Red Wings Sign DeBrincat to Seven Year Extension

The Detroit Red Wings announced a seven-year contract extension for forward Alex DeBrincat on Wednesday.

CAT’S STAYING HOME‼️

We’ve signed Alex DeBrincat to a 7-year contract extension with an AAV of $13,000,000. https://t.co/u12rAsHiqY

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) October 14, 2026

DeBrincat’s salary cap hit for the deal comes out to $13 million. He was due to become an unrestricted free agent next summer.

Signing DeBrincat is an important piece of work for a Red Wings team with a lot of questions around it. In a summer where their captain asked for a trade out, their franchise icon GM was let go, and their #2 defenseman went unsigned, an extension for their top scorer was crucial.

That said, of all of those items, it kind of feels like this only became crucial because the others weren’t resolved. DeBrincat facing free agency heading into the season would be less than ideal in any scenario but would have been significantly more palatable if the Red Wings had found their GM and made a deal for Larkin and gotten restricted free agent Simon Edvinsson locked up. Or maybe even just two of those.

It says something about the state of the NHL that the $13 million cap hit doesn’t raise any eyebrows. By the end of the deal, with DeBrincat in his mid-30s, that might be an overpay. Or it might not if the cap keeps rising. Right now, though, that seems to be the going rate for a scorer like DeBrincat.

So, yes, an important piece of work, but this organization has a lot more to do.