Trades get judged twice: the day they happen, and a year later when the results are in. When Colorado moved Mikko Rantanen and got Martin Necas back, the first verdict was harsh, a franchise winger swapped for a good-not-great scorer, a downgrade dressed up as a hockey deal. The second verdict is in now, and it looks very different. Necas put up 100 points for the Avalanche and drove play like a genuine second star. The trade did not just work. It gave Colorado the one thing it was missing.
| Player | Points | On-ice xGF% | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nathan MacKinnon | 127 | 65% | The engine |
| Martin Necas | 100 | 64% | The Rantanen-trade return at his ceiling |
| Cale Makar | 79 | 60% | The Norris-level defenceman |
| Brock Nelson | 65 | 61% | Third-line depth |
Start with the leap, because it is real and it is large. A hundred points is not a nice bounce; it is a jump into the top tier of NHL forwards, and Necas did it while driving a 64 percent on-ice share, second on the team only to Nathan MacKinnon. Colorado controlled the game at an elite rate whenever Necas was out there, and the plus-twelve on-off says he was not merely along for the ride on a great team. He was one of its engines. The player who arrived under the shadow of the man he was traded for spent the season stepping out of it entirely.
Why this is the piece Colorado needed
The Avalanche have had MacKinnon and Cale Makar for years, two of the best players alive at their positions, and they have still occasionally looked top-heavy, a team that could be slowed if an opponent keyed on the MacKinnon line. What they lacked was a genuine second scoring threat who could carry his own minutes and punish teams for over-committing. Necas is exactly that. His speed and skill fit Colorado's transition game perfectly, and whether he plays alongside MacKinnon or anchors a second unit, he gives the Avalanche a one-two punch few rosters can match. As I noted breaking down Colorado's embarrassment of riches, this is a team with four different scoring tiers, from MacKinnon's 127 to Brock Nelson's 33 goals as a third-line centre, and Necas at 100 is the piece that turned deep into unfair.
The fit is the whole point
It is worth dwelling on how well Necas suits this specific team, because a 100-point season is partly talent and partly context, and Colorado's context is ideal for him. The Avalanche play a fast, north-south, possession-heavy game that rewards exactly the skills Necas has: straight-line speed, the ability to carry the puck through the neutral zone, and the finishing to punish the chances that pace creates. On a slower, more defensive team, Necas might be a very good 75-point winger. On this one, surrounded by drivers and playing the system that fits him, he is a 100-point one. The trade was not just acquiring a good player; it was acquiring the right player for the way Colorado wants to play.
The honest caveat
Two things temper the celebration. First, 100 points may include some career-year finishing, and a repeat at exactly that number is not guaranteed; even a step back to 80-85 points would still make the trade a clear win, but the 100 should not be treated as a new floor. Second, Necas is not an elite defensive player, and his value is tilted heavily toward offence, which matters more in the one place Colorado keeps falling short. Because the Avalanche's problem was never the regular season. It is the spring, and a second scoring star, however good, does not answer the goaltending questions that have ended their recent playoff runs. Necas makes the best regular-season team in hockey even better. Whether that finally translates in June is a different, older question.
The fit with MacKinnon
The reason the 100 points may not be a fluke is how cleanly Necas fits this specific team. Colorado plays fast, north-south, possession-heavy hockey that rewards exactly his skills: straight-line speed, clean puck-carrying through the neutral zone, and the finishing to punish the chances that pace creates. On a slower, more structured team, Necas might be a very good 75-point winger. On this one, surrounded by drivers and playing the system built for his game, he is a 100-point one. Whether he rides shotgun with MacKinnon or anchors a second line that forces opponents to choose which unit to defend, he gives the Avalanche a dimension they genuinely lacked, a second wave that makes keying on the top line a losing proposition.
The playoff question that still looms
And yet the caveat that shadows every Colorado season has to be said plainly, because a second scoring star does not touch it. The Avalanche have been the class of the regular season for years and it has not translated into the deep runs their talent demands, and the recurring culprit has been the crease rather than the skaters. Necas makes Colorado a better regular-season team and a better bet in a seven-game series where it can roll two scoring lines at a tiring opponent. He does not answer whether the goaltending holds up over four rounds, which is the only question that has actually ended the Avalanche's recent springs. That is the strange place this excellent team lives: loaded at every skater position, with the trade that was supposed to be a downgrade now looking like a coup, and still hostage to the one position a 100-point winger cannot fix.
What it means
The Rantanen trade will be relitigated for years, and the early narrative that Colorado lost it can now be retired. Necas is a 100-point driver, the second star the Avalanche spent years lacking, and the fit could not be cleaner. Colorado is loaded, top to bottom, in a way almost no team can match, and the Rantanen deal is a big reason why. The only thing left to prove is the only thing that ever mattered here, and it will not be settled until the playoffs. But on the merits of the trade itself, the verdict is clear: Colorado won it, and Martin Necas is the proof.