Why would the Canes be willing to part with the 25-year-old talented forward?
In terms of pure talent, Martin Necas is arguably one of the Carolina Hurricanes' best.
A player who can dazzle with his speed and skills when the puck is on his stick and one who has delivered more than a few highlight reel moments.
So why has Necas been in trade discussions not just now, but for multiple seasons as well? If he's got star-potential talent, why would Carolina be willing to move him and why does he himself want to move on?
Today we take a deeper look at the Czech forward's game and fit in Raleigh.
There's no denying that Necas is a high-end talent with perhaps his best skill being his skating.
The 2017 first-round pick is one of the NHL's fastest skaters — his top speed was clocked at 23.68mph this season and he's in the top-five for total bursts over 22mph per NHL EDGE — and he's able to utilize that speed to be a consistent threat in transition.
And when the ice opens up, that unique ability shines even more.
Over the last three seasons, Necas is tied for the league lead in overtime goals (9) alongside Connor McDavid and Alex DeBrincat.
He glides around the ice effortlessly and is able to turn on the jets at the drop of a hat, many times catching defenders or netminders by surprise.
It isn't just straight-line speed either, as Necas' edgework is among the best in the league too.
He's able to pivot and transition his weight easily without a ton of space and even with defenders on top of him.
And on top of being a cheat-code for zone entries, the Czech forward has a big shot and has started to settle into a one-timer spot on the left circle with a top-shot speed of 99.88mph this season,
His shot in general has also just really developed well with the puck being able to explode off of his blade with consistent quickness and accuracy.
Overall, Necas is a player who's able to create offense at a very high level.
The Czech winger led all Hurricanes forwards in individual chances for this season (341), creating 60 more chances than the second place forward.
However, that creation hasn't always led to consistent results as a big issue for the speedy winger has been his penchant for perimeter play.
Despite leading in individual chances for by a wide margin, Necas was just sixth in individual high danger chances for this year.
One of the biggest complaints surrounding Necas for years has been either his inability or unwillingness to attack the middle of the ice.
It's also further confounding because the results show how successful he can be when attacking the middle.
Necas scored 10 of his 24 goals from either the low-slot or net-front (i.e. high-danger areas) this season despite taking less than 20% of his shots from those areas.
If we include the high slot in those numbers, Necas has 13 goals — or 54% of his total — despite taking just 31% of his shots from the middle of the attacking zone.
Assist-wise, Necas has also been a bit hit or miss. I've seen him lace some incredibly high-level passes through multiple defenders and while he does set up a lot of chances, if we look at his overall assist numbers, they don't really pop off the page with average production and middle-of-the-road high-danger setups.
But I'm also not so certain if that's more a him problem, or a consistent lack of offensively-talented players around him.
Necas' most common linemates this season were Jack Drury, Michael Bunting and Stefan Noesen. Nothing against those guys, but I don't think they're the type to bring the best out of Necas.
Again, overall Necas is at his best when the puck is on his stick, however, it seems the biggest disconnect between Necas and the Canes' systems is his play without the puck.
While the team has moved a bit away from the complete reliance on the forecheck they once had, the Hurricanes are still a team that heavily utilizes forechecking to create and sustain offensive pressure.
Board work, aggression and coordination are the keys to the system, and that just hasn't quite lined up with how Necas plays.
On top of lacking that forechecking aggression for creating turnovers and working along the boards and below the goal line, Necas also plays the game at his own pace.
The talented forward almost exclusively plays like he's in a rush-based offensive scheme.
The Hurricanes were built to play their specific style and most all of their players buy into the systems have in place
But a lot of the time, Necas is freestyling and looking to create in ways that aren't congruent to how his fellow linemates are playing.
Necas is a great player, but he isn't good enough for the team to change its game plan around.
Look at Seth Jarvis, a player who plays exactly the way the Hurricanes want to play and has had a massive breakout alongside it.
The team also employs a man-on-man defensive system that requires all five skaters on the ice to be engaged and constantly on their mark and when someone isn't, it's extremely noticeable.
That's also been an issue for Necas.
Let's look a little deeper at his defensive numbers.
No Hurricanes skater was on the ice for more even strength goals against this year than Necas (62) and his -6 even strength goal differential was only better than Tony DeAngelo, Michael Bunting and Jordan Staal (although with his power play contributions, a +17 differential, he rates out as a net positive player).
But even strength is so important to Carolina's strategies and Necas too frequently has lost his mark in man-on-man coverage and often there's a noticeable lack of engagement or care with backchecks and battles.
And this is also with him receiving favorable minutes.
According to PuckIQ.com, which measures and categorizes players analytically based on skill level, Necas played just a quarter of his even strength minutes against 'elite' competition — in the bottom half of the team — and nearly 40% of his minutes against 'gritty' competition, the second most minutes on the team.
However, I will also say, Necas looked like a much more engaged player in the second half of the season after returning from injury.
From January through March, Necas was such a good player for Carolina and was notably very engaged both ways, but perhaps it's seeing that and knowing it isn't a constant that is even more frustrating.
A lot has also been made about potentially moving Necas to center whether here in Carolina or on a different team, but the fact of the matter is that I just don't think his game is geared towards being an NHL center.
There's so much that goes along with the role of center in the NHL — which is why it's the highest paid position — and the Czech forward is too much of a one-dimensional player currently.
Maybe he can be that rare type that can make the switch mid-career, the best example of that is J.T. Miller, but right now I'm not so sure.
Another blow for Necas in that regard is that he's also gotten considerably worse in the faceoff dot, posting a career worst 34.1%, and he was even worse when in the offensive zone, winning just 29.5% of his draws.
There was a huge step down in confidence in Necas' abilities too as he went from taking 417 draws a season earlier (winning 45.1% of those) to just 138 this season.
At one point in time, it seemed like Necas was working towards overcoming his overall defensive issues as the team gave him a pretty significant spin on the PK two seasons ago where he averaged over a minute of shorthanded ice time per game, but that responsibility shrank over the last two seasons to virtually none this year.
Necas' is a curious case where talent and system are in an almost constant conflict.
Despite that, I think Carolina has given Necas the freedom to play the game his way within their system.
On his lines, he's the primary puck carrier and facilitator and in the offensive zone he plays much like a center would.
One of the rumored complaints that Necas has with the Hurricanes though is his deployment as he didn't really play on either the first line or top power play unit.
However, despite not getting those assignments, Necas was still fed plenty of opportunity.
He averaged the most even strength time (and most of his career) and the sixth most power play time per game among skaters.
And he's been very successful offensively in those minutes.
Over the last two seasons, Necas has scored the second most goals and points on the team behind only Sebastian Aho.
In the end though, I think this is a player who thinks that if he's completely unshackled and given a run with some more offensively-geared linemates, he can reach an even higher level.
And perhaps he will be. The talent is clearly there.
I also think, perhaps, there's an element of wanting to be more of "the guy" too.
In Carolina, Necas is squarely behind guys like Andrei Svechnikov and Aho and now even Jarvis has leaped past him.
There's also the financial ramifications to not being one of the top guys too. How much more does Necas think he could be making if he was allowed to be that top of the lineup player?
From what I've heard, Necas himself is the primary driver of these trade rumors, having privately expressed that he'd like to move on, but he isn't just going to be cut loose.
The Hurricanes know he's a very talented player and they don't want to lose him for crumbs.
The team knows he has the potential to be an even more productive player than he currently is, but they're willing to move him because they know it more than likely won't happen in Raleigh.
As Necas is an RFA though, the Canes still hold the power and they don't have to rush into any decision they don't like.
But this all does seem like a chapter that's come to a close.
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