Via The Score’s Josh Gold-Smith, the Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch reveals another detail regarding Alex DeBrincat’s departure from the Ottawa Senators that’s sure to start fires among the fan bases of the Senators and Wings:
As the Senators gathered for exit interviews with the media in mid-April, it wasn’t hard to figure out there was no chance high-scoring winger Alex DeBrincat had any desire to stay in Ottawa.
He sounded like someone who had one foot out the door and couldn’t wait to test free agency. Yes, the Senators knew the risk involved when they paid a high price to get him from the Chicago Blackhawks before the 2022 NHL draft, but they were hoping to convince him to stay.
DeBrincat made it impossible for the Senators to bring him back and even more difficult to trade him to anywhere but the Detroit Red Wings.
Sources say he didn’t like his role as a second-line winger behind captain Brady Tkachuk. If that’s the case then DeBrincat really did have to go.
Dorion sent DeBrincat to his hometown Wings July 9 and he immediately signed a four-year deal worth $7.85 million (all figures U.S.) per season.
Continued; I’m not about to paint a picture of Alex DeBrincat as a content player in Ottawa, but this notion among Sens fans that DeBrincat was nothing less than a malcontent for not getting his own way, or that Tim Stuetzle somehow “told him off” by wishing him “good luck on your way“…
It’s all a bit much.
I’m not about to bag on Garrioch for reporting that DeBrincat wasn’t thrilled to be the Sens’ second-line winger–Garrioch is just reporting what he’s learned, in an article reviewing the Senators’ offseason changes, so he’s not stirring s*** up to stir s*** up here–but the hot war that’s developed between the Sens and Red Wings’ fan bases since Detroit’s devastating back-to-back losses last February…
That’s great and all for generating a rivalry, but the trash talk is a waste of time in my book.
I’m not going to tell you “how to fan,” but I don’t see the purpose in getting into fights with an opposing team’s fan base about the parameters of a trade that’s already happened, and is probably mutually beneficial for all parties involved.
