Evaluating Martin Necas' Breakout Season

Martin Necas has always had the talent to be a star at the NHL level. However, it took more time for him to adjust to the NHL than other players. After weaving in and out of the Hurricanes' top three lines over the last few years, Necas has finally arrived as a consistent top-six forward in the NHL. The combination of quick bursts of acceleration, off-rush play, playmaking at top speed, and ability to control possession sequences has made Necas an exciting forward to watch.

Necas uses his ability to attack defenders with differentials of speed favorably, and is able to use his playmaking to generate a nifty pass to a teammate, or generate a rush all by himself. This season, Necas has blossomed in the role of puck transporting ability, finding end-to-end rushes consistently, and driving the middle lane through neutral ice.

That increased confidence that Necas has shown allows him to drive play offensively, utilize his creativity, and show a risk-taking dynamic to his overall play. Having that confidence to make higher risk, higher reward plays with no panic at all. He is playing in the right situations, leveraging increased ice time, and taking advantage of consistent power play time on the first unit. He is using one-touch passes more, catching pucks with poise on the wall under pressure, and he is finding ways to problem-solve the middle of the ice effectively.

Necas is putting himself in not only putting himself in better positions to score, but also retrieve pucks with pace. His close off-puck support allows him to be a threat by being able to find open space, and allow passing lanes to be created for his teammates. His on-puck play-driving has been a huge factor, in tandem with that off-puck support.

It's not easy to find elements of a player that force them to solve pressure. Easier for Necas, because of his ability to play between checks. Also, he brings the ability to play the high F3 to create layers to the Hurricanes' forecheck or in-zone offensive structures.

Necas is an interesting player to evaluate, because there aren't a lot of players like him with his skill caliber. His added pace and ability to control the tempo this season, also make him extremely unique.

Vision

Necas has been exceptional this year with his playmaking, and utilizing his vision in various scenarios. Here off the rush, for example, Necas veers out on the entry to create space for himself in the 2-on-1. This allows Necas to open a clear passing lane for Kotkaniemi, with Buffalo's Mattias Samuelsson not being allowed to close on Necas. Necas creates the space, retrieves the puck in a mohawk catch (allows him to maintain momentum), and finds a seam where Stefan Noesen is waiting. Easy finish.

Necas is an excellent handler of the puck, with an ability to maintain the puck without losing much speed. He processes the play at a quicker rate naturally, allowing him to find space for teammates with purpose and precision. Necas also does a great job here waiting out Samuelsson, forcing him to sprawl, and then literally dragging him out of position. Necas has always driven scoring chances as a playmaker with his ability to generate high-quality passes, shot assists, and his ability to generate primary assists has improved.

Necas is driving play off his initial puck touches and retrievals more, allowing him to generate more plays within the house and find space by getting off the wall offensively.

Rush Instincts

Necas has brought speed and skill to his individual rushes, finding the middle lane, and attacking it with precision. Here, he does a great job winding up with speed off a retrieval, and takes the puck end-to-end with ease. New York's 1-2-2 neutral zone forecheck isn't able to get set up in time to stop Necas, allowing him to gain the zone with ease. Necas works to gain the zone, kicks the puck out to Aho (due to backpressure from Trocheck here), and continues his route through New York's two D here.

Aho looks to spring Necas at the net for a pass deflection, in hopes of trying to fool Shesterkin in the butterfly. It doesn't work, but Necas retrieves the well-controlled rebound from Shesterkin in the corner. Necas then looks to kick the puck low-high to extend the possession sequence, but it ends up with a dead end play because of New York's defensive zone structure.

Necas handles the puck with a lot of confidence now, and is able to control the rush using his tempo and instinctual feel for the situation. He doesn't panic here, which helps him keep his head up when handling the puck and move in a decisive way. He did a great job finding a seam through the middle using his vision, and also his awareness to problem-solve on the zone entry here.

The speed of his cognitive decision-making in smaller NHL rinks (compared to bigger ones in Czechia) has helped Necas grow a lot. He is panicking less, making quicker touch passes and shot assists, and contributing as a high-volume playmaker within the house offensively.

1-on-1 Playmaking/Creativity

Necas has thrived greatly as a 1-on-1 playmaker throughout the course of the season, using his fair share of manipulation and deceptive elements. He can change gears from low-high and high-low with the pace of his feet, turn defender's feet, and has improved at cutting through the hands of opposing players now. He has become more consistent at driving offense in various ways, but this has allowed him to become a true top-six contributing forward every game.

Here, Necas attacks in a typical straight-line route fashion, combining linear crossovers and quick hands to transport the puck with speed. This forces Vegas' Alex Pietrangelo, to attempt to match the speed of Necas while gapping up on him at the same time. That is very difficult to do with a quick transition scenario like Carolina usually offers, especially with this clip.

Sometimes on these plays, Necas would look to circle the offensive zone instead of trying to make a risky play like this. That allows for more space, an easier offensive zone setup for Carolina, and he can maintain the puck with speed as well. Instead, Necas throws on the brakes, and explode inward. Notice how Necas' linear crossovers through the neutral zone also made his change of gear to the middle easier.

He then cuts through the hands of Karlsson, cuts across the slot to beat Pietrangelo, and fires a quick one-timer that gets past Adin Hill clean. Great shot, but a great turn of possession-changing events by Necas individually here.

For more fun Necas clips, have a look at the video attached!

Thanks for reading my seventh publication on my Habits Hockey newsletter! Stay around every Friday for new content!