He lived through a long summer full of uncertainty, but now he is fully concentrating on hockey. Martin Nečas continues to play in the NHL for the Carolina Hurricanes, with whom he signed a two-year contract worth 13 million dollars (about 300 million crowns) at the end of July. After a championship campaign at the home WC, he returned to Raleigh and straightened out a seemingly damaged relationship. “As soon as the contract was signed, both sides tried to accommodate each other. I’m happy,” said the 25-year-old forward, who is setting big goals for himself this season.
In May, Nečas shone at the golden world championship in Prague, but then he waited for long weeks to hear from his agent about what his hockey future would be. Even though it looked like he was going to leave Carolina, he ended up staying with the Hurricanes. He received an improved two-year contract and should be one of the driving forces of the team this season.
“I spoke with coach Rod Brind’Amour, I will be used more, the pressure and space on me will be greater. I’m glad for that, I want to show myself. I’m focused on this season, that’s my main goal,” said Nečas during an online interview with Czech journalists on Wednesday. His team has played two games in the NHL so far (a 1:4 loss against Tampa and a 4:2 win against New Jersey), Nečas scored one assist.
“I’m doing well, our attack had enough chances. It’s time for it to start falling for us,” Nečas is convinced that the goals will come soon. “On paper we don’t look that strong this year but we have good players and if we are all better than last season then there is a chance to succeed. Now we have a six-game trip, five wins like that would help us a lot,” he hoped.
Nečas would like to be one of Carolina’s mainstays this year. “It is difficult to set specific goals, but I would like to surpass my maximum that I have in the NHL (71 points for the 2022/23 season, editor’s note). That would certainly be good. I have a lot of motivation after the World Cup, the celebrations kicked me up. The more I will fight for the Stanley Cup,” he summed up.
The NHL will hold a tournament next February 4 Nations, in which the USA, Canada, Finland and Sweden will participate. Other countries, including the Czech Republic, did not receive an invitation. David Pastrňák, for example, criticized this decision in the past.
“I don’t even know what I’m going to do. Maybe we’ll go somewhere on vacation. If the Czechs were there, I’d love to watch, but like this… On the other hand, we have to be objective, we’re probably not among the top 4. Overseas, they probably looked at it differently when they selected the teams. It’s a shame, we’d love to play there” added the 25-year-old striker.
Martin Nečas signed a lucrative two-year contract in the summer:
TN.cz
