The Red Wings finally got their man. Alex DeBrincat is coming home.
All summer, the potential match between Detroit and the dynamic-scoring DeBrincat felt close to perfect: a Farmington Hills, Michigan, native not interested in an extension in Ottawa and his hometown Red Wings in dire need of a scorer. The fit seemed so natural, even if the finer details — working out a trade with the Senators and a contract with DeBrincat — were less so. Would Detroit be willing to pony up draft capital and a big contract? Would the Senators be willing to trade the 25-year-old scorer within the Atlantic Division?
In the end, those questions were just that: details. And Sunday night, Detroit finally pulled off its signature move of the summer, acquiring DeBrincat for a conditional 2024 first-round pick, winger Dominik Kubalik, prospect Donovan Sebrango and a 2024 fourth-round pick. Immediately, the team also announced a four-year contract with DeBrincat at an average annual value of $7.875 million.
There’s plenty to unpack with the move, even as anticipated and discussed as it was over recent days and weeks. But the most important piece is that the Red Wings, at last, got the top-six scorer they so badly needed.
Even at his press conference discussing the team’s free-agent signings last week, Detroit general manager Steve Yzerman made clear he still had designs on a move like this for a team that finished with the league’s ninth-fewest goals last season.
“We would all love a couple of big-time scorers,” he added. “Hopefully we’ll get that. Again, we’ll continue to work at that, and how we go about it is a bit of a challenge.”
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— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) July 10, 2023
Without DeBrincat, the Red Wings had still gotten deeper for next season. They signed J.T. Compher as a versatile forward, likely a center, who will make them tougher to play against and contribute secondary offense as well, coming off a career-high 52 points. They also added Daniel Sprong, who went off for 21 goals and 46 points last season in Seattle, where the Kraken made the playoffs largely because of their outstanding depth.
And as of that press conference, it looked as though the Red Wings might have to try and emulate that approach to scoring. They had a top-line center capable of scoring 80 points in Dylan Larkin, a veteran leader in David Perron who just scored 24 goals, and a young top-liner capable of a big step forward in Lucas Raymond.
But mostly, they just had their depth. If they were going to win, it would likely have to be by matching up well and getting opportunistic contributions from players like Compher, Sprong, Andrew Copp and Jonatan Berggren — all good players, to be sure, and Compher and Copp multidimensional ones who could help at both ends.
Now, though? DeBrincat gives them the kind of finisher they’ve long been missing on the wing. Detroit hasn’t had a 40-goal scorer since Marian Hossa in 2008-09. DeBrincat’s hit that mark twice in the last five years.
That doesn’t mean he’s a perfect player — he’s a trigger man who still needs a facilitator, and accordingly, saw his production drop to 27 goals last season in Ottawa. But that number still would have been second on the Red Wings, as would have his 66 points. By a considerable margin.
And while losing 20-goal scorer Kubalik shouldn’t be glossed over when discussing this deal, getting a scorer of DeBrincat’s caliber checks off the biggest need Detroit had this summer and may well make it a challenger for a wild-card spot in 2024.
The Red Wings were an 80-point team last season, so they do still have some hill to climb on that front. But if you figure Sprong can replace Kubalik’s offense, then among DeBrincat, Compher, an improved situation behind Ville Husso in goal, the potential for an improved blue line, and some expected internal growth as well, then getting into the low-90s looks entirely possible. Last season, the final wild-card spot went to the Panthers at 92.
That number was a bit low — the year before, it took 100 points in the Eastern Conference — but especially with a changing of the guard in some of the perennial powerhouse locker rooms, particularly in Boston, there is the potential for shake-up in the East. And Detroit has, if nothing else, put itself in the race to capitalize on it.
But the bigger takeaway is that trading for DeBrincat appears to signal the next phase in the Red Wings’ rebuild.
It’s not the first time Yzerman has traded away draft picks, mind you, dealing third- and even second-round picks in recent years for the likes of Nick Leddy, Husso and Alex Nedeljkovic. But first-round picks are a different animal. And after years of preaching patience, Yzerman just showed he’s willing to part with a pick that could very well fall in the top 20 to get better right now.
DeBrincat, though, represented the exact kind of situation such a move was going to take. Not just because he’s an upper-echelon scorer, but because he’s 25 years old. He will help the team on Day 1 but also could be around a while — although, at a four-year term on his extension, he will still be able to hit unrestricted free agency at age 29.
That doesn’t mean the Red Wings have to go all-in right now to win during DeBrincat’s contract. But it should at least tell you they think contending in that time frame is possible. Yzerman has been loathe to give any kind of timeline for contention for the Red Wings and has been cautious to a fault on negotiating terms, but that seems to be the clear takeaway: The next phase of Detroit’s long building process has arrived.
It may not mean the end of trade deadline selloffs, although that prospect sure looks less likely than it did 24 hours ago. And it may not mean making the playoffs next season either.
But all of a sudden, that doesn’t feel so far-fetched. The Red Wings can trot out a lineup next season that should be at least three forward lines deep with scoring, with the ability for most of those to take on tough matchups.
Their defense will be tested, as will their toughness, and they’ll need to see a bounceback from Husso. All of those questions are real, and DeBrincat doesn’t answer them.
But whether it’s right away, or a year or two down the line, the Red Wings’ path to the postseason just got a whole lot easier to see.
They got their guy. And now, the next chapter can begin.
(Photo: Christian Petersen / Getty Images)
