The Woodward Sports Network’s Jeremy Stover suggests that Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman made a very good trade in acquiring Alex DeBrincat from the Ottawa Senators for Dominik Kubalik, Donovan Sebrango, a 2024 1st round pick and a conditional 2024 4th round pick, but what impresses Stover the most is the contract extension to which Yzerman inked DeBrincat after the trade was made:
The 25-year old forward is not a superstar, but he’s certainly classified as a star player. If this was the NBA, DeBrincat would be a max contract player.
In the NHL, those players almost always sign contracts for seven or eight years. The max amount allowed in the league. This off-season alone, we saw David Pastrnak, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Timo Meier, and Jesper Bratt all sign eight-year deals with their respective teams.
All four of those players are in their prime age range and are star players like DeBrincat. There is a great argument Pastrnak is a superstar but I digress.
The main point here is Yzerman was able to get their guy to commit to half the amount of term as these other high-caliber players. That’s almost unheard of these days.
Alex Killorn is a 33-year-old forward who is past his prime. He never has been nor will he ever be as good as DeBrincat. Anaheim just signed him to a four-year contract a couple weeks ago.
You got a guy who’s eight years younger in the prime of his career at the same term. That’s absolute wizardry from Yzerman.
