Cale Makar has shown he can handle the bright lights when under pressure. So has Nathan MacKinnon. With Martin Necas, there’s a bit more uncertainty.

But if the Avalanche get the Necas this April that Czechia just got at the Olympics, their odds of taking home another Stanley Cup increase dramatically.

In five games, Necas led Czechia with eight points, three more than the next closest player on the team. And in all five of those games, he was easily their best and most dangerous player, so much so that the coach moved him off a line with Bruins star David Pastrnak because he knew that Necas could drive the bus on his own line, which he did.

Necas was electric, creating chances out of nothing on a lesser team in a best-on-best tournament. For someone who has shown improvement the past two seasons when the NHL playoffs have rolled around, but still hasn’t produced at quite the level you’d hope, this tournament could be the catalyst that helps him hit that next level when spring with the Avalanche rolls around.

Not that he needs the confidence boost.

“I think it can help. I don’t know that Marty lacks a lot of confidence if you watch him play on a nightly basis,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar joked. “Certainly going on a world stage and playing against the world’s best in a tournament like that, being able to continue what he’s been doing for us here, should help his confidence, no question.”

In Necas’ first four postseason runs with the Carolina Hurricanes, he posted just 21 points in 48 games. Over the last two playoffs, one of which was in Carolina and his first in Colorado, there’s been a marked improvement with 14 points in 18 games. Bednar has stated multiple times that he liked Necas’ game in the series against Dallas last spring.

Some of that improvement comes from growth as a player, as Necas is a much better player now than he was at 22 or 23 years old. Some of that improvement also comes from experience. It’s not playoff experience, but the Olympics is a big-game experience with a wider audience watching. And it’s one he’ll never forget.

“It was unreal,” Necas said. “Something that I always, and all of us that were there, always dreamt of. It was great.”

Although there was no fighting allowed, it was skilled, intense, and physical hockey. While it’s not a one-for-one comparison to what the NHL playoffs are like, it’s probably the closest you can get to that environment without it actually being the playoffs. As good as some teams in the league are, none of them will hold a candle to the group Canada iced at the Olympics, a team Necas had to face twice in a week.

Can this experience help Necas when April 18 with the Avalanche rolls around?

“I think it’s good,” he said. “I was so excited. I feel like every time I’m so excited about the games, then I play good and show my best. I feel like that was the case there.”

As for that confidence Bednar was talking about, well, it was definitely on display.

“In my mind, I had no doubt that I’ll be good,” Necas said of the Olympics.

As long as that confidence carries over when the playoffs begin, the Avalanche will be in fine shape.