narrowly avoided arbitration, with a hearing planned for August 4. His RFA (restricted free-agent) status was one of the offseason’s biggest stories, with the summer being filled with trade rumors and alleged dissatisfaction with his prior role in the organization.
Necas has been a central part of the Hurricanes offensive core since his draft in 2017. Notorious for being “the overtime king” of the Hurricanes, his consecutive seasons of scoring seventy-one and fifty-three points have made him one of the most desired forwards in the NHL. After the Hurricanes elimination during the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs, Necas traveled overseas for the IIHF World Championships, representing his home country of the Czech Republic. That team, including Boston Bruins star David Pastrnak, led the country to its first international gold medal since 2010.
In the organization’s July 29 press release, Carolina GM Eric Tulsky stated that Necas will “play a continued role in the success of the franchise.”
At the end of the two-year deal, Necas will be an unrestricted free agent. The deal totals to a six-and-a-half million dollar cap hit for the Hurricanes.
As for the city of Raleigh and Hurricanes fans everywhere, excitement is in the air for the future, especially with one final deal — and a highly anticipated one — left for Tulsky. But for now, as Hurricanes fans have said since 2017, it’s impossible to spell “Canes” without “Necas”.
