Alex DeBrincat is reportedly back on the trade block.
After just one season with the Ottawa Senators, DeBrincat has apparently made it known that he is unwilling to sign a long-term extension to remain in Canada’s capital city.
The 25-year-old winger is due a $9M qualifying offer from the Senators later this month to retain his exclusive negotiating rights as a restricted free agent. He’s set to become a UFA next summer.
Which teams could express interest in trading for the two-time 40-goal scorer? Could DeBrincat wind up back in his home state of Michigan? Tyler Yaremchuk and Mike McKenna discussed the matter on Thursday’s edition of "Daily Faceoff Live."
Tyler Yaremchuk: Another big rumor that we’ve heard this week centers around Alex DeBrincat and the Ottawa Senators heading into a summer where he’s a restricted free agent. There is talk that after just one year in Ottawa, he won’t be signing long-term there, so the Senators are potentially going to be forced to move him this summer. Tough hand to be dealt if you’re the GM of the Senators, which, again, that position might be changing in a bit, so it’s hard to read what they’re going to do this summer. Focusing on DeBrincat, which GMs around the league should be making a call to Pierre Dorion to try to make a move for this guy?
Mike McKenna: Yeah, I’ve got a couple of them, and by the way, this is a classic case of — you’d better have an extension in place when you go for a person like this on the market. You can’t just roll the dice hoping you’re going to keep him around, you’d better make sure. I’ll tell you what, the Carolina Hurricanes need a sniper. I think he’d be a good fit there. I think Rod Brind’Amour would help DeBrincat’s game. The Minnesota Wild, the same boat. They need some additional scoring. Cap issues might be a little bit tough there, but — I’ve got my eye on one team, it’s in his hometown state: the Detroit Red Wings. DeBrincat’s due a qualifying offer of $9M, he’s currently at $6.4M for a cap hit.
The only thing that’s really in question: Is he a 30- or 40-goal scorer? He’s waffled a bit here. You’re not quite sure. I don’t think he’s quite worth $9M a year, but when you look at the Red Wings and what they could possibly put together in assets to get him — they have two first-round picks this year, 2023, they have two first-round picks in 2024. And look at the second-round picks that are loaded up, three of them in this year’s draft, as well. Larkin is the only big-ticket player on the docket right now for the Red Wings. He’s going to be joined by Mo Seider in a year, but they’ve got over $30M worth of projected cap space sitting there. I think they could afford DeBrincat, I think he’d fit. They need a boost in the offense.
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