A blockbuster Colorado Avalanche trade to acquire a first-round draft pick

The Colorado Avalanche technically are not out of the running to make a selection in the first round of the 2025 NHL Draft. While it may be unlikely, here’s a scenario in which they acquire a pick, while giving up one of their top-6.

With just $1.2 million in cap space right now, as we’ve mentioned many times, the Avalanche need to free up some space to sign some players to fill out their roster. Unfortunately, that means moving on from someone whose contract is significant. That’s just the world we live in these days—the salary cap era. You can’t keep everybody, like you hypothetically could in the MLB, where there is no salary cap.

There have been some rumours going around lately of one player being unhappy in the organization. Martin Necas, who was acquired earlier this past season in the trade that sent Mikko Rantanen to the Hurricanes, is that player. Now, I’m not sure why Necas would be unhappy (if the rumours are true). He plays on the top line on the Avalanche alongside Nathan MacKinnon. He had 11 goals and 17 assists for Colorado in 30 games.

If the rumours are true about Necas, perhaps the Avalanche would consider trading him to a team in the Atlantic Division.

Colorado Avalanche could ship Martin Necas to Montreal Canadiens

The Avalanche were only able to play in seven postseason games in 2024-25, being eliminated by the Dallas Stars in Game 7 of the first round. One of the players that needed to have a bigger impact in the series was Martin Necas. He put up one goal and four assists.

He was a key on the first line of the Avalanche since being acquired and played pretty well during the regular season. However, with Gabriel Landeskog’s return this past postseason and expected return into the 2025-26 regular season, we might see Necas shipped out in favour of Landeskog or Valeri Nichushkin on the first line.

In terms of positioning, Nichushkin would be the player moving up.

The Canadiens have two first-round draft picks in 2025. They own picks 15 and 16. As a team who was dead last in their division, they could use some firepower in the form of a player who is just 26 years old and has proven to have quite a bit of success.

In return for Necas, I would ideally take the Canadiens’ first of their two first-round picks, but as they are back-to-back, perhaps it might not be a huge deal if they acquired the second one. If the Avalanche made a trade like this, it would seem likely that the player they select with that pick would be able to make an impact right away. If not, it might not be long until the player did.

A player I absolutely love in the draft is Brady Martin out of the OHL. Some view him as a reliable third-line center in the NHL, and the Avalanche do need some depth badly. Some also view him as a mid-first round pick, exactly where the Avalanche would be selecting if a trade with the Canadiens went through.

It makes sense to draft Martin if both of those qualifications end up being legitimate, because we don’t need a first or second-line center right now. However, if Martin ends up being ready to make the leap, he could take over for Brock Nelson once Nelson’s three-year extension wraps up.

Whether or not this is in consideration or not, it is still worth monitoring Necas’ status with the team going forward.