Senators: 3 Most Likely Trade Destinations for Alex DeBrincat

Alex DeBrincat has reportedly told the Ottawa Senators that he doesn’t intend on signing a long-term deal with the team, meaning that the Senators have a couple of options. The best and most likely is to execute a sign-and-trade to a team he would like to sign long-term with while the other option is to lock him in for one more year at $9 million (qualifying offer) and watch him become an unrestricted free agent at the end of 2023-24. As the Senators will be looking to get the most value from him since it cost them a fair amount to bring him in, we’re going to look at the three destinations he’s most likely headed to, per Pierre LeBrun.

Detroit Red Wings

The Detroit Red Wings are on the rise and need to fill their lineup with some solid NHL players after dealing a few away at the trade deadline this year. The team has a lot of money to work with and could use some more impactful players in the top-six over Dominik Kubalik and Robby Fabbri, if he’s healthy.

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It just so happens that DeBrincat was born in Michigan and is the perfect age to grow with the young core of the Red Wings. Even though the qualifying offer is $9 million, a deal struck before that will see a lower AAV and a seven to eight year deal, setting Detroit up nicely for a long time. While Kubalik started hot last season and tailed off, DeBrincat can keep up the scoring throughout a season as he’s proved throughout his young career.

Vegas Golden Knights

The Vegas Golden Knights have gone on a great run in these playoffs thanks to the balanced attack by their team. They have succeeded with spreading the wealth throughout their forward lines, but players like Brett Howden and Michael Amadio are not sustainable options to play where they are throughout a season. While there won’t be enough cap space to bring DeBrincat in as is, there is going to be some offseason moves for Vegas. One thing to note is that Ivan Barbashev would have to move on and he’s proven to be very valuable this playoff run. That’s a choice the Golden Knights might be faced with soon.

Nashville Predators

Barry Trotz is about to be at the helm for the Nashville Predators and he’s already got some fingerprints on the direction of the organization with their recent head coaching hire. He will have full reign over the team for the meat of the offseason to re-sign players, make trades, and bring new faces in. One area that the Predators will have to address if they intend on pushing into the playoffs next season is adding some higher end forwards.

DeBrincat could be at the top of that list as he can score, is young, and would be locked in long-term. Whatever the Predators decide to do with Ryan Johansen and Matt Duchene, they have a very inexperienced group of forwards filling out the rest of the lines regardless. DeBrincat is up to 450 regular season games played and can also pass the puck. He could allow the Predators to spread the scoring out up front and add someone who’s a two-time 40-goal scorer and near point-per-game player.