The Athletic’s Max Bultman discusses Steve Yzerman and Alex DeBrincat’s remarks this morning, offering a sound analysis of both gentlemen’s pressers:
Yzerman didn’t completely rule out another move this summer — he said, “If there’s a great player out there and we can acquire him or something, that forces us to go, we would strongly consider it” — but concluded more tellingly: “I don’t see us doing a whole lot more.” That means Detroit’s roster, as it stands, now looks somewhat set for next season.
There were more additions than just DeBrincat this summer, with J.T. Compher, Daniel Sprong, Christian Fischer and Klim Kostin all joining the forward mix, Justin Holl and Shayne Gostisbehere added on defense, and a pair of potential backup goalies in James Reimer and Alex Lyon. The idea is for the totality of those additions to make Detroit deeper, harder to play against and ultimately just better. But there’s little doubt DeBrincat is the highest-leverage move of the summer — and the one that raises their chances of competing for a playoff spot the most.
“I think obviously early in my career (the Red Wings were) deep in the rebuild, and these past couple years you can see that the compete level has definitely been higher,” DeBrincat observed. “You see a team that’s maybe frustrated with being in a rebuild and wants to get out. I’m excited to be here, and kind of join that and hopefully be part of the solution to get out of that. Just really excited to join these guys, and I definitely see the potential in this group.”
When Larkin and DeBrincat were playing golf earlier this summer, the two agreed it would be fun to play together. Maybe that will be on Detroit’s top line — combining Detroit’s current leading scorer and its new most lethal finishing threat — or maybe on separate deployments, spreading out the offense for their shared hometown team. No doubt, that question will be one for coach Derek Lalonde to chew on as the dog days of summer kick in.
Continued (paywall)
