Martin Necas to join Czechia for remainder of 2024 World Championship

Czechia is getting a huge boost on home ice at the 2024 World Championship.

The host team has announced that Martin Nečas is set to join the team this weekend after concluding his 2024 playoff run with the Carolina Hurricanes. The 25-year-old last represented Czechia at the 2019 World Championship while he was still a prospect in the Hurricanes’ system.

Nečas’ arrival should give the team a nice boost for the stretch run. Scoring has been an issue for the Czechs, who has relied heavily on veterans such as David Kase and Roman Cervenka. The team still looks destined to make the playoff round, entering Friday’s game against Austria in third place in Group A with nine points. The news came just after Kase scored to make it 1-0 in the first period against the Austrians, sitting behind Canada and Switzerland.

Nečas recently completed his fifth full NHL season, registering 24 goals and 53 points. It was a big step down from his 28 goals and 71 points in 2022-23, but it was still the second-best season of his career. Nečas is a pending RFA after completing his two-year deal with an AAV of $3 million.

In 362 NHL games, Nečas has 96 goals and 243 points.

The native of Nove Mesto na Morave, CZE served as captain at the 2019 World Junior team, registering four points in five games. Nečas played in three World Juniors, leading all players with 11 points in 2018 en route to a fourth-place finish. His lone goal with the national team came at the 2016 Hlinka Gretzky Cup on home ice.

Czechia will look to keep things moving against Great Britain at 2:20 PM ET on Saturday before getting the next two days off. They’ll finish the tournament with a 10:20 AM ET start against Canada on Tuesday.