Newly-acquired Red Wings forward Alex DeBrincat appeared on 97.1 the Ticket’s Inside Hockeytown with Ken Kal and Daniella Bruce yesterday night, and while the interview wasn’t posted online, Will Burchfield took note of the important points thereof:
In the deep Atlantic, a rivalry is brewing between Detroit and Ottawa. Between Alex DeBrincat’s new team and his old one. He felt it from the other side when the Senators hosted the Red Wings on back-to-back nights last season and sent them packing in a pair of playoff-like games. Aggregate score: Ottawa 12-Detroit 3.
“For us as the Senators, we were a couple points behind the Wings at that point and those were probably our two biggest games of the season. Going into that, everyone was fired up and obviously playing at home, the crowd was there, so we just had that energy and that jump and I think we took them out of the game early,” DeBrincat said Thursday on 97.1 The Ticket’s Inside Hockeytown. “Hopefully we’ll have a better experience on the Wings this year than they did last year.”
DeBrincat’s move from Detroit to Ottawa adds another log to a growing fire. The Red Wings and Senators are on parallel paths in the Atlantic Division, both trying to beat the other back to the playoffs. Ottawa’s drought is going on seven years, Detroit’s on eight. Both are franchise worsts. Along with the Sabres, who have the NHL’s longest active playoff drought at 12 years, the Wings and Sens figure to be fighting for one of the final postseason berths in the East next season.
Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman has acknowledged himself that Detroit isn’t so much competing with Tampa, Boston, Toronto and Florida in the Atlantic, the powers that be, but Ottawa, Buffalo and Montreal. And he didn’t mince words last season when he said in regard to the Senators and Sabres, “I look at their nucleuses of young players and what they have coming, they’re just ahead of us.” Of course, that was before Yzerman brought DeBrincat to Detroit.
Now the Red Wings have a two-time 40-goal scorer at the top of their lineup, and the Senators don’t. DeBrincat joins a young core in Detroit led by captain Dylan Larkin, his likely center to start next season, and bolstered by Moritz Seider, Lucas Raymond, Jake Walman and top prospects Simon Edvinsson and Marco Kasper. Goalie Sebastian Cossa is on his way. Not that the Sens are lacking. They boast two of the best young wingers in the game in Brady Tkachuk and Tim Stutzle and a star-studded blueline featuring Tomas Chabot, Jacob Chychrun and Jake Sanderson, all of them 26 or younger.
The stage is set for a heavyweight fight over the next several years. It may not be long before the two teams aren’t scratching to get into the playoffs, but trading blows to win the division.
“100 percent,” said DeBrincat. “I think a lot of guys feel that. We’re pretty much at the same stage as them in the rebuild and hopefully we can pass them in that, but I think it’s two teams that have really successful futures. Obviously the Senators have a lot of great young players, just like the Wings, so I think it’s definitely going to be a rivalry in the future. It’s already starting to be one, so I’m excited for that.”
