Red Wings Acquire DeBrincat

The long-rumored deal is done: On Sunday night, the Detroit Red Wings acquired forward Alex DeBrincat from the Ottawa Senators, immediately signing him to a four-year contract extension.

UPDATE: The #RedWings have signed Alex DeBrincat to a 4-year extension with an AAV of $7,875,000. pic.twitter.com/F3aiEpzqO1

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) July 10, 2023

Heading to the Senators in the deal are forward Dominik Kubalik, prospect defenseman Donovan Sebrango, a conditional first round pick in 2024, and Detroit’s fourth round pick in 2024.

The conditions on the first rounder are that Detroit gets to choose whether it’s theirs or Bostons’s in 2024, unless the Boston pick slides to 2025, in which case Detroit chooses either their own pick in 2024 or Boston’s pick in 2025.

With the move, Detroit gets a two-time 40-goal scorer who is still only 25, signed to a deal for less than Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin.

I think this is a fantastic deal for the Red Wings, certainly helped by the fact that Farmington Hills-native DeBrincat wanted to come play for his hometown team.

Kubalik was nice for the Red Wings last year but wasn’t going to be a difference-maker.  Sebrango is a great story and could have a bright future but was behind too many top picks on the blueline in the Detroit organization.  The fourth-rounder is a proverbial lottery ticket.  Giving up a first-rounder was always going to be necessary and, for a team that hasn’t made the jump into the playoffs yet, it’s a risk to give up that kind of capital.  But the fact that the Wings got Boston’s pick in the deal for Tyler Bertuzzi – a player who wasn’t going to stay in Detroit anyway – and then flipped it for DeBrincat makes that sting a lot less.  If this deal were listed as Kubalik, Sebrango, a fourth, and two months of Tyler Bertuzzi, that sting wouldn’t be there.

I’m still not sure that the Red Wings are a playoff team in a stacked Atlantic Division but this gets them a lot closer.

Prerequisite jersey number geekery…  DeBrincat usually wears #12, which won’t be available in Detroit.  With the departure of Filip Zadina, he could switch to #11 and call it close enough.  Free agent signee Daniel Sprong usually wears #11.  Sprong announced that he will wear #88 but that was before Zadina’s contract was terminated.  DeBrincat could also flip #12 to #21, taking that number from Austin Czarnik.  That gets interesting because Czarnik usually wears #27, which is worn by Michael Rasmussen who prefers #17, which became available with last season’s trade of Filip Hronek to Vancouver.  Or DeBrincat could pull a Jake Walman and just take #97 for his birth year.