Hurricanes avoid arbitration, agree to bridge deal with star forward

Martin Necas will remain a member of the Carolina Hurricanes, after all.

The 25-year-old forward, who was a restricted free agent and had an arbitration hearing scheduled for Aug. 4, agreed to a two-year, $13M deal with the team on Monday, avoiding arbitration and agreeing to kick the can down the road on a long-term contract extension.

“Martin is an immensely skilled player who provides a scoring threat whenever the puck is on his stick,” Hurricanes GM Eric Tulsky said in a release , via NHL.com. “He will play a key role in the continued success of our franchise, and we’re excited to have a multi-year contract done.”

Necas, who just finished a two-year, $6M deal with the Hurricanes, had initially expressed interest in moving on from Carolina after not being happy with his role in the team’s offense, but he’d since come around to sticking it out after the team failed to trade him in the early stages of the offseason.

The Hurricanes reportedly had a high asking price for any team inquiring about trading for Necas, which included more than a package of first-, second- and third-round picks. GM Eric Tulsky told The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun before the draft that he would match any offer sheet another team could give Necas.

Necas had a bit of a down year from his breakout season in 2022, in which he scored 28 goals and 71 points — both career highs.

He still notched 24 goals 53 points and tied for third on the team in scoring, but his average ice time dropped considerably from 18:25 the previous year to 17:21 last year and he wasn’t as involved in the offense as he would’ve liked to have been, often playing on the third line after the Hurricanes acquired Jake Guentzel and Evgeny Kuznetsov around the trade deadline.

With Guentzel now in Tampa and Kuznetsov expected to sign with the Russian KHL, the door was opened for Necas to step back into Carolina’s top six.