The Colorado Avalanche are off to a roaring start to the 2025-26 NHL season. After an 8-4 win over the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday, they are tied for the top spot in the Central Division with 16 points from 11 games. The Avalanche made October even better for their fans by signing Martin Necas to a massive contract extension.

“The Colorado Avalanche and Martin Necas completed an 8-year, $11.5M contract extension. Another UFA off the board…front-loaded, $60M in signing bonuses, full NMC the first 7 years of the new deal,” Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman reported.

Necas was the key piece of the trade package the Avalanche received from the Carolina Hurricanes in the Mikko Rantanen deal. Without this extension, he would have hit unrestricted free agency on July 1. Now, he will be in Colorado for the foreseeable future.

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Necas has been an offensive force from the center position throughout his NHL career. In 41 regular-season games with the Avalanche, he has 18 goals and 23 assists, a point-per-game pace. That is huge for Colorado, as their depth has not been the best in recent years.

There are Stanley Cup expectations in Colorado, as they look to add the 2022 banner that Nathan MacKinnon helped hang in the rafters. Despite trading Rantanen, they still have the offensive firepower to do that. Now that Necas is locked in, they can focus on a massive contract on the blue line.

Cale Makar is eligible to sign an extension on July 1 and could reset the market for defenseman. But the Avalanche cannot win with just Makar and MacKinnon, so extending Necas was vital. They should have the cap space, with the salary ceiling rising in the coming years, to sign Makar.

The Avalanche look to continue their hot start to the season on Friday night on the road against the Vegas Golden Knights.