Avalanche Have One Thing To Figure Out Before Getting Necas Signed

The Colorado Avalanche have an important stretch of months, or potentially shorter, ahead of them. There is not only Martin Necas, whom the team acquired last season, to sign, but more to solidify the future and remain a Stanley Cup contender.

Necas is in the last year of his deal and is a UFA after the season, but Cale Makar is more important in the Avalanche's mind than Necas. The team would like to get both signed long-term, as they have been integral parts of the success during their time with the team. Makar has just done so for longer and is more established as one of the league's best.

Pierre LeBrun said, "The Avs...in talks with Martin Necas' agent have said listen, there's an ecosystem here, we're going to have to sign Cale Makar to a healthy raise here. The Avs are confident they can get Martin Necas extended at some point."

While Necas has to be signed sooner than Makar, the Avalanche can figure out a contract that will be signed with Makar before officially executing it, then see how much they can allocate towards Necas. Makar is going to be the highest-paid defenseman in league history and is deserving of that, but he might just nuzzle up close to the money Nathan MacKinnon is making also. Colorado has won the Stanley Cup already, so the deals signed by the stars aren't going to align with what Connor McDavid did in Edmonton.

Necas is going to push close to the money Mikko Rantanen got with the Dallas Stars ($12 million AAV), something the Avalanche thought they would be able to avoid before the whole situation went down last season. Rantanen is arguably still a better player than Necas, but Necas is not far behind in terms of how he fits in on Colorado and has performed. His contract is currently $6.5 million AAV, signed with the Carolina Hurricanes.

The salary cap is going up and Necas is one of the best players on the Avalanche, but they will have to sign him and not make a massive change to their core again.