One of the biggest decisions about the future of the Colorado Avalanche has been made.

The Avalanche signed Martin Necas to an eight-year contract extension Thursday, worth $11.5 million per season, a league source confirmed to The Denver Post. Necas, who will turn 27 years old in January, would have been an unrestricted free agent after this season.

Necas has seven goals and 13 points in 11 games this season for the Avs. He was the marquee asset in Colorado’s return for the Mikko Rantanen trade with the Carolina Hurricanes this past January.

A Czechia native, Necas has played almost exclusively on the top line next to Nathan MacKinnon since arriving with the club. Necas finished last season with 27 goals and a career-high 83 points.

Rantanen was a pending UFA last season, and when the two sides couldn’t agree to a new contract, the Avs stunned the hockey world by sending their homegrown star to the Hurricanes for Necas, Jack Drury and two draft picks. Rantanen spent six weeks with the Hurricanes before being dealt again to the Dallas Stars, where he signed an eight-year, $96 million deal.

The $92 million committed to Necas makes it the second-largest contract in team history, trailing only MacKinnon’s eight-year, $100.8 million pact signed in September 2022. This could be the last eight-year contract the Avs agree to. There is a seven-year maximum in the next collective bargaining agreement, so Sept. 15, 2026, is the last day for eight-year deals.

Cale Makar, who is a pending UFA after the 2026-27 season, could sign for eight years if the deal gets done between July 1 and Sept. 15 next year.

More to come as this story develops. 

Want more Avalanche news? Sign up for the Avalanche Insider to get all our NHL analysis.