Fantasy Hockey Impact: Alex DeBrincat lands in Detroit

Attention fantasy owners: Lookout for the Dylan Larkin/Alex DeBrincat combo in Motown next season.

After weeks – if not years – of speculation, the Michigan native is finally going home.

In DeBrincat, the Red Wings are getting a hired gun. The 25-year-old sniper has hit the 40-goal plateau twice and has potted 25-plus goals in five of his six NHL seasons to-date. In his lone season with the Senators, the former Erie Otter tallied 27 goals and 66 points suiting up in all 82 regular season outings.

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The addition of DeBrincat to the top-six should help to boost everyone around him —including the likes of Dylan Larkin, Lucas Raymond, David Perron and Moritz Seider. Now that his contract situation is sorted and he’s where he’s always wanted to be, I wouldn’t be shocked to see him completely go off in Detroit. Even with favourable deployment in Ottawa, the former Blackhawk got off to a very slow start and really didn’t hit his stride until late in the season. Despite that, he still managed to put up very reputable numbers. Because of the ‘off’ year, there’s no question DeBrincat’s fantasy stock has dropped from say a year ago at this time. That said, don’t sleep on him. This guy’s a perennial 40-goal scorer and should be high atop your list of potential bounce-back candidates entering the 2023-24 campaign.

From the Ottawa perspective, until he demonstrates the ability to be consistent, Dominik Kubalik should be looked at as nothing more than a waiver play. Furthermore, the 27-year-old’s coming off a mystifying year. After notching 28 points (12 goals, 16 assists) over his first 35 outings of the season, the winger managed to muster just 17 points (eight goals, nine assists) in 46 games from January 1 onward. Nevertheless, depending on what else Pierre Dorion has up his sleeve this summer, there’s a chance Kubalik could start the year in Ottawa’s top-six. We’ll see.