Martin Necas’ name seems to be on everyone’s lips these days. The 25-year-old center/winger has just won the World Championship with his Czechia teammates and he’s not worried about his future with the Carolina Hurricanes, but everyone else is. I’ve rarely seen the rumour mill churning the same name over and over with different destinations, but the player can only land in one team’s roster, so there will be a lot of suitors but only the chosen one will triumph. On Wednesday (May 29), insider Pierre LeBrun was on RDS’ Hockey 360 and talked about this very topic.
Kent Hughes’ Approach to Trades
From the moment the Montreal Canadiens introduced Kent Hughes as their new general manager (GM), he has been nothing but transparent with the media within the limits of what he could talk about. In his first press conference, he explained:
“If I have outside the box ideas, they’re not outside the box to me…To give an example, I find analytics are very important, to have information. The question becomes how do we use that information? Do we use that information solely to make decisions on players? Or do we use that information to ask with our development team that, knowing this data, can we take it and use it to improve the player or use it to determine that the player isn’t good anymore? I remember, a long time ago when Ron Hextall was in Philadelphia, he told me, ‘We are in the business of buying high and selling low.’ So, what can we do to avoid that approach?”
Source – ‘Basu: What we learned about new Canadiens GM Kent Hughes and how he plans to change the team for the better’, The Athletic, 1/19/22
Since then, we’ve seen Hughes execute a lot of trades and most of the time, he has managed to avoid buying high and selling low (the exception for me being the Justin Barron-Arturri Lehkonen deal, to this day). He did well when he acquired Kirby Dach, essentially sacrificing Alexander Romanov while he knew full well he had plenty of defencemen waiting in the pipeline. As for the trade for Alex Newhook, sending over Gianni Fairbrother, a late first-round pick and an early second-round pick was quite reasonable considering the success probability of selections made late in the initial round and early in the second.
The Necas Derby
Since the Hurricanes are facing some cap issues this offseason, it’s unlikely they’ll have enough cap room to keep both Jake Guentzel and Necas. Furthermore, Necas wants to play a higher role on an NHL team, think Jordan Staal in Pittsburgh for instance.
Clearly, Necas ticks a lot of boxes on the list of what NHL teams are looking for in a top-six player and as a result, there will likely be a bidding war to get his signing rights. His value has never been as high as it is right now.
Wednesday, on RDS’ Hockey 360, LeBrun confirmed that Hughes had called the Hurricanes to discuss Necas’ situation. This is hardly surprising, the Canadiens’ GM is highly organized and does his due diligence before deciding to set his sights on a trade target.
However, there’s no denying the Canadiens need some help up front. You win games by scoring goals and to do that, you need top-tier talent. Of course, Montreal feels they’ll be in a position to add top-six talent at the next draft with the fifth-overall pick, but it wouldn’t hurt to have options. Especially at the center, just in case Dach is not just the unluckiest guy in the world but also brittle. The Canadiens are a much better team with Nick Suzuki and Dach as a one-two punch, but Hughes must prepare for the worst. If Dach stays healthy, it’s not like all top-six spots are already filled. Hughes had to make that call, he had to inquire, but he won’t sell the farm on a player that’s already 25 soon to be 26, and has only hit 70 points once. Mind you, Suzuki will also be 25 this summer and has also hit 70 points only once.
Hughes did explain to Jean-Charles Lajoie from TVA Sports, how he wanted to build his team around a certain salary structure. He doesn’t have the huge stars the Toronto Maple Leafs have, but he’s fine with that. He’s building a team centred around scoring by committee. Now, would Necas be content to join the Canadiens in a top-six role and also earn less money than Hughes’ barometer player, Suzuki?
If the Hurricanes allow Hughes to test the waters and know if Necas would be willing to fit into the salary structure, the Canadiens’ GM may be willing to give up a bit more to acquire him, but I wouldn’t expect Hughes to put his fifth-overall pick in play. However, if Carolina wants a young defenceman and the Canadiens’ second first-round pick at 26th-overall, Hughes might be amenable to that kind of deal, but I doubt the Hurricanes would be.
Related: Canadiens Have Great Opportunity With 5th and 26th Picks in 2024 NHL Draft
Honestly, I would be surprised if Hughes managed to pull off a deal for Necas. Not only will there be plenty of competition, but the GM has a knack for surprising us with his trades. He never trades for someone who has been in the rumours, but he does often trade at the draft. Buckle up Canadiens fans, Hughes might just be able to strike again at this year’s draft.
