There is so much truth in the old saying that sometimes the best trades are the ones you don’t make.
I present to you the latest and most relevant example: Martin Necas.
Holy mama.
Near the top of the NHL scoring race with 30 points (11 goals) in 17 games and riding a 13-game point streak, the 25-year-old Carolina Hurricanes forward is one of the spectacular stories of the NHL season so far.
So yeah, despite a trade request after last season and serious, serious trade discussions, Hurricanes general manager Eric Tulsky’s ability to stickhandle around it all and keep Necas around — signing him to a two-year deal at a $6.5 million salary — is proving to be one of the more prescient decisions of the NHL offseason.
“We looked at a lot of things with a lot of (trade) options to consider, nothing got to where it made sense,” the Hurricanes general manager told The Athletic in an interview Monday. “We know he had this kind of upside, so part of the conversation was always that he had two more RFA years, and let’s see if he hits (his) upside before we think about any other options.”
And that obviously made sense, but you also need the player to have a change of heart and re-sign. Which he finally did on July 29, signing that two-year deal and avoiding salary arbitration (he will be unrestricted free agency-eligible in July 2026).
But let’s not kid ourselves here, this thing could have gone a lot of different ways. My understanding is that 28 NHL teams reached out to Carolina on Necas, with varying degrees of interest.
The Jets were a serious bidder, to be sure. I’m told Necas would have been fine signing short-term in Winnipeg but not long-term, and that was a trade killer. The Blue Jackets and Canes talked trade at the draft in Vegas — not surprising given that former Hurricanes GM Don Waddell is now running things in Columbus and knows the player well — but that deal, which revolved around the No. 4 pick, also fizzled. Montreal was in on it. Toronto, too, but that didn’t go far. And in the end, Necas stayed put.
Phew.
And because Necas had filed for arbitration, the Canes felt comfortable things would work out either way.
“There was never a question of whether we could get him into camp (because he filed for arbitration),” Tulsky said. “The only question was whether there was another option that would blow us away. And nothing did. So we’re happy to have him back and we’re glad to see his season go the way it is.”
Did a trade ever come close?
“We had serious offers, but nothing that we were anguishing about doing,” Tulsky said.
The frustration for Necas at the end of last season was his role. He was a third-line player in the playoffs and wanted bigger opportunity. He has gotten that this year, and he’s flourishing in a top-six role.
The whole situation was quite a hot potato for Tulsky to handle after just replacing Waddell as GM. And it’s not as if that was the only thing on his plate. The rookie GM also had to deal with a high-profile negotiation with pending UFA Jake Guentzel, which ultimately didn’t go his way, plus losing top-four blueliners Brady Skjei and Brett Pesce to free agency. And then having to scramble and fill all those holes.
That’s a lot to handle for a first-time GM.
The offseason’s additions included Jack Roslovic (nine goals so far), William Carrier, Eric Robinson and Tyson Jost up front, plus Sean Walker and Shayne Gostisbehere (13 points in 17 games) on the blue line.
The concern any team has with so many new faces is how they will mesh and how long that will take. On Monday, the Canes woke up with the second-best points percentage in the NHL (.765).
“When you have five or six or seven new players, you probably have to assume that one or two or three of them are going to come in and not be quite what you hoped or not fit in quite the way you hoped,” Tulsky said. “But our pro scouting staff did a great job of really focusing on who would be able to play the way we wanted to play — and who would look better here than they might for some other team.
“And every single player that has come in has just fit.”
The offseason departures didn’t just include players. Waddell left a huge hole in the organization when his deal expired and he decided it was time to move on. His imprints on the Canes organization are still being felt, on the hockey side and business side.
“He’s a huge loss,” Tulsky said. “He was leading both the hockey side and the business side and every single employee reported up to him, and that means every single employee in the organization had change to deal with — a transition to fret about. It’s gone really smoothly on the hockey side. It’s been good on the business side, too.”
The Canes brought in Doug Warf as the new team president and Brian Fork as CEO to fill Waddell’s shoes on the business side.
On the ice, Tulsky isn’t getting ahead of himself. He’s thrilled with the 13-4-0 start but knows it’s a marathon, not a sprint.
“Right now, everything is clicking and that feels good,” Tulsky said. “We have to prepare for there to be lean times sometimes during the year, too. We’re not going to be winning 13 out of 17 all year long. It’s just not how the league works.
“I’m happy we’ve gotten off to the start we’ve gotten off to. It definitely makes things easier, and there’s a great vibe and everyone is having fun. But there will be tough times, too.”
Adversity in net looks like the obstacle to overcome at the moment. Veteran Frederik Andersen is out week to week or longer, and Pyotr Kochetkov returned Sunday from injury. No. 3 Spencer Martin has gotten three starts already.
“Obviously good to have Pyotr back,” Tulsky said. “He’s an important piece to what we’re doing. We have a lot of faith in him and are confident he will be able to help us continue playing the way we’ve been playing. We also have confidence in Spencer filling in the meantime as needed.
“We don’t know how long Freddie is going to be out for right now. There’s still some evaluation being done.”
I have heard from other league sources that Carolina has called around doing its due diligence on the goalie market, but my sense is it’s just that: due diligence in case Kochetkov gets hurt again and Andersen remains out long-term. I sense that’s Tulsky just being ready to pivot if he has to before the March 7 deadline.
(I wonder about Anaheim’s John Gibson as a potential fit, if so …)
But for now, the Canes are more than fine with a Kochetkov-Martin duo.
There’s a different GM in Carolina, but one thing that doesn’t appear to have changed is the willingness to be bold and take a swing if it helps the perennial contender get over the hump.
There were certainly some people on the outside who looked at the offseason departures and no longer viewed Carolina as an elite team. So far, those people have been proven wrong.
“We lost some really good players — important pieces to the locker room, too,” Tulsky said. “So it’s understandable that people would be concerned about how that played out. It could have gone a lot of different ways.
“We’ve been fortunate that our scouts helped us find players who come in and help keep us where we want to be. But there’s still a lot of work left to do.”
(Top photo of Martin Necas: James Guillory / USA Today)
