NHL Rumors: 2 New Teams Emerge As Suitors for Martin Necas

Safe to say, there is no shortage of suitors for Carolina Hurricanes' restricted free agent Martin Necas. In all, at least half of the teams in the NHL have inquired about the two-time 20-goal scorer already. Necas—and more notably, his father—have made it pretty clear that the player wants to get a fresh start elsewhere for his next contract.

Over the past week, we've heard rumours of the Vancouver Canucks and Winnipeg Jets being interested, and now, according to TSN Insider Pierre LeBrun, two more Canadian teams have jumped to the forefront as well:

My understanding is that Montreal (Canadiens) and Calgary (Flames) are two teams that have interest in Martin Necas. The question now is do they want to get serious, or was that just a phone call to say 'keep us in the loop'.

In terms of Montreal, he fits the age bracket of what the Canadiens continue to do there. He would fit nicely if they can find a way.

Necas is just 25, and was a first-round pick (#12 overall) in the 2017 Draft by the Hurricanes. Fellow insider Darren Dreger also believes that the Canadiens "are right up there in level of interest."

Interestingly, as noted by LeBrun, the connection with the Flames being interested is an intriguing one, as two years ago, Carolina offered Necas to Calgary as part of the package to try to land Matthew Tkachuk (who the Flames eventually traded to the Florida Panthers).

Could Necas finally land in Cow Town two years later? He fits their timeline as well in their rebuild. According to Necas's father, his son needs to have a bigger role on a team than he had in Carolina this season with more power-play time. That would be available in Calgary where he could slot right into the top-six, and even potentially take the 2C role formerly filled by Elias Lindholm.

Necas finished the season with 24 goals and 53 points, a slight downturn from the 28 goals and 71 points he posted the season before. Nevertheless, he's in line for a nice contract, one that Anthony DiMarco of The Fourth Period says, according to general consensus, will be anywhere from 6-8 years term, at a $7-7.5M AAV.