Red Wings land DeBrincat, agree to 4-year, $31.5M contract

The Alex DeBrincat saga reached its conclusion Sunday with the Ottawa Senators trading the two-time 40-goal scorer to the Detroit Red Wings.

In return, the Red Wings sent forward Dominik Kubalik, prospect defenseman Donovan Sebrango, a conditional first round pick and a 2024 fourth-round pick to the Senators. Shortly after the Red Wings announced the trade, the team announced they signed DeBrincat to a four-year extension carrying a $7.875 million salary-cap hit and a total of $31.5 million.

Per the Senators, the initial condition of the first-round pick is the Red Wings will have the option of either sending their 2024 first-round pick or the Boston Bruins‘ 2024 first-round pick — which the Red Wings acquired in the Tyler Bertuzzi trade in March. It comes with the caveat that if the Bruins’ 2024 first-round pick is a top-10 pick, the Bruins will have the option to retain the pick and transferring their 2025 first-round pick to the Red Wings. The Red Wings will then have the option of sending that draft pick or their actual 2024 first-round pick to the Senators.

Ottawa moving on from DeBrincat comes a year and two days after the Senators acquired him from the Chicago Blackhawks. They got DeBrincat in exchange for the No. 7 pick of the 2022 NHL Draft that eventually became prospect defenseman Kevin Korchinski along with a 2022 second-round pick that also became prospect forward Paul Ludwinski in addition to the Senators’ third-round pick in 2024.

DeBrincat’s departure away from the Senators had been rumored — something Senators general manager Pierre Dorion confirmed at the NHL Draft upon telling reporters that the club was not in any rush to move in order to find the best possible trade.

Getting DeBrincat gives the Red Wings a 25-year-old winger who is already a two-time 40-goal scorer that has scored more than 50 points in each of his six NHL seasons. His lone year with the Senators finished with DeBrincat scoring 27 goals and 66 points. It was the fifth time and third consecutive season DeBrincat finished with more than 20 goals in a campaign.

His arrival is also the latest move in what has been an active offseason for the Red Wings.

It started when they acquired forward Klim Kostin in a trade with the Edmonton Oilers that also saw them receive forward Kailer Yamamoto. They bought out Yamamoto — a decision that will only cost $443,334 in 2023-24 and another $533,334 in 2024-25 with the forward eventually signing with his home state Seattle Kraken.

Armed with salary-cap space, the Red Wings used their financial muscle to strengthen several parts of their roster in free agency. They signed defensemen Shayne Gostisbehere and Justin Holl while signing goaltender James Reimer. They also signed forwards such as Christian Fischer and Daniel Sprong before signing one of the bigger names in this free agency class in center J.T. Compher to a five-year pact worth $5.1 million annually.

CapFriendly projected that the Red Wings entered Sunday with $13.537 million in available space which made them a potential player for DeBrincat, who grew up in the Detroit suburb of Farmington Hill, Michigan.

Now that the Red Wings have DeBrincat, he adds to a potential top-nine forward group that now has Dylan Larkin, David Perron, Andrew Copp, Robby Fabbri, Lucas Raymond, Compher, Kostin and Sprong with the idea Fischer could also challenge for a spot.

It leaves the Red Wings with $8.162 million in projected cap space should they seek to add more to a roster that is trying to snap a seven-year playoff drought — a streak that is tied for the longest in franchise history that went from 1970-71 through 1976-77. The Red Wings made the playoffs the following year only to then miss the postseason for the next for years.

Last year, the Red Wings finished 12 points adrift of the final Eastern Conference wild-card spot.

One of those teams sandwiched between the Red Wings and that final wild-card spot was the Senators.

Acquiring DeBrincat was one of a few moves the Senators made last offseason that created the belief they could potentially challenge for a playoff spot. Those expectations took a bit of a hit when an early-season seven-game losing streak in November paved the way for a rocky road that ultimately saw the Senators six points behind the Florida Panthers, who won the last wild-card spot before their eventual run to the Stanley Cup Final that saw them lost to the Vegas Golden Knights.

Kubalik’s arrival gives the Senators a top-six forward they can use to help fill DeBrincat’s role with the 27-year-old scoring 20 goals and 45 points. It was the fourth straight season that Kubalik scored more than 15 goals while his 45 points were one shy of tying his previous personal best.

He’ll challenge for a top-six spot in a group that also includes Brady Tkachuk, Claude Giroux, Tim Stutzle and Drake Batherson, among others. As for Sebrango, he was a third-round pick by the Red Wings in 2020 who spent last season between the AHL and ECHL where he had a combined five goals and 19 points in 62 games.