The chance that the Ottawa Senators and forward Alex DeBrincat go their separate ways this offseason looks like it’s increasing in certainty by the day. DeBrincat’s restricted free agent status and the sheer confusion surrounding the team’s ownership situation are the largest contributing factors.
The two sides seem like they’ll be heading in the direction of a mutually beneficial trade and that was buoyed by a Wednesday report from Pierre LeBrun during TSN’s Insider Trading.
LeBrun says DeBrincat has given the Sens a list of preferred destinations so that he will be more likely to sign an extension through the trade and maximize value going back to Ottawa.
I don’t think you can say it’s a certainty, but it looks like it’s more likely than not.
What’s happened here is DeBrincat’s camp, led by agent Jeff Jackson, has submitted a list of preferred destinations that his client would be interested in joining. The reason that’s significant is that if general manager Pierre Dorion does trade DeBrincat, he would want him to be signed through this trade so he could get maximum value back in return.
Think of the Matthew Tkachuk deal from the Calgary Flames to the Florida Panthers last off-season.
Don’t know who exactly is on that list but that list has been submitted.
If DeBrincat is indeed dealt, it will be the second time in two offseasons that he has been sent to another team. The Senators acquired the high-scoring winger from the Chicago Blackhawks in July of 2022 in exchange for the seventh and 39th overall draft selections in that year’s draft as well as a third-round pick in the 2023 draft.
The 25-year-old DeBrincat was a two-time, 40-goal scorer and also posted two 75-plus point seasons in Chicago. His first year in Ottawa wasn’t as successful as those years but he still managed to record 66 points (27g, 39a) while playing in all 82 regular season games.
LeBrun added in a further report on The Athletic that it’s still possible that DeBrincat could be brought back to Ottawa on a one-year deal (with a potential salary arbitration hearing) but that would turn him into an unrestricted free agent during the 2024 offseason and tremendously reduce his potential trade value. The Sens would also risk losing him for nothing.
One of the teams that will likely check in on DeBrincat is the Washington Capitals. General manager Brian MacLellan has made it clear that his goal is to upgrade the team’s top-six forward group this summer.
DeBrincat has close ties with current Caps center Dylan Strome as the two played three seasons (2014-17) with one another in the OHL on the Erie Otters. In both players’ last season in junior (2016-17), they led the Otters to the Memorial Cup but were beaten by the Windsor Spitfires for the title. Strome had 34 points (14g, 20a) in 22 playoff games while DeBrincat led the team with his 38 points (13g, 25a).
The two players then reunited in Chicago with the Blackhawks for four seasons from 2018 through 2022. DeBrincat had a career year with Strome centering him on the first line posting 41 goals and 78 points during the 2021-22 season. The Blackhawks even made salt & pepper shakers of the two players because they are such an “inseparable duo.”
If Caps do make a move for DeBrincat, they would right their wrong from the 2016 draft where they were one of many teams to let DeBrincat slip all the way to pick number 39 in the second round. The Caps took defenseman Lucas Johansen in the first round that year, pick number 28.
Headline photo: @dylstrome19/Instagram
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