Detroit Red Wings: Alex DeBrincat has to be spark plug in offense

The Detroit Red Wings went out and put a nice cherry on top of their off-season moves. They have shuffled things around and brought in some new faces, but going out and trading for forward Alex DeBrincat is just the cherry on top of it all.

While the Detroit Red Wings were rumored as suitors of DeBrincat for a while, seeing the deal finally be pulled off, and the Red Wings land their guy, it was undoubtedly a welcome sight for Red Wings faithful. Even at the expense of a few players, the fans had grown to enjoy.

For DeBrincat, he’s coming back home. The Farmington Hills native was a draftee of the Chicago Blackhawks in 2016, where he spent the first five years of his career in Chi-Town. Last summer, he was traded to the Ottawa Senators by the Blackhawks in exchange for three draft picks.

After a year in Ottawa, it was noted that he would not be re-signing, and the two sides agreed to try and find DeBrincat a new home. One of the favorites was Detroit, and after working out a deal, the blockbuster trade went down.

Detroit Red Wings are hoping Alex DeBrincat is the spark plug.

DeBrincat will have his work cut out for him in Detroit. He’s a former 40-goal scorer, and the last time the Red Wings had a forward score 40 goals was in 2008-09 when Hall of Famer Marián Hossa accomplished the feat in a year where the team lost in the Cup Finals.

Since then, no Red Wings player has scored 40 goals in a season in Detroit. It’s not to say that DeBrincat will accomplish this, but being a spark plug and igniting offense around him to get things going will be crucial.

If DeBrincat goes on a scoring tear and lights a fire under the Red Wings offense, it could look like the early 2010s Red Wings, where they were scoring in bunches with many players above that 20-25 goal threshold per year.

The Red Wings must be hoping for big things from the 25-year-old winger. DeBrincat played in all 82 games with Ottawa in 2022-23, scoring 27 goals and adding 39 assists for 66 total points. In Detroit, the hopes have to be he can do the same, or hopefully even better.

After all, he signed an extension with the Red Wings, so he will be around for the future, and it would be good to see him get acclimated to the Red Wings’ offense early. Finding ways to ignite the offense and help this team put up numbers would be huge.

The Red Wings continue to take strides in the right direction; they need that thing to help push them over the top. Trading for DeBrincat and locking him up on an extension might just be that move that allows them to hunt around for a playoff spot.