The Montreal Canadiens should have a busy offseason. They have the fifth and 26th overall picks in the draft and a chance to improve the roster through trades and free agency. One trade target the Canadiens should look at is Martin Necas of the Carolina Hurricanes. The Hurricanes already indicated they would not be re-signing him and will be looking to move the young restricted free agent (RFA).
Hurricanes’ Cap Crunch Could Make Necas Available
The Hurricanes are in a tough spot this offseason. They have $27.3 million in cap space but eight unrestricted free agents (UFA) and six RFAs on the NHL roster to either sign or replace for next season. Building an NHL roster is difficult anyway but gets harder when multiple contracts expire simultaneously. The Hurricanes have enough money to fill the six spots on the roster; the issue is that all those six positions are either top-six forwards or top-four defencemen. Unless Carolina makes some moves, they only have an average of $4.5 million for each of the remaining six players to fill out their roster. Unless they plan to fill their top spots with rookies, they don’t have enough money for all six players.
The rumour mill suggests they probably won’t re-sign certain players like Necas. They hope to re-sign Jake Guentzel, whom they acquired at the trade deadline this season, and he will not come at a cheap price. This will open the door for teams like the Canadiens to try and acquire one of the players that the Hurricanes will not be re-signing. Necas is an RFA and 25 years old; if the Canadiens can trade and sign, they could have a quality player who can play both the wing and center. The Canes still have many decisions to make in regards to who to keep among Jordan Martinook, Teuvo Taravainen, Brady Skjei, Tony DeAngelo, Brett Pesce, Seth Jarvis and Ryan Suzuki, brother of Montreal captain Nick Suzuki.
Canadiens Not Concerned About Free Agency
The Canadiens are in between places regarding the team’s next direction. They have been rebuilding for the past two seasons and have already put several pieces in place to move forward. Their young players are starting to hit their stride and progress accordingly. Nick Suzuki finished this season with 33 goals and 77 points. Cole Caufield had career highs in goals and points with 28 and 65, respectively. First-overall pick Juraj Slafkovsky hit 20 goals and 50 points after a slow start, and newly acquired Alex Newhook also hit career highs even after missing almost 30 games. The Canadiens also have young players ready to leap into the NHL full-time, including Joshua Roy, Lane Hutson, and Logan Mailloux, who had impressive albeit small sample-sized stints in Montreal.
Related: Canadiens Need to Make Room on NHL Roster for Prospects
With only two RFAs needing re-signing and three players hitting free agency, the Canadiens do not need to worry about signing players out of free agency. They have 19 of 23 players signed already, and none of the UFAs they need to replace are of much importance. Montreal isn’t quite at the spot in the rebuild where they can make a considerable leap; they have some large contracts and only around $9 million in cap space for next season. Free agency should be the last resource the Canadiens use to fill out their roster when they have young players that can fill the bottom six holes they would have. If they do dip their toes in the free-agent market, it will be for a low-cost winger to play a fourth-line role.
Canadiens Could Acquire and Sign Necas
The Canadiens could avoid free agency but could look at available RFAs they could trade for and sign. Montreal does have an overabundance of defencemen in its system and needs to move some of them to make room for the ones it wants to keep for the future. If the Hurricanes decide to pass on their UFA and RFA defencemen, they could replace them with one of Montreal’s extra defencemen in a trade. Carolina would want a low-cost player, like Jordan Harris or Justin Barron, who are also young and have lots of upside. The Hurricanes, of course, will want more than just a young defenceman, which could be a problem for the Canadiens because Carolina will want an overpayment.
The Hurricanes will look for a significant return and hope that teams will pay more attention to Necas’ 71-point season than the rest of his career. His career isn’t terrible, but he is pretty average in production. He averages 55 points a season, primarily due to his 71-point campaign; his next highest was 53 points, an 18-point drop in production. He plays top-six minutes, and it should be closer to a 70-point season than a 45-point season at 25; you have to wonder if he has hit his peak. The asking price on social media outlets is the Canadiens’ fifth overall pick and a young defenceman or prospect. This is a vast overpay for someone likely to want a seven-year deal and over $6 million in pay. It is also an overpay production-wise, as he has not shown that he can consistently score at a 70-point pace.
Some could say the Canadiens took chances with Kirby Dach and Alex Newhook, who didn’t show any great production before they were acquired, and that’s a fair point. The difference, however, is Dach was 21 when they acquired him, Newhook 22, and Necas is 25 and will be 26 halfway through the season; Newhook and Dach still have time to hit their stride while Necas is at the age where if he doesn’t hit it now, he won’t. Neither Dach nor Newhook cost Montreal a top-ten pick; if the Habs want Necas, the 26th pick should be the highest part of the offer, with a young defenceman as the sweetener and maybe a second-round or later pick. General manager Kent Hughes should walk away if the Hurricanes want more than that.
