After winning a gold medal with Czechia at the IIHF World Championship on Sunday, Carolina Hurricanes centre Martin Necas isn’t focused on figuring out his contract situation just yet.
The 25-year-old is scheduled to become a restricted free agent on July 1 and has been in the middle of trade rumours after his dad said he wanted to be traded In a recent interview with Czech outlet Deník Sport.
“We’ll see what’s going to happen,” Necas told NHL.com’s Aaron Vickers after winning the gold. “I don’t really care right now. What’s going to happen is going to happen. My agent is going to deal with that. We’re going to figure it out. Now I’m going to celebrate this medal and I’m going to enjoy it for a while.”
Necas scored 24 goals and registered 53 points for the Hurricanes in 77 games this season, just one year removed from a career-best 28-goal and 71-point season.
On Friday’s 32 Thoughts: The Podcast, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman said he believes “it’s likely” that Necas gets traded.
“I just think him and the Hurricanes don’t see each other in the same value,” Freidman added. “But we’ll see how it all works out.”
Carolina will be under new management this summer after Don Waddell resigned from his role as president and general manager last Friday. Eric Tulsky is currently serving as interim GM as the team looks for a full-time replacement.
Friedman also noted that he believed the Hurricanes and Bruins had discussed a potential Linus Ullmark trade before this year’s trade deadline, though it’s unknown if Necas was involved in that negotiation.
“On paper, that makes sense to me, but just talking on paper, I think there’s a lot of teams that are going to be looking at Necas and trying to find out what he wants. He’s a good player and Carolina’s going to have options here.”
Necas joined his Czechia teammates mid-tournament after the Hurricanes were eliminated by the New York Rangers in six games in the second round.
When asked if he considered not playing in the World Championship due to his contract situation, Necas told Vickers, “Who cares?”
“This is a thing that could only happen once in my life because you never know when it’s going to be back and if I’ll be playing (in the) playoffs. I wasn’t thinking about that. There was no doubt in my head that I wouldn’t go.
“Once we got out, my mind went over here. I was watching the games before. The crowd and the whole country has been living with hockey for a month or so. It’s unbelievable. You just feel the energy. It feels amazing. The crowd pushed us through all the way to the finals and we got it done today.”
Selected 12th overall by Carolina in the 2017 draft, Necas tallied one goal and six assists over five games for Czechia in the tournament.
“I feel like I play my best when I’m enjoying hockey, and here I’m enjoying hockey 110 per cent,” Necas said. “I loved it. I haven’t played for the Czech national team for five or six years, and being able to be here with all the guys … an incredible group inside is how it started and we translated it on the ice and this (gold medal) thing happened.”