The Czech forward leads the league in scoring after 21 games.
There's an alternate reality where Martin Necas didn't end up as a Carolina Hurricane this season.
The 25-year-old forward was coming off a down year last season — only 53 points total after scoring 71 just a year earlier — and with the emergence of rumored discontent, his name started to swirl around the rumor mill.
At least twice it was said that Necas was almost dealt, but no offer quite met the Hurricanes' ask and eventually the two sides came together in the form of a two-year, $12 million deal.
And how good has that rekindling been for both sides.
After 21 games, Necas is tied for the league lead in scoring along with Nathan MacKinnon, both at 35 points and Necas' start has also helped push the Hurricanes to a 15-5-1 record.
"I always believed in myself," Necas said. "When you're whole team is playing good, your linemates, the power play's clicking, then it's way easier to get points."
One thing Necas has appreciated about the hot start, is also the ability to prove his doubters wrong.
"I feel like we've been good and better than people expected and that's always nice, proving people wrong," Necas said. "They didn't expect us to be good, they didn't expect me to be good. I like this position and we just have to build on that."
"It's always nice to have something on the line," Necas said. "Obviously, I'm still pretty young and trying to get better every year. Getting to this role is great and I'm enjoying playing hockey right now."
The Czech standout has always had the talent, being one of the league's top skaters for one, but it's just now that it's all been coming together.
"I don't think anybody could have expected the points, maybe, but you watch him play and he's always stood out," said Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour. "That always happened. Now we're just getting a lot more standouts on goals and assists and things like that. Puck's going in the net when he's touching it. But the talent's always been there, the skating ability, the kind of wild card factor when you watch him play. That's always stood out."
Despite Necas' hot start, which has him sitting with 12 more points than the next closest skater on the team (Sebastian Aho), the winger has kept a humble head.
He isn't getting too ahead of himself after just 21 games and what's been the most important thing to him actually is that the team is winning.
"All these stats are great, but it's only been a quarter of a season," Necas said. "If we're going to be playing like this, then obviously it's possible, but the team comes first. If we're doing good and we're all doing good as individuals, then it's way easier to score as well and that's been the case so far."