Much of the recent speculation surrounding Alex DeBrincat and the Ottawa Senators largely centered around the New York Islanders and Anaheim Ducks as being the most likely suitors in any trade. At the beginning of the offseason, once news broke that DeBrincat may find his way out of Ottawa, the Detroit Red Wings were deemed the likeliest landing spot, but seemed to have fallen out of the running.
In a surprising turn of events, the Red Wings eventually came out on top, trading Dominik Kubalik, Donovan Sebrango, a conditional first-round pick in 2024, and a fourth-round pick in 2024. Furthermore, Detroit also announced a four-year, $31.5MM contract with DeBrincat, paying him an AAV of $7.785MM. The Farmington Hills, MI native is now officially a part of his childhood team.
By acquiring DeBrincat, Detroit immediately addresses one of the major problems that has plagued them the last several seasons, their offense. Two seasons ago, playing for the Chicago Blackhawks at the time, DeBrincat scored 41 goals and 37 assists in 82 games. This past season with the Senators, DeBrincat scored 27 goals and 39 assists in 82 games. Interestingly enough, DeBrincat has also been extremely good all-time against his new team, scoring 11 goals and 30 points in 23 games against the Red Wings in his career.
In context to the condition attached to the first-round pick headed to the Senators, Detroit will have the option to send either their own 2024 first-round selection or the Bruins’ 2024 first-round selection. On Boston’s draft pick, if the pick falls within the top ten of the 2024 draft, the pick will convey to the Bruins’ 2025 first-round selection. At that time, the Red Wings will have the option of sending their own 2024 first-round selection, or the 2025 first-round selection originally owned by Boston.
The contract for DeBrincat will place him second among Red Wings’ earners, sitting behind the eight-year, $69.6MM extension the team handed out to captain Dylan Larkin last season. Given that the 2023-24 season would have been DeBrincat’s last as a restricted free agent, the contract also buys out three years of unrestricted free agency, putting DeBrincat at 29 years for the first time he hits the open market.
From Ottawa’s standpoint, it is hard to imagine this as a positive return. Kubalik has shown offensive skill in the past but struggled mightily down the stretch for the Red Wings last season. In 81 games played for Detroit last year, Kubalik scored 20 goals and 25 assists in 80 games, something that should play well in the Senators’ middle-six forward group. The other player in the deal, Sebrango, was a former 63rd overall pick of the Red Wings back in the 2020 NHL Draft, and split time between the Grand Rapids Griffins and Toledo Walleye last year.
Unfortunately for Ottawa, they were unable to recoup the draft capital they once spent to acquire DeBrincat in the first place. At last year’s draft, the Senators sent their first-round pick, second-round pick, and a third-round selection in 2024 to acquire DeBrincat from the Chicago Blackhawks. That first-round selection would be seventh overall, allowing the Blackhawks to select defenseman Kevin Korchinski. Given the condition of the first-round pick going to Ottawa in this deal, it is unlikely that it will get even close to seventh overall in whichever year the condition is met.
Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet was the first to report that DeBrincat had been traded, and the first to report he would land with Detroit.
David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period was the first to report the contract details between the Red Wings and DeBrincat.
PuckPedia was the first to report the conditions of the first-round pick going to the Senators in the deal.
Awesome!! Finally a star player joining the team. Hopefully we didn’t have to give up Marco Kasper or Simon Edvinsson.
Dang that return was pretty light. Alex DeBrincat is coming home while the same is said for Donovan Sebrango.
can the Red Wings get good already..
it’s weird when they’re not, and it’s been too long
Damn dude, Yzerman has done a great job turning the Red Wings around. I fully expect them to make the playoffs this year… Gonna make me nostalgic for the days of growing up across the river from Michigan in the late 90s, when Detroit was rolling the likes of Shanahan, Larionov, Yzerman, Lidstrom, Hatcher… Man that was a different time.
Hatcher? If you’re referring to Derian, he only played 27 games for the Red Wings in 2004.
How can you forget Federov? Osgood?
Didn’t forget, just rattled off the first few that came to mind. And I confused Hatcher with Kris Draper!
Homer alert, so lame… LOL. Dirtyriot ladywings making the playoffs? HA HA. Should have stayed in your OWN division out west, prissy ladies. Too scared of chicago though, huh?
I’m not even a Red Wings fan, fam. I cheer for the Sharks, Panthers and Jackets. But you keep doing whatever it is you’re doing there, I’m sure everyone around you thinks you’re stable.
Yeah, not “fam,” but big ups on your street cred there…. Truth is, your comments are always so normal and “stable,” without question…. Love reading your uneducated inbred comments on the Bruins boards for sure, lol…. Just one example. Your trolling is lame. Keep it dirty michigan with the fanboy notions, “fam.” Fa sho.
You’re so upset
Don’t be too concerned with pyramid, billy. Must be tough for him to bandwagon so many random NHL teams at once, ha ha. Based on that nonsense, it’ll be so much easier to JUST SKIP his asinine comments that obviously hold no validity/credibility. Guy can’t even PICK a team, lol.
Hasek, Chelios, later Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Holmstrom
Gotta admit, I didn’t see that coming. I never thought he would sign an extension and they wouldn’t have gotten that much back without it. I stand corrected. Kudos to Ottawa, Although time will tell.
Sounds a LOT like a pathetic Blackhawks fan to me?
Well you’ll find out that without Kane DeBrincat isn’t what you think he is. Just like Panarin did.
While not a Panarin fan, he’s still pumping over a point per game average and he’s not even on the top line and is missing a RW. Not sure Panarin needed Kane.
This Black Hawk misses the intense rivalry that we once had with the Red Wings. Congrats on on getting such a great player and former Black Hawk.
Exactly…. WTF are they out East? Michigan ISN’T in the East…. They have NO RIVALARIES in the East, in fact all they’ve done is LOSE since joining the Atlantic…. LOL. Reminds me of their history aside from using Swedes.
Wrong. The Wings biggest rivals were always the Maple Leafs and the Canadiens. They are an Original Six team. Do your homework beastie boy.
I align with this so much more than the person above. Love DeBrincat. Glad he’s home. Wish he was still a Hawk, but happy for him.
Fairly obvious we’re NOT talking OG 6 here, finny. Are there still 6 teams in the league? Perhaps for you, there are? The comment still stands and is accurate. Black Hawks & Wings WAS the rivalry in the Central. Good call though lol, lets talk about OG 6 here…. Definitely relevant. Lets also go back to the Habs, Leafs and Wings all being owned by the same guy when they were “winning” Cups. Just as relevant to this conversation…. Good try, sport. Bested by the BEAST.
With the Bruins gifting Hall to Chicago in a salary dump, along with Bedard in the draft, Alex sure would have made you guys more formidable in your rebuild. Scary speed too.
Simple: Detroit management agitated for Eastern Conference because the money was better to stick in the Eastern time zone.
Exactly nha…. Felt there were “earlier” start times for them to be had as they were at a “disadvantage” staying in the Central. Guess they didn’t check out the time zones in advance, lmao. Keep it on the “hush” though…. No truth to be shared here. Seems obvious the wings have a “rivalry for the ages” with toronto and montreal apparently… That’s 100% fact. Bandwagoners, LOL.
Michigan is in the Eastern Time Zone.
The Red Wings had a long history or a rivalry against the Toronto Maple Leafs. If you don’t understand look no further than the sports bars decorated with Maple Leaf flags which are less than 5 miles from Little Caesars Arena–right when you cross into Canada (it used to be 3 miles from Joe Louis Arena). It was a good rivalry with playoff history. Then Bettman ripped apart the rivalry and put Detroit in the West so the fans had to endure years of 10:35pm playoff start times with games ending at 2am on work days. Despite what the trolls believe: Detroit’s only rival in the West was Colorado. And that rivalry went away when Colorado started tanking for draft picks.
25 years of playoffs, 4 Cups, constantly picking in the 20’s, and a salary cap (which resulted in a 50% reduction of their 2003 payroll) meant sooner or later the talent couldn’t be replaced and the rebuild had to start. But at least their GM has built a Stanley Cup winner before.
Besides Detroit and Toronto have won exactly the same number of playoff series over the last 11 years.
The Wings didn’t have a rivalry with the Hawks. They just constantly beat them until the point they stopped winning playoff series. There was one good series where the Wings were up 3-1 and the league suspended one of Detroit’s best defenders cause he Kronwalled a Black Hawks player skating with his head down. The Hawks came back–but looking back I’d be embarrassed as a Hawks fan to even talk about that time-frame. See that was when the Hawks were cheating the salary cap by paying Huet to play overseas so his cap hit wouldn’t count which didn’t even register of the worst things the organization was doing.
Turns out the Hawks were doing a lot of things wrong back then–just ask Kyle Beach.
it was only a rivalry to those in Chicago…Detroit constantly beat them until the Hawks cheated by moving cap overseas (Huet) and worse yet
were encouraging sexual assaults on their players and covering it up so the perpetrator was given a recommendation and wound up coaching at a high school level and then assaulted a minor.
If I was a Hawks fan I would never want to talk about that time-frame ever again.
Glad you guys had a random rivalry before 1993 with the leafs when you guys joined the Central Division…. The two cities ARE close enough, but this isn’t Toronto/Buffalo geography wise or half as intense as Boston/Montreal. It’s nothing relevant to my OG comment, hence my retort. Finny boy above mentioned the Habs with wings rivals too, but obviously NOT a rivalry to you as you didn’t mention it. It’s all based on individual opinions, that’s MY POINT, lol. Fact is IF we’re talking about OG 6 which WE obviously were not, the Bruins, rangers, hawks, habs, leafs AND wings all had a rivalry with one another which would be blatantly obvious as there were ONLY 6 teams in the entire league, lol..
Your comments on the rivalry with Chicago prove my point, d_ca. Every guy HAS his own opinion, lmao. I personally remember the “hate” your two “rival” fanbases had for one another as it was all over sports blogs etc. back when BOTH TEAMS were more competitive and obviously before Chicago won their more recent Cups. That’s a “good thing” for the game. Not sure why you’d want to water that rivalry down, but fairly certain NO ONE OUTSIDE michigan considers wings/leafs and wings/habs to be legitimate rivalries. LOL. You guys aren’t EVEN CONSIDERED THE MOST famous American NHL team while having the “most” Cups on the backs of Swedish players (many of them HOF) in the league. That’s got to be embarrassing for your fanbase. You guys aren’t the rangers lol, BUT sure you get what I’m saying.
Remember that the old Norris Division had Detroit and Toronto playing against teams largely based in the CST. They stayed there after realignment and expansion in 1993 and 1996. After further realignment and expansion in the late ‘90s, Detroit was kept in the Western Conference largely to keep intact some of the rivalries – namely with Chicago and St. Louis. It did mean the end to the Toronto rivalry, but the League wanted to resurrect the Leafs-Habs battles with Ottawa in between.
We also have to remember that the League back then largely consisted of teams based in the East, so some teams in the EST and and CST would be placed in the Western Conference. Imperfect but necessary, and some great battles and rivalries emerged. For instance, we wouldn’t have been treated to five epic playoff series in 7 years between Detroit and Colorado if they had played in different conferences.
Aslo rangers ad a Detroit rival, they and blue jackets had it rough in the western conference before it got switched up there traveling was brutal
Didn’t know Howe, Lindsay, Delvecchio, Yzerman, Abel, Sawchuk, Shanahan, Draper, Osgood, McCarty, etc we’re all Swedish. And we are all happy that we are not Ranger fans. Wasn’t the best goalie in rangers history a Swede?
Finnbar-And the Hawks aren’t? I think you need to do YOUR homework. Think before you type.
even if they were in separate conferences, we’d have seen 5 even more epic Colorado-Detroit matchups
the NHL has had majority teams in the Eastern time zone for all but the past 2 seasons, that’s why Detroit and Toronto were division rivals in the Campbell and Western conferences before Columbus joined the league.
as a neutral observer, Detroit-Toronto is the big rivalry. but Chicago may also feel Detroit was their biggest rival. Chicago-Detroit, that’s a divisional game in every other sport. it’s ok to hate each other
Great trade gave up,Kubalik, Seebrango,conditional 1st rounder and 4th.
So it’s 1st, a 4th , and two players. I don’t know if that’s an undervalue or not. Especially if DET can pick which 1st they want to give them.
Great trade for the wings.
Wings with a nice Sunday night surprise!
@gbear For who exactly? LOL. Guessing justajays is a homer leafs/wings fan….
I’m a despondent Preds observer, so I feel happy for fans of other teams when they acquire scoring. :/
Fair enough man, know you are, just joking with ya.
So they’re getting Boston’s pick in 2024 then
Maybe……….
They’ll give these boring franchise chumps 2 picks to go BACK to the west where they belong….
I’m not impressed…overpayment by Detroit. Kubalik could score as many goals with Ottawa as DeBrincat does in Detroit.
Kubalik Norris batherson is a pretty good 2nd line. I think it’s a good deal for both sides. Hope Debrincat fits in nice in Detroit and gets 40! Also rooting for kubalik, my guess is high 20’s maybe 30…. He won’t be top PP
The guy can skate/score goals and often gets sketchy calls from the officials due to his small size/stature, but with luck this trade works out ONLY for Ottawa and not dirty detoilet.
Lol
I don’t think so. The Cat will be fully energized when playing at home. Larkin and Perron will be feeding him and he will finish! He will do what Zadina though he could do, “Filling their nets with pucks”. LOL
Get out of here with the overpayment non-sense. It was for a vet whose roster spot was replaced by UFA additions (Compher and Sprong) in addition to a 2nd round pick finally making the team (Berggren).
Doubtful Kubalik scores the same as he was given 2nd line minutes early in the season last year when he scored 12 of his 20 goals. He struggled from Jan-April with only 8 (including 2 in one game). While DeBrincat was dealing with a lack of sleep from having a newborn baby and a wife 8 hours from family and friends.
Good trade. Also, I don’t think Mr. Yzerman is finished yet.
The return is slightly light imo but that’s mainly because every proposal I saw had Berggren being part of the return for Ottawa. If they use the money they save on Debrincat and are able to bring in one of Tarasenko or Tatar, I don’t mind it at all as a tidy piece of business for a player who wasn’t signing long term.
DeBrincat isn’t a star yet, To bad Yzerman couldn’t have unloaded Fabbri.
Random and weird as always wilf. Congrats.
How do you consider a guy scoring 40+ twice in 4 years not a star?
You are welcome!!!
LOL, exactly… The guy IS a quality NHL scorer, that’s WHAT he does along with drawing PP’s.
But why? Detroit is far from ready.
Fabbri still has not been cleared to play after knee surgery.
Wings still have $8M in cap space.
DeBrincat is from a Detroit suburb. His wife is from a Detroit suburb. Their families live there. They have a 1 year old daughter and want grandparents around for visits.
If you mean why Detroit wants him: offense. Detroit’s major need was a scoring winger to go along with Larkin and Raymond.
Okay, I got to say, who gives a damn about whether Ottawa got equivalent “draft capital” back? They got a TWENTY GOAL SCORER. I know it’s the chic thing to enshrine high round draft picks as the most wondrous thing possible, but perhaps we could recall what those picks are FOR — obtaining good hockey players. Which is far from a guarantee.
Let’s take 2016, when DeBrincat was drafted. Since Brendan seems unhappy that all Ottawa got was a 20 goal scorer instead of a replacement 2nd rounder, how about we look at the second rounders in that draft? Of the thirty picks, nine played five games or less in the NHL. Three others have played less than a full season. There are a bunch of journeymen: the Libor Hajeks, Givani Smiths, Kale Claques and Dylan Gambrells.
How many genuine impact players? DeBrincat himself (picked 39th), Carter Hart, Jordan Kyrou, Samuel Girard, Filip Gustavsson, Filip Hronek. One in five ain’t great odds.
Me, I’ll take a 20-goal scorer NOW rather than a one-in-five chance that I happen to get one a few years down the road.
Very true. Never know IF guys past production will translate to the NHL. For most it doesn’t…. Not a sure thing even in this PAST DRAFT with Bedard who many think is a “can’t miss” prospect that is sure to succeed. Seems likely, BUT definitely not a given. That’s the gamble GM’s/FO’s need to make and the best in the league obviously get these decisions right more often than wrong.
Well, no. NO team gets those decisions more right than wrong. The best (or luckiest) simply get them less often wrong than others do.
It’s really just that I’ve seen this attitude time and time again: that by far the most important thing a GM can do is amass a heap of draft picks. Which is bullshit: the most important thing a GM can do is *put a competitive team on the ice.* People crow over the heap of picks teams like Arizona or Chicago amass, but I bet their fanbases don’t give a shit: they’d much rather have fewer picks and better players.
And even first rounders misfire, a lot. Take that 2016 draft again. Four of those first rounders have played a half season or less. There aren’t as many as ten guys in that first round who are serious impact players today. Heck, even top ten picks bomb: I’d wager that Edmonton (Puljujarvi), Vancouver (Juolevi), Buffalo (Alex Nylander) and Colorado (Yost) would love do-overs.
And Nail Yakupov.
Yep. Even with top-ten picks, three or four a draft are either outright bombs or fell far far short of expectations. And that’s not even counting those who’ve had long and honorable careers: Luke Schenn’s acquitted himself well, but was that what Toronto had in mind picking him 5th overall in 2008? They could’ve had Erik Karlsson (15th), John Carlson (27th), Roman Josi (38th), TJ Brodie (114th), Jared Spurgeon (156th) …
Buffalo got a do over. It’s called Henry Jokiharju…
Holy steal
Collusion perhaps? lol
Red wings fand need to thank svechnikov for this in reality. The rumor was wings didnt want to go higher aav BUT by Svech terminating hos deal that freed up the money for the wing to throw the extra in the needed to sign this man. Thats how i see it. Theres a reason this didnt happen until after his cap left the books
Crazy how EastBeast’s many questionable comments makes me believe WilfPaiement is a sane,respectful, wholesome and correct human being
Svechnikov???? You mean Zadina? LOL
There is no ‘collusion’ when it comes to the NHL in Canada……..
It was Zadina and the Wings had the cap space to sign the Cat without Zadina walking. They still have around 5mill to sign someone else if they wanted.
I like Ottawa’s side, just as I liked Chicago’s last year.
I evidently realize that DeBrincat is not the type of player you win with when it matters.
(nods) I really don’t think the Senators did badly, all things considered.
What a steal by Stevie Y ! Giving up a guy we weren’t going to resign and an extra 1st which will be the worst of 2. And didn’t give up any high quality prospects.
I think SY won this one. While I absolutely HATE losing Kubes, and I do not think a fourth thrown in was necessary, Detroit has their sniper! BUT – Debrinket has a LOT of weight to carry. If he doesn’t score 35-40 goals, he is the goat. Getting him: the salary is correct – the extra pick was incorrect. When the TDL comes in March, DRW will be buyers because I SMELL PLAYOFFS!
79 comments..? ~O_o~
I’m late and didn’t read the comments but in my eyes that is a great deal for DET on both the return and the contract. It also isn’t terrible for Ottawa given their situation. Nice trade.
JUST A WILD THOUGHT: sign RW-Patrick Kane – 2yr/$5MM GP-73 G-21 A-36 PTS-57 PPG-0.78 TOI-19:18
Kane’s not signing with Detroit. You’d think that if he wasn’t going to Buffalo or back to Chicago, it’d be to a serious Cup contender or no one. The Red Wings are angling to make the playoffs, but I doubt even their most rabid fans think there’s any legitimate chance of them winning a Cup.
Chicago has like 19 forwards, and some of them are even NHL caliber players!