If anything struck me about the timing of the Alex DeBrincat trade, it was simple:
We’re not working on regular time in Detroit–we’re working on Yzer-time, and that’s how this rebuild is going to continue to mature.
That’s a good thing, not a bad thing, because I fully believe that, had Steve Yzerman attempted to trade for Alex DeBrincat during the draft, or, on the first day of unrestricted free agency, the price Pierre Dorion and the Ottawa Senators were asking for would have been much higher–and the price that it would have cost to sign DeBrincat to that four-year, $31 million extension would have been higher.
Now there’s no doubt that surrendering Dominik Kubalik (an every-other-game point-scorer), Donovan Sebrango, a conditional 1st round pick and 4th round pick is not exactly fleecing Ottawa. That’s a significant price to pay for the 25-year-old DeBrincat.
But the Red Wings’ GM didn’t care for the price the Senators or DeBrincat’s agent, Jeff Jackson, were asking for the price of making a draft-day splash.
We all knew, despite the Vatican-level of security around the Red Wings’ front office, that DeBrincat wanted a Timo Meier-sized, $8.8-million, 8-year contract. And we all knew that Dylan Larkin’s $8.7 million cap hit was and is the team’s “internal salary cap.” And we knew that nobody was going to get an 8-year term if they weren’t named Moritz Seider or Lucas Raymond.
We also had some hints and inklings from various scribes that Jonatan Berggren would be among the Senators’ “asks,” and we all knew that wasn’t going to happen, either.
So what did the GM do?
He waited, and took the slings and arrows from both the Red Wings press corps, the Detroit sports talk radio crowd, and the fans in order to eke out the best deal possible from both the Senators and DeBrincat’s representation.
They complained when he didn’t make a move at the draft. And the sports talk radio crowd SEETHED when free agency came and went, and the Red Wings didn’t meaningfully address their need for a pure goal-scorer.
Instead, as I got back in the blogging saddle, and development camp took place at Little Caesars Arena, fans were borderline bailing on the Yzerplan, and the national media types (hello, Ryan Lambert) were openly mocking the lack of any coherent rebuilding plan in Detroit.
We were told that the Red Wings’ GM wasn’t just un-genius-like, but that he was also a sheep in wolf’s clothing. A fool. A charlatan who got lucky with top-of-the-first-round picks in Tampa Bay, and shamefully couldn’t, or wouldn’t, replicate his success in Florida with the Red Wings, because he was too cheap, and too dumb.
So Yzerman waited. Through free agency. Through a slightly tense press conference in-person at development camp. And through the first week of July, into the second week, and until a Sunday night where “the story” was going to be the Detroit Tigers’ draft picks.
He ground down both Dorion and Jackson to fairer, more realistic returns, in terms of player and player’s compensation, and, earlier this evening, he found a term and terms that he could live with. And he struck deals, plural.
That doesn’t make Steve Yzerman a genius, because landing Alex DeBrincat doesn’t guarantee a playoff spot, never mind a playoff run, for a Red Wings team that is still in the rebuilding process.
But adding DeBrincat on a 4-year, $31.5 million contract (with a $7.875 million cap hit) that doesn’t break the team’s dollar-cap or term cap…
On top of adding Klim Kostin, J.T. Compher, Daniel Sprong, Christian Fischer, Shayne Gostisbehere, Justin Holl, James Reimer and Alex Lyon to the mix via free agency and/or trade, subtracting Filip Zadina’s salary of his own volition, and retaining about $8.162 million of cap space with which to re-sign Joe Veleno, and possibly make further moves this summer, fall, or winter…
That’s smart general management. It’s just on a different time scale, a bit slower and more deliberate than the press or fan base would have preferred, or this napping blogger would have liked on a lazy Sunday in early July.
None of that matters, because, this morning, Alex DeBrincat is a Red Wing, for player and monetary compensation that doesn’t break DeBank.
As a Red Wings blogger, and as a Red Wings partisan, it was worth the wait.
Nice write-up George