The commercial market has stalled since free agency began a little over a week ago. But the Ottawa Senators and Detroit Red Wings broke the ice late Sunday night (July 9), with The Senators send Alex DeBrinkat of Michigan to the Red Wings in exchange for Dominik Kubalik, prospect Donovan Sebrango, and two draft picks.
The Red Wings looked like the favorite to acquire DeBrincat for some time, but it finally came to fruition this evening. The Red Wings needed help scoring, specifically on the wing, while the Senators got some draft capital and an NHLer in Kubalik. Below are the trade scores for each aspect.
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The Red Wings have been very active in free agency, JT Compher signature And Daniel Sprung to upgrade their offense and add Justin Hall and James Reimer for defensive depth and goalkeeping. Clearly, General Manager Steve Yzerman wants to help get the Red Wings out of that no-man’s-land of not good enough for the playoffs but not good enough for a top draft pick.
The hope is that getting DeBrincat can help propel the Red Wings into the conversation for a playoff spot in the Atlantic Division. DeBrincat “struggled” this season, finishing with 27 goals and 66 points in 82 games, a low season by his standards. But that drop in production could be related to some shooting bad luck, as his shooting percentage of 10.3 was lower than the 15.5 shooting percentage he had in the 2022-23 season.
This led some to believe that DeBrincat needed to have Patrick Kane teammate him to score 40 goals, as he did in his time with the Chicago Blackhawks. But make no mistake, DeBrincat is a high-profile shot and block creator who should bounce back this coming season, especially if he gets the time alongside Dylan Larkin. The underrated part of his game is the playmaking, and it will generate a lot of looks on the power play.
Related: Red Wings acquire Alex DeBrincat and sign him to a 4-year deal
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Yzerman didn’t give up much to acquire DeBrincat, which isn’t a surprise considering the Senators didn’t have much clout. Since DeBrincat was a restricted free agent this season, the Red Wings were forced to sign him to a new deal. Most of the time, such deals result in an eight-year extension. But the Red Wings managed to secure DeBrincat’s four-year signing with a $7.875 million cap, about the same beating as Kevin Fiala and Jesper Pratt.
If DeBrincat bounces back, there’s good reason to believe he’ll be making more than $7.875 million a year. After a string of questionable moves in free agency, it was a neat act by Yzerman and the Red Wings began getting a point-scoring assist.
Red Wings Grade: A-
The Senators were in a difficult place
It was about a year ago when The Senators acquired DeBrincat from the Blackhawks in the 2022 draft. The move resulted in the Senators giving up the seventh overall pick, which the Blackhawks used to draft Kevin Korczynski, a second-round pick in the 2022 draft, and a third-round pick in the 2024 draft.
Apparently Senator GM Pierre Dorion hoped DeBrincat would be more than a one-year lease, especially since they weren’t locked in to make the playoffs for the 2022-23 season. He bet, and it didn’t work out. That makes last year’s trade look a lot worse because the Senators didn’t add a stellar prospect through the 2022 draft.
That’s life, but the Senators at least regained some value in this trade with the Red Wings. Kobalek was inconsistent in his time in the NHL, but he did come off a solid season that saw him score 20 goals and 45 points in 81 games. He’s not a driver for much play, but if he’s on line with playmakers who can feed him pucks in shooting lanes, he can find the back of the net.
Kobalek has one year left on his deal, at a cap of $2.5 million. It remains to be seen if the Senators re-sign him, but he should help their NHL roster for next season. They also receive a conditional first-round pick in the 2024 draft, provided that Detroit has the option of fielding or fielding the first-team Boston Bruins, which they own, in 2024.
Dorion and the senators were in a difficult position here. They haven’t had much clout since DeBrincat wanted to play with the Red Wings and it was clear he no longer signed long with the Senators. They probably should have gotten more since they traded a team with whom they will compete squarely for an Atlantic playoff spot in 2023-24. But at least they didn’t lose DeBrincat for nothing and got the option to score six goals in the middle of Kubalik.
Grade Senators: B-