Three realistic Alex Debrincat trade destinations
Alex Debrincat is a player who gets fans out of their seats. At age 21, his second season in the NHL, he put up 41 goals during the 2018-2019 season. However, despite being traded on draft night last year, he could be on the move again. Following a down year for both himself and the Ottawa Senators, the Sens are now considering moving him elsewhere.
As a guy who put up two 41-goal seasons before turning 25, there will be a ton of interest. Don’t be shocked to see a team give up a lot, even if he’s set to be a UFA in 2024. With all that in mind, here are three realistic destinations that Alex Debrincat might be traded to.
Seattle Kraken:
How about those Kraken? They sent the defending champion Avalanche home in seven games before bowing out in the second round to Dallas. You can’t come up with many better ways to keep that momentum going by adding an offensive weapon like Debrincat.
Pairing him with Matty Beniers could be the exact thing that turns the Calder favorite into an elite player. Ottawa would also probably like this outcome considering Debrincat would be moving conferences.
The Kraken should look upon the Vegas Golden Knights for some inspiration here. After spending some time playing with house money and building up assets in their infancy, they put their chips on the table. Now, they’re back in the Stanley Cup Final for the second time in six seasons.
Seattle has three second-round picks in the 2023 draft to go with $20 million in cap space, per Spotrac. They also have some pretty intriguing prospects like Ryker Evans and David Goyette. They’ve also got an ace in the hole named Shane Wright, but it may not be worth giving the kitchen sink up for a pending free agent.
It should be a no-brainer for Ron Francis to make a couple of calls, at the very least.
Carolina Hurricanes:
Don Waddell could atone for some sins here.
He watched the Hurricanes’ forward group get decimated during the playoffs as the Florida Panthers swept them in the conference finals. Adding a dynamic scorer like Debrincat to the likes of Sebastian Aho and a healthy Andrei Svechnikov could be dynamite. They’re set to have $24.6 million in cap space, along with having complete control over their first-round picks.
It’s even worth noting that they could tempt Seattle with surging young goalie Pyotr Kochetkov as a potential replacement for Philip Grubauer.
Despite constantly being in win-now mode, Carolina has a pretty good prospect pool. Jack Drury made his playoff debut this year and Scott Morrow out of UMass is one of their other top prospects. Given how good their blue line is each year, adding a piece like Debrincat could put the Canes over the top in a very tight Metropolitan Division.
Minnesota Wild:
Let’s think about something. One year ago, the Wild had to give away Kevin Fiala because of their salary cap nightmares. Could they rectify that by adding Alex Debrincat?
It’s tough to say, especially since they only have $9 million in cap space with a handful of free agents to bring back. But, watching Debrincat and Kirill Kaprizov play together every night would be box office. The financial side of things would be cloudy, but the asset side is not.
Minnesota owns one of the league’s absolute best prospect pools. Marshall Warren, Nate Benoit, and Liam Öhgren would give every team in the NHL a brighter future. Again, it would only be a matter of dollars and cents.
Would Minnesota want to go all in by giving up more for Ottawa to retain 50 percent on the remaining year of Debrincat’s contract? Let’s just say that the Wild are the least likely of the three destinations listed, considering they have to swallow nearly $15 million in dead cap for the next two seasons.
The Ottawa Senators have a tough decision to make. They showed signs of progress in their rebuild but still narrowly missed the playoffs. The American-born Debrincat could very well be tired of playing in Canada.
While his hometown Red Wings would probably love to have him, it’s hard to believe that the Sens would want to do business with a division rival. Regardless, for the second straight offseason, Alex Debrincat is a name to keep an eye on for the trade market.
What do you think are his ideal trade destinations? Let us know in the comments!
