LA Kings: Martin Necas Is A Perfect Fit

The LA Kings have made one significant move already in their offseason, dealing Pierre-Luc Dubois to Washington for Darcy Kuemper. While Dubois’ lone season in Los Angeles was a disappointment, the fact is he was brought in to be an impact forward. With him out the door, the Kings still need to find what he was supposed to bring: an impact forward.

Winger Martin Necas‘ days in Carolina appear to be coming to an end with the Hurricanes welcoming offers for the 25-year-old. A Restricted Free Agent (RFA), Necas will also need a new contract.

So, why Necas? For starters, one thing the LA Kings are really lacking is a right-shot forward in their lineup. Rookie Alex Laferriere was really the only one who provided much of an impact while Trevor Lewis did his thing on the fourth line. While there’s hope for Akil Thomas in the 2024-25 season, it’d be a lot to ask for the oft-injured youngster to provide what LA needs at the top of the lineup.

For his career, the bulk of which began in the 2019-20 season, the 6’2″ Necas has been a modest point producer (0.67 points per game in his 362 game career) but did spike 28 goals and 71 points in the 2022-23 season. It’s much more than his production, though. According to All Three Zones tracking, which spans from the 2020-21 season through 2023-24, it’s fairly clear to see his impacts:

In case you weren’t sure, blue is good. And Necas is, indeed, very good.

LA Kings fans may be happy that Dubois is gone, but what they did lose was their most efficient forward at entering the offensive zone with possession and was among the best at creating scoring chances. Necas fills both of those voids comfortably (via All Three Zones).

The Czechia native didn’t have quite as good a season in 23-24 (24 goals, 53 points in 77 games) as he did in 22-23 (28 goals, 71 points in 82 games), but his underlying impacts were still quite strong.

Necas has been one of the more creative players on one of the best possession teams in the league. Carolina has always been a quantity-over-quality team, but Necas has been able to find his way to the quality areas to create scoring chances either for himself or for his teammates.

What I like about Necas is he’s a bigger body who attacks often through the middle of the ice. Here’s a little bit of what he is capable of:

Martin Necas has been an absolute delight to watch this year.

Here’s a sampling of his play this year for Carolina as he’s helped…