One of the NHL's top, young goalscorers is on the move, as the Blackhawks traded Alex DeBrincat to the Senators just hours before the start of the 2022 NHL Draft.
DeBrincat, a second-round pick by Chicago in the 2016 NHL Draft, made his NHL debut at the beginning of the 2017-18 NHL season. He ended up playing in all 82 games for the Blackhawks and has developed into a top-tier goal scorer to start his five-year career.
In 368 career games, DeBrincat has scored 160 goals and tallied 147 helpers despite playing for a lowly Blackhawks team. He is coming off a career-high 78-point season (41 goals) and will make an immediate impact for a Senators team in desperate need of goal-scoring ability.
The decision to trade DeBrincat apparently appears to be focused on accelerating the Blackhawks' rebuild, as they are acquiring a bevy of draft capital in exchange for the 24-year-old forward.
Below are the details of the deal that sends DeBrincat to the Senators.
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Alex DeBrincat trade details
Senators get:
- Alex DeBrincat
Blackhawks get:
- No. 7 pick in 2022 NHL Draft
- No. 39 pick in 2022 NHL Draft
- 2024 third-round pick
The Blackhawks are getting quite a bit of draft capital in exchange for DeBrincat. They are getting a top-10 selection in the 2022 NHL Draft along with the 39th pick in this year's event from the Senators.
Those two, premium picks will allow Chicago to continue to add young talent to their organization as they attempt to win a playoff series for the first time since their Stanley Cup Final victory in 2015.
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While the Blackhawks are getting solid picks for DeBrincat, the Senators may make out like Bandits in this deal. DeBrincat has posted two, 41-goal seasons during his five-year career and only six players have scored more goals than him in the last five years. They are as follows:
- Alex Ovechkin
- Auston Matthews
- Leon Draisaitl
- Connor McDavid
- Kyle Connor
- Nathan MacKinnon
That's some pretty good company.
DeBrincat's 41 goals are especially impressive when considering that Chicago scored just 213 goals last season, tied for the fourth-fewest in the NHL. The 24-year-old accounted for 19.2 percent of the team's goals and did so despite the fact that defenses could give him their full attention because of the Blackhawks' dearth of overall scoring.
MORE: Full list of Senators picks in 2022 NHL Draft
The Senators had two 30-goal scorers last season in Josh Norris (35) and Brady Tkachuk (30). Adding DeBrincat to the mix should give them extra punch and allow them to log more than the 33 wins they managed last season.
Of course, Ottawa will have to pay him. He is in the final year of a three-year, $19.2 million deal and will almost certainly get a raise from the $6.4 million he is making in AAV. That upcoming contract likely played a part in the Blackhawks' decision to part with their young scoring maven.
