The Free Press’s Helene St. James posted her customary morning article, and she discusses the Red Wings’ addition of Alex DeBrincat to the Wings’ roster this morning. As St. James notes, DeBrincat sounds like he had a much rougher season in Ottawa last year than he let on:
The Wings acquired the 25-year-old forward in a trade with the Ottawa Senators in July, and then signed him to a four-year, $31.5 million contract. DeBrincat comes to the Wings off a 27-goal season with the Senators, after twice reaching 41 goals during five seasons with the Chicago Blackhawks.
DeBrincat is confident he can recapture that 40-goal form in a new uniform.
“A lot of it is different looks in different situations,” DeBrincat said Friday. “I’ve got to focus a little more on bearing down when I get my chances. I think last year I gave up a lot of chances, maybe got lazy on it or whatever it may be, hit a post, stuff like that. I think a lot of it was like that. I’m pretty comfortable getting back to that form and obviously, we have a lot of great players here to play with, so I’ll just try to find the space out there and they’ll get me the puck.”
DeBrincat made a point of noting that he wants to bring a better 200-foot game to Detroit: “Last year I didn’t have the best two-way game, but in past years I’ve been a pretty good two-way forward, and that’s what I have to get back to. That creates so many more chances for me and my linemates.”
Continued; I find it interesting that both DeBrincat and David Perron have mentioned that playing a strong defensive structure leads to more offensive plays.
