One of the biggest decisions about the future of the Colorado Avalanche has been made.

The Avalanche signed Martin Necas to an eight-year contract extension Thursday, worth $11.5 million per season, a league source confirmed to The Denver Post. Necas, who will turn 27 years old in January, would have been an unrestricted free agent after this season.

Necas has seven goals and 13 points in 11 games this season for the Avs. He was the marquee asset in Colorado’s return for the Mikko Rantanen trade with the Carolina Hurricanes this past January.

A Czechia native, Necas has played almost exclusively on the top line next to Nathan MacKinnon since arriving with the club. Necas finished last season with 27 goals and a career-high 83 points.

Rantanen was a pending UFA last season, and when the

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