Carolina Hurricanes: Why Martin Necas Deserves Rookie of the Year

There are a lot of amazing rookies out there in this 2019-2020 season, but here is the proof that Carolina Hurricanes’ Martin Necas is the best of them all.

Bold statement right? Wrong. Today we will break down the stats and numbers, as well as help you understand the eye test for Rookie of the Year. The last player to win it for the Carolina Hurricanes was Jeff Skinner. The next one should be Martin Necas.

The Calder Trophy is the highest honor for a rookie who absolutely tears up the league in his first year wearing an NHL sweater. Before we get to the numbers and all of the excitement, let’s take a trip down memory lane and look at Necas’ background.

Background

Martin Necas is a Check born young man, and at only 20 years old he is quite accomplished in the hockey world.

Necas was drafted by the Carolina Hurricanes in 2017 12th over all. While Necas had a sort of lack luster performance in the Canes annual prospect game, he has shut down all of the doubters since.

In the 2018-2019 season Necas spent most of his year down in Charlotte NC with the AHL affiliate of the Canes the Charlotte Checkers. Down in Queen City Necas was a menace. Necas not only racked up 35 points in 49 games but lead his team to a Calder Cup Championship in June of 2019.

Is it a coincidence for Necas to rack up two Calder Trophy’s in back to back years? The way the rookie is playing, it’s not.

Also don’t forget how Necas could positively impact your fantasy team this year as well!

Stats: Total Impact Rating

Possibly the most important part in the case of any award is what we can see on paper. According to NHL.com, Necas ranks #5 in the NHL rookies in terms of points scored this season as of 12/26/19. Necas has already totaled 21 points (8 goals and 13 assists), only behind Victor Olofsson, Cole Makar, Quinn Hughes, and Ilya Mikeyev with 34, 28, 27, and 22 respectively.

5th is great but there is a gap, the most important gap of 13 points that Necas is behind Olofsson in total points. Even though numbers are etched in stone and very defiant, there is always a meaning to them. Such as how often are these players scoring, every game, every shift?

To understand how impact a player is you have to take in to consideration their impact number. An impact number is basically how effective is a player while they are on the ice. This number can be found by taking the total points and dividing that by the number of games played. This gives you an average points per game. For Necas it’s .6363 points per game.

Then take the players time on ice and divide it by total time in a game. This is average ice time percentage per game. For Necas this is 23.2%. Take the APPG and divide it by the ATOIPG and get the impact number. Necas has an impact number of 2.742.

So what does this mean? Well Let’s compare the top 5 again. Oloffson, Maker, Hughes, and Mikeyev have impact numbers of 2.86, 2.84, 2.06, and 2.24 respectively. So while Necas is 5th in total points scored this season, he is the 3rd most impact Rookie in the league, and not by much.

The Eye Test

No, This is not a test you must take to purchase something at The Eye on game day in PNC Arena. The eye test is simply how good does the player look on the ice, in their ability to play hockey (this segment is not about Brock McGinn and his looks).

A no look tip in for a goal!! Impressive yes, but watch what Necas can do with the puck in open ice.

Come on guys, this kid is unfair! To make this move and the proper pass across the body beyond impressive from the rookie.

Martin Necas has amazing hockey IQ, the ability to see the play and how to manually make it better and make the smart play in order to score. Necas has been known to use this hockey IQ to create a beautiful play where he could shoot a low percentage puck but instead holds on and makes the smart pass to a teammate to score.

See even the NHL verified account knows, Martin is a wizard.

As we come back from Christmas break in the NHL, it is safe to say that the Calder Trophy is Necas’ to lose. He is on pace for a 45 point season, but after his first ever 4 point NHL game in Toronto, He could easily top 50.

So when the polls open, be sure to let the NHL know; this is Martin Necas‘ league, everyone else just gets to play in it.

Question for CC Readers: What is your favorite Necas moment from his rookie season thus far?