Painful departure: Red Wings has just lost him

This season, the Detroit Red Wings came just short of making the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the NHL.

Due to a tiebreaker, the Red Wings were eliminated from the postseason even though they had the same amount of points as the Washington Capitals.

It is right-wing Alex DeBrincat who bears the brunt of that reality.

In his debut season with the Farmington Hills, a Detroit suburb he grew up supporting, he scored 27 goals. An appropriate number for goals in a National Hockey League season is usually 27. However, over his first six seasons, DeBrincat had averaged 31 goals annually, scoring 41 twice. He also looked to be headed for a career high in 2023–24, having scored 13 goals in his first 23 outings.

DeBrincat began going long stretches without finding the back of the net. He endured stretches of 12, 10 and – on two occasions – seven games without a goal. And from Feb. 29 through April 11, when Detroit went through the slump that ultimately cost it the playoffs, DeBrincat only managed one goal in 20 games.

“Same way as a team, a lot of ups and downs,” DeBrinca  Bob Duff of Detroit Hockey Now. “I would have loved to have been more consistent.”

He continued to have chances. But too many shots – particularly his one-timer from his favorite spot, the left-wing circle – were either stopped, hit a goal post/crossbar or missed the net.

“Even though some of those stretches where he wasn’t scoring, he had chances,” said Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde. “I was not concerned.”

But DeBrincat knows he has to capitalize on more of those opportunities in 2024-25. That’s his goal.

“I’m hoping to just get better next year,” he said.  “And be more consistent.”