"I Had A Clearer Mind": Alex DeBrincat Explains Difference Between First and Second Seasons With Red Wings
The Detroit Red Wings acquired a true homegrown star player in the 2023 offseason when they traded for Farmington Hills native Alex DeBrincat from the Ottawa Senators. He immediately began making an impact for Detroit on the scoresheet once the regular season began.
DeBrincat started the campaign on an absolute tear, scoring nine goals in his first 10 games, including a hat trick against the Calgary Flames. While he ultimately finished the campaign with 27 goals, there were often stretches where his production wasn’t what he wanted it to be.
Last season was a different story. DeBrincat came close to matching his previous career-high output of 41 goals—achieved as a member of the Chicago Blackhawks—with 39 goals to lead the Red Wings. This was also the highest goal total for any Red Wings player since Marian Hossa’s 40 goals in the 2008-09 season.
DeBrincat explained earlier this week that while some of his cool streaks in 2023-24 could be chalked up to bad bounces, he felt his mind was clearer in his second season in Detroit.
“A lot of times, it’s just puck bounces and luck,” he said. “Obviously not all of it, but you have to put in the work during the summer. The year before, sometimes it just wasn’t going in. I’d have a couple streaks where seven, eight games, it wasn’t going in and that really hurt. I think last year, I just had a clearer mind and it’s obviously easier being in a place for a full year and feeling comfortable and getting into that spot again.”
During his time with the Blackhawks, DeBrincat formed an almost immediate chemistry and friendship with Patrick Kane. He was part of the reason why Kane chose to join the Red Wings in December 2023 and followed that up with subsequent one-year contracts in each of the last two offseasons.
“It’s great, obviously he’s a big part of our team and I think without him, we’d have a huge hole in the lineup,” DeBrincat said about Kane’s most recent extension in Detroit. “He’s going to make our team that much better, and we’re definitely happy to have him back.”
Along with Kane, DeBrincat spent most of last season playing on Detroit’s second forward line with rookie Marco Kasper, who especially thrived in the second half of the campaign.
“He’s got speed and he hunts pucks well, and he can make plays too,” DeBrincat said of Kasper. “I think a combination of those things, he gets up the ice fast and can really open up space for his linemates. Obviously, him driving up the middle opens up things for me. He hunts pucks and gets pucks back for us so that we can play more time in the offensive zone.”
As one of the more active teams during the NHL’s offseason free-agency period, the Detroit Red Wings signed several players to new contracts who had played elsewhere during the 2024-25 season. DeBrincat knows all too well the feeling of being a young player hoping to make a name for yourself at the highest levels of hockey.
Multiple such players have already seen action with Detroit in preseason play, including Nate Danielson, Axel Sandin-Pellikka, Emmitt Finnie, and Michael Brandsegg-Nygard. While DeBrincat is always willing to give advice and insight to Detroit’s younger and less established players, he knows the name of the game is staying consistent—and that the rest will take care of itself.
“Everyone is different, but if there is any insight I can give, I give it,” he said of playing with Detroit’s younger players. “But I think for the most part, the NHL is about consistency. The more consistent you can be, the more you’re going to be in the lineup and the more success you’ll have. I think along the way, everyone learns that at a different pace and tries to stay as consistent as possible.”
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