Six trade destinations to watch for Ottawa Senators’ Alex DeBrincat
The Stanley Cup parade cleanup is complete. The NHL’s offseason calendar officially shifts toward next season for all 32 NHL teams, with the Draft just nine days away.
Last season, hours before the Montreal Canadiens made the first pick, we saw a blockbuster trade go down between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Ottawa Senators, with Alex DeBrincat heading to Ottawa as Sens GM Pierre Dorion made an aggressive play to accelerate his team’s rebuild.
A year later, could we see another draft-day deal involving DeBrincat? It’s already confirmed that the right winger, 25, does not want to sign an extension in Ottawa. His qualifying offer would be $9 million, but the Sens have elected to take him to arbitration in hopes of shaving some dollars off that figure. Ideally, though, it won’t come to that anyway, as they will have moved him before the hearing plays out. They are actively trying to trade him and won’t lack for suitors.
DeBrincat didn’t dazzle in his first season with the Sens, scoring an underwhelming 27 goals, but he has established himself as one of the better scoring wingers in the NHL, proving that a 5-foot-8, 178-pound frame doesn’t need to hold anyone back in today’s game. Since his rookie campaign of 2017-18, his 187 goals rank 14th in the NHL, between Mika Zibanejad and Mark Scheifele. DeBrincat has outscored higher-profile fellow 2016 draftees Patrik Laine and Matthew Tkachuk.
The Sens should attract plenty of enticing offers for a high-end goal scorer in his prime. Complicating the matter: while they haven’t been to the playoffs since 2016-17, they are knocking on the door and fully intend to get there next season. Dorion will thus likely prefer a package including pieces that help Ottawa in the present. Those types of deals can be tougher to execute, of course.
Which suitors might make the most sense for DeBrincat? Consider these six destinations.
Carolina Hurricanes
Why he makes sense:
The Canes couldn’t solve the Florida Panthers in the Eastern Conference Final because they couldn’t score without two of their best snipers. Max Pacioretty re-tore his Achilles tendon in January and is now a UFA. Andre Svechnikov tore his ACL late in the season and will be back for the start of 2022-23 only in an absolute best-case recovery scenario. The Canes desperately need a game-breaker. They haven’t had a top-10 scorer in the NHL in 10 years.
Fly in the ointment:
As I established in my story last week exploring Pierre-Luc Dubois trade destinations, Carolina arguably needs a No. 2 center more than a scoring winger. So maybe it needs to save its splashy trade offer in pursuit of that team need. Also, I’m not so sure Carolina’s potential trade assets align with Ottawa’s needs. If you go the prospect route, almost all the Canes’ most promising names are blueliners, and Ottawa just traded for Jakob Chychrun and broke Jake Sanderson in as as a regular. If they’re sending DeBrincat out, they’ll likely want to replace his important production with a forward. Would Carolina be willing to move a good one out? In what scenario do you not ask for Seth Jarvis if you’re Dorion?
Detroit Red Wings
Why he makes sense:
The Wings might have a leg up on every other suitor when it comes to getting DeBrincat locked up to an extension as part of the trade process. He’s a Michigan native who grew up a Red Wings fan. DeBrincat doesn’t have any official trade protection on his contract but he can manufacture it by indicating preferred teams with which he’d like to sign long-term, just as Tkachuk did last year. The Red Wings are reportedly on a list DeBrincat’s agent submitted to the Senators. They certainly need more high-end talent to play among their top-six forwards, especially after GM Steve Yzerman traded Tyler Bertuzzi and Jakub Vrana this past season. Also working in Detroit’s favor: plenty of its good young prospects have begun to cut their teeth in the NHL already and thus could work immediately into Ottawa’s lineup. Think Jonatan Berggren, for instance.
Fly in the ointment:
Personally, I think the idea of divisional trades being impossible is extremely overblown. Two weeks ago, the Columbus Blue Jackets acquired two defensemen from within the Metropolitan Division, after all. But in the case of the Wings and Sens: these are two teams at the exact same stage of their respective rebuilds, in direct competition with each other, having finished six points apart in the Atlantic Division. By making a blockbuster together, they’d risk directly damaging their own chances at winning a 2023-24 Wildcard spot.
Florida Panthers
Why he makes sense:
When Florida moved out Jonathan Huberdeau and MacKenzie Weegar as part of the Tkachuk blockbuster last summer, it removed two monstrous future cap hits on new extensions (signed in Calgary) that will begin in 2023-24, so it was known that Florida would have more cap space to play with this offseason than last. Given Florida’s expiring contracts are mostly depth options, they could have room to fit DeBrincat, who reportedly included them on his list of desired destinations. The Panthers lost in the Stanley Cup Final because they weren’t quite deep enough at forward despite having some tremendous high-end talent. DeBrincat would remedy that problem and then some.
Fly in the ointment:
The Panthers need to commit some cap space to their blueline, whether they re-sign Radko Gudas or pursue someone else. Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour both will be coming off shoulder surgeries and at risk of missing the start of the season. Finding the right piece(es) to send to Ottawa in a trade scenario might prove difficult, too. If they sent out a key forward (Sam Reinhart, Sam Bennett) etc. they don’t fix their depth problem. And their farm system isn’t teeming with elite talent, either.
New York Rangers
Why he makes sense:
The Rangers have a crater at right wing with Patrick Kane and Vladimir Tarasenko set to walk as UFAs and Kaapo Kakko still not elevating into trusted top-sixer status. Not only would DeBrincat fill a major team need, but he would also make the Rangers’ core younger and extend their contention window. The Blueshirts are also equipped with some unique potential “hockey trade” assets to dangle. Wouldn’t a change of scenery suit Alexis Lafreniere? Acquiring a package built around him would be an interesting bet for Dorion to make.
Fly in the ointment:
The Rangers have some heavy salary-cap lifting to do this offseason. They will commit a significant portion of their projected $11.76 million in cap space toward re-signing RFA defenseman K’Andre Miller, who has likely shown enough at this point to bypass a bridge deal and ink a long-term pact. Simply put, as currently constructed, the Rangers wouldn’t have the cap space to pay Miller and DeBrincat unless they move money out. Lafreniere is also an RFA, and while he won’t be earning an AAV anywhere near Miller’s, that’s still another raise to factor in if Lafreniere doesn’t go Ottawa’s way in a DeBrincat trade.
Pittsburgh Penguins
Why he makes sense:
New president of hockey ops and interim GM Kyle Dubas has made it pretty clear he will try to keep Pittsburgh’s contention window open as long as Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang are around. DeBrincat would certainly help do so, and he also spent his major junior career in nearby Erie, meaning he’d likely have an existing comfort level with the area, which could facilitate signing an extension. The Pens also have some interesting potential assets to offer if Ottawa wants immediate plug-and-play veterans in return for DeBrincat. Rickard Rakell’s only movement restriction is an eight-team no-trade list. If the Sens wanted help in goal, they could look into acquiring pending UFA Tristan Jarry’s rights if they made a trade before July 1.
Fly in the ointment:
If the Sens aren’t interested in their veteran pieces, the Pens aren’t positioned to make a competitive offer for DeBrincat. Their farm system is absolutely barren. While they’re in decent shape cap wise, they have to prioritize an extension for Jake Guentzel, who is eligible to sign one come July 1. They also need help on defense and need to spend some cap space on a No. 1 goalie, whether it’s Jarry or someone else. Does Pittsburgh have too many holes to burn much of their cap space on a single addition?
St. Louis Blues
Why he makes sense:
The Blues cut their losses in 2022-23 by selling off Tarasenko and Ryan O’Reilly, but they weren’t committing to a rebuild, not when they had Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou in their primes and freshly signed to long-term deals. General manager Doug Armstrong strides into Nashville next week armed with three first-round picks – the Blues’ own, the Leafs’ pick from the O’Reilly deal, and the Dallas’ Stars pick, which the Rangers had previously acquired and used to get Tarasenko.
If the Sens aren’t liking the ‘hockey trade’ options for DeBrincat, knocking on Armstrong’s door might be an intriguing pivot. Might the Blues surrender two of those first-rounders for DeBrincat? The Sens don’t currently own a 2023 pick until the fourth round, so that could be a winning package. The Sens would also walk into free agency with significant cap space freed up.
Fly in the ointment:
The Blues have already committed almost $76 million to the cap. Would they need to convince Ottawa to take on some salary to facilitate a trade? Marco Scandella comes to mind. But that would drive the acquisition cost up, too.
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