The Philadelphia Flyers are entering an offseason where the front office should be searching far and wide for roster upgrades. We’ve looked at potential targets already like Jakob Chychrun, Steven Stamkos, various rehab projects, but one name to emerge from various fan theories is Carolina Hurricanes forward Martin Necas.
Necas is a 25-year-old forward who is a pending restricted free agent this summer. He posted 24 goals and 53 points in 77 games for the Hurricanes in 2023-24, both slight regressions from 28 goals and 71 points in 82 games from 2022-23. His previous contract was a two-year bridge deal that paid him $3 million a season.
There was some speculation around the trade deadline that Necas could be on the move as he’s been slightly boxed out on the Hurricanes’ roster and they feel his incoming extension could be too rich for their blood. Don Waddell has never been afraid to let players walk over contract concerns, so re-signing him may not be of high priority.
The biggest question here is what would Carolina want from Philadelphia in order to make the trade in the first place? Unlike “rehab project” players or making trades with basement teams, the Flyers probably can’t just throw a cocktail of picks and prospects at the Hurricanes and hope for the quantity versus quality approach to work. The Hurricanes are in the middle of their Stanley Cup window, thus, theoretically, they would want a player to help the cause. But the Flyers don’t exactly have anybody that matches their description?
Necas is a 25-year-old RFA, so it’d make sense the Hurricanes would want someone under contract to take his place. That (at least temporarily) excludes Travis Konecny. But would they have interest in someone like Joel Farabee, who has four years left on his deal at a $5 million cap hit with a similar career production?
Unless the Carolina front office has a problem against Necas himself, they could just offer him the exact same contract Farabee’s on, which they are apparently hesitant to do. It a lot of movement to walk away with a nearly identical situation from which both teams started.
From the Flyers’ perspective, they are in no position to turn down potential upgrades anywhere. There is an offensive upside. But if they would have to trade, say, Konecny to make that deal happen, does it actually make them better? Even moving Farabee could be just a lateral move if Necas can’t take a leap forward in his production and hovers around the 50-point mark.
The Flyers could deal Farabee in a separate trade trade and use the assets from that deal to acquire Necas, but does Carolina have interest in picks or prospects? It’s possible they would take them and use them for a separate deal of their own or wait until the trade deadline if they feel like their main roster is good enough where they don’t need to address the hole Necas leaves behind with any kind of legitimacy immediately. Especially if they have monetary concerns when it comes to re-signing Necas, the Flyers’ biggest trade chips like Konecny, Tippett and Farabee would be off the table in negotiations anyway.
The biggest draw for the Flyers is the fact that Necas has a history playing center. He’s been stuck playing right wing for a good portion of the 2023-24 campaign, but if he still has the ability to line up down the middle and produce 50+ points, he’d easily step into the number one center role on the Flyers. That may not be high praise on Necas as much as it is condemning how atrocious the rest of the Flyers’ center depth is, but still, Necas is an improvement in an area of struggle even if he’s not the home run number one center they still desperately need.
But the same question arrises with Necas that applies to every other Flyers forward as well- can he really excel on this offensively anemic squad? The Flyers are akin to a comic book, they have a roster composed entirely of Robins and no Batman to lead the way. A.K.A. too many complimentary players and no stars to root the production for the secondary players to benefit from. Is Necas a guy that can produce on his own and be the star the Flyers really need? If he’s struggling to hit 50 points on the Hurricanes and their stacked roster, what are the odds he comes to Philly completely unbridled and becomes a point-per-game player. Obviously there’s a chance, but is it likely? Or is he doomed to fall into the same “Robin” category that every other forward on the team is currently trapped in?
The Flyers have a lot of things to consider this summer. They are not in a position to easily turn down any trade or signing that can be construed as a step forward on the roster, but there’s a certain level of just rearranging deck chairs when it comes to bringing in more middle-six, 50-point forwards that doesn’t actually solve any problems as much as it does put a band-aid on a machete wound.
Whether a straight up Farabee-for-Necas trade or some roundabout way of Necas ending up on the Flyers’ roster with Farabee booted out of town, is it worth the hassle that goes into it?
The answer is, well, potentially.
Farabee is running out of rope to prove he’s going to be anything more than a 40-50 point winger, which the Flyers have way too many of, and there is an air of mystery surrounding Necas and his smothered potential in Carolina, despite his numbers being along the same lines of mediocre as Farabee. It’s possible of change of scenery is what both players need and, especially if Necas can revert back to center, the Flyers could walk away with a better situation than they were in before.
There’s no doubt Martin Necas is one of the more intriguing names potentially available in an otherwise shallow 2024 offseason, but there’s a chance he may not be the caliber of player the Flyers need to go out of out their way to pursue. Does Briere pull the trigger? Only time will tell, but it doesn’t quite seem like a match made in heaven as there are just too many question marks blocking the way.
By: Dan Esche (@DanTheFlyeraFan)
photo credit: nhl.com
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