Vancouver Canucks reportedly interested in Martin Necas
Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman has indicated the Vancouver Canucks would like to make a move for Martin Necas, but can expect stiff competition for his services.
Arguably the most important takeaway from Patrik Allvin's end of season presser on Thursday, was his desire to make the Vancouver Canucks regular contenders. As successful as the 2023-24 campaign was, the general manager does not want this to be a case of one-and-done and then disappearing into the wilderness again for a few years.
Among other things, this of course means improving the roster. We've already made one suggestion, that the Canucks need to seriously consider making a play for Jake Guentzel, who will become an unrestricted free agent as soon as this NHL season concludes.
One player who the Canucks have been linked to is Martin Nečas, at least according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. While making an appearance on Friday's edition of The Jeff Marek Show, Friedman indicated the Canucks are considering the forward and it's a fit that he sees making sense.
The appeal of Nečas
Certainly you can appreciate why Allvin would be interested in Nečas, as someone who can undoubtedly help the team. More than capable of playing at either centre or on the wing, he's a talented play-maker, who's also an excellent skater and is just entering his prime.
Yes, the 25-year-old took a step back from leading the Carolina Hurricanes in scoring during the 2022-23 campaign. However, he still had a tremendous 2023-24 season overall, including arguably his best showing yet in the playoffs, albeit the Hurricanes were knocked out by the New York Rangers in the second round.
Now having taken all of this into account, it will be easier said than done in pursuing Nečas, purely from a financial perspective. He's a restricted free agent who will receive a significant bump from his current annual value of $3 million. (There is some speculation, his pay rise could go to as high as $7 million.)
In addition, as we've already noted, there is the matter of the Canucks having to consider two restricted free agents of their own, along with nine unrestricted free agents. As per CapFriendly, they may have just under $23.78 million of projected cap space available, but with the likes of Nikita Zadorov, Elias Lindholm, Arturs Silovs and Filip Hronek to consider, it's going to be an extremely tough balancing act for Allvin to keep everyone/make them happy.
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On top of this, there is also the reality that Nečas will more than likely receive plenty of interest from around the NHL. So by all means the Canucks should definitely inquire with the Hurricanes about the 2017 12th overall draft pick, but Allvin will have his work cut out in seeing their request result in a satisfactory conclusion for those concerned in Vancouver.
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