Who says we still can’t have some exciting news around the NHL in the middle of summer?
On Monday, the Carolina Hurricanes and Minnesota Wild gave us something to talk about, as the former re-signed Martin Necas, and the latter extended Brock Faber.
Trade rumours swirled all through the early offseason, so much so that he landed in the second spot on Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli’s most recent trade targets list, seeming like a near lock to be moved.
Contract negotiations seemed to be at the centre of those issues, but the two sides have evidently gotten past them, with Necas inking a two-year, $6.5-million AAV deal. The deal, according to PuckPedia, will doesn’t carry any trade protection, and will walk him right to unrestricted free agency.
The 25-year-old was drafted by the Hurricanes 12th overall in 2017, and is coming off a 24-goal, 53-point season. It’s a step back from the 28 goals and 71 points he put up in 2022-23, so that was likely a point of contention in negotiations.
Even still, Necas remained a very effective player in their top six. According to hockeyviz.com, Necas provided offence at a 13 percent rate above league average, and defence at a six percent rate below league average. Couple that with strong setting and finishing skills, and he provided value equivalent to a first-line player. Not bad at all.
Here’s more on his contract, as noted by Daily Faceoff’s Scott Maxwell:
Necas receives a raise of $3.5 million per year, with his new contract having the highest AAV of his career. With this new contract, the Canes lock him up until he’s 27 years old at 7.39% of the 2024-25 salary cap. He shares a cap hit with Brandon Hagel, Brayden Schenn, Brendan Gallagher, Chris Kreider, Claude Giroux and Tom Wilson.
Faber finds gold
It took all of one season for Brock Faber to break the doors down in the NHL, and land a huge payday.
His new eight-year, $8.5-million AAV deal will kick in for the 2025-26 season, given he has one year left on his entry-level deal. The deal carries no signing bonus’, according to PuckPedia, and years five through eight of the deal include a 15-team no-trade list.
The 21-year-old had an excellent season for the Wild this year, scoring eight goals and 47 points in 82 games, averaging a staggering 24:58 minutes per game. His 2,047 total minutes of ice time set an NHL record for most ice time by a rookie defenceman since the statistic was first tracked in 1997-98.
Faber, according to hockeyviz.com, played at the rate of a second-pairing defenceman, providing offence at a six percent rate below league average, and defence at a league average rate. Not bad for a rookie defenceman playing the minutes he did.
Here’s more on Faber, from Daily Faceoff’s Tyler Kuehl:
Faber came to the Wild after his rights were traded to Minnesota by the Los Angeles Kings, the team that took him in the second round, 45th overall, in the 2020 NHL Draft. He was part of the deal that sent Kevin Fiala to the Kings in June 2022.The former U.S. National Team Development Program standout made a name for himself while at the University of Minnesota. He was on two fantastic Golden Gopher teams, making it all the way to the NCAA National Championship Game in 2023.Faber also represented the United States at two IIHF World Junior Championships, helping the Americans take home gold at the 2021 World Juniors.
Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.
