The Carolina Hurricanes had no trouble finding offense this year and one of the forwards who stepped up as a key contributor was sophomore Martin Necas.
Necas joins Sebastian Aho and Andrei Svechnikov as yet another talented young forward on the team who seems destined to be a key part of Carolina's forward group for a long time to come. Necas scored 14 goals and 41 points in 53 games this year, a pace of 22 goals and 63 points per 82 games. At least in terms of points, it’s quite the jump from his 46 point per 82 pace last year. He’s a dynamic winger with great speed, an excellent shot and very good playmaking ability, making him a threat on all fronts.
A key for Necas is that he's shooting the puck more. Last year, he averaged just 1.38 shots per game while this year, he was all the way at 2.15 shots per game. Despite the fact that shooting the puck may be creating more chances though, Necas is actually averaging roughly the same number of goals per game as last year.
That means the scary thing with Necas is that unlike some of Carolina’s other forwards who saw a spike in production this year, Necas’ shooting percentage was actually down quite a bit from the 2019-20 season, at 12.3 per cent, all the way from 18.2 per cent in his rookie year. Given Necas’ shot and scoring ability, it’s certainly possible to maintain a shooting percentage in that range or even higher on a long-term basis.
Something else worth noting is that while he was averaging nearly two minutes per game on the power play, that’s actually more than a minute less than Sebastian Aho, Andrei Svechnikov and Vincent Trocheck were averaging. Then at even strength, Necas’ shooting percentage at 5-on-5 was one of the lowest of any players on the team, which shouldn’t hold up, based on his scoring and finishing ability.
So while Necas took a huge step, it’s certainly possible his ceiling is much higher than what we saw this year. He’s still just 22 years old and I don’t think it would be shocking to see him turn into a star for the Hurricanes over the next few years.
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How many points do you expect from Martin Necas next season?
Carolina Hurricanes Blogger • 
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