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Martin Necas had an impressive rookie season this year for the Carolina Hurricanes and it looks like he’ll be a key member of the team going forward. But how does he compare to other forwards selected in the first round of the 2017 NHL Draft?

In his draft year, Necas was the 10th of 21 forwards selected in the first round. To take a look at how his numbers compare against those of all other forwards selected in the first round that year, I looked into how many are currently playing in the NHL full-time and what their points per game 82 game average was this season. Only those who played at least 40 NHL games this season were included.

Of the 21 forwards, only seven played at least 40 games in NHL this year. So this list doesn’t include Morgan Frost, Casey Mittelstadt, Ryan Poehling or Kailer Yamamoto, as each spent a good chunk of their season in the AHL. It also doesn’t include Nolan Patrick who missed the season dealing with a migraine disorder.

But here’s how the comparison turned out, using each player's points per 82 game average this season:

1. Elias Pettersson (5th Overall, 2nd Season): 79.6
2. Robert Thomas (20th Overall, 2nd Season): 53.0
3. Nico Hischier (1st Overall, 3rd Season): 50.9
4. Nick Suzuki (13th Overall, 1st Season): 47.4
5. Martin Necas: (12th Overall, 1st Season): 46.1
6. Filip Chytil (21st Overall, 2nd Season): 31.4
7. Cody Glass (6th Overall, 1st Season): 25.2

Of all forwards from the 2017 draft, Necas ranked fifth in points per game this season. It’s an impressive stat, especially considering it was just his rookie year.

It’ll be interesting to see how Necas continues to develop but it’s clear he’ll be a top-six forward for the Hurricanes going forward. Considering he was the 10th forward taken in the first round of the 2017 draft and had the fifth-highest points per game average this year, it certainly seems as though the Hurricanes made a good choice selecting Necas at 12th overall.


Here's today's poll question (results and discussion will be posted this weekend):

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