Chicago Blackhawks: Alex DeBrincat is an elite winger
The Chicago Blackhawks know they have something great in Alex DeBrincat, but it won’t be long before the NHL sees he is for real.
Chicago Blackhawks forward Alex DeBrincat is coming off a great season. He was one of the most prolific goal scorers in the entire National Hockey League in 2018-19 so he will be looking to build on that again. He was given his long lost friend and former Erie Otters teammate Dylan Strome thanks to a trade with the Arizona Coyotes halfway through the season, and now they will be able to play the entire season together.
The NHL Network didn’t include DeBrincat on their top-20 winger list which is weird when you look at how good he actually was. His hard offensive numbers were good and he was good in the defensive game as well. He is certainly a top-20 winger and by the time next year, the league and the world will know how good he actually is.
DeBrincat had 41 goals and 35 assists for 76 points in 82 games which is great for a second-round pick in his second NHL season. He also pumped out 220 shots on goal with 17:42 minutes per game of average ice time. His Corsi For % at even strength was 50.3% so the Blackhawks loved when he was on the ice. He has an amazing shot and can change a game if he has a guy like Strome to find him in areas where he can get the puck in the net quickly.
He gets lots of power-play time and with the top unit. He should be featured on the top unit yet again and that means he will see time with Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, and Erik Gustafsson with the man advantage. Those are the kind of players you want to be playing with when you are looking for power-play touches. He had 13 power-play goals in 2018-19 which was good for 11th in the NHL. DeBrincat should find lots of success when the Blackhawks go on the power-play in 2019-20 as well.
He is going to be looking for a contract after this season as he is getting ready to become a restricted free agent on July 1st. With the way the RFA market has been going over the last few seasons, things could get a little weird with both DeBrincat and Strome for that matter. With guys like Jeff Skinner getting 9 million dollars per year, it is going to be interesting to see how a guy like DeBrincat gets compensated.
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If he is healthy and plays in all 82 games once again, you should expect him to put up another 40+ goals and 30+ assists for anywhere from 70-80 points. The Blackhawks took a chance on yet another smaller player in the 2016 NHL Draft and it paid off big time. He is the leading scorer of his draft class of all players taken outside of the first round, which is a pretty impressive stat. I should be another big year for DeBrincat, and everyone should be excited to watch it.