Despite Early Production, DeBrincat Sees Room for Improvement in his Game

"I think same as the team.  I think some ups and downs," said Alex DeBrincat Saturday morning before the Buffalo game, when asked by The Hockey News how he'd evaluate his season in the early going.  "As a whole, I think we're all in the same boat.  We're not there enough of the time, not focused enough of the time, and that's something we're all working on."

11 games into the season, DeBrincat has five goals and four assists.  That's commendable production that places him second on the team in both goals and points, also good for a 37-goal pace over 82 games, which would be a marked improvement on the 27 he deposited a year ago.  However, DeBrincat is also a -6, or, for a more sophisticated metric, he has a 41.44% expected goals share at five-on-five, according to Natural Stat Trick.

In other words, the production is in a good place for DeBrincat, but there is room for that production to fit into a more functional line.  He's spent the majority of his time at five-on-five with Dylan Larkin (128:39 to be precise, again per NST), compared to just 16:15 with J.T. Compher.  Opposite him has mostly been Lucas Raymond, though Patrick Kane has also served that role.  Regardless of the exact combination, a fairly persistent pattern has been trading chances, rather than owning the majority of quality looks.

Despite his reputation upon arriving in Detroit, I don't think DeBrincat is a poor defensive player.  Of course, his size (officially five-foot-eight, 180 pounds) is a limiting factor, but he is a more than willing forechecker who anticipates plays well and has a penchant for pilfering the puck.  One point of pride Derek Lalonde turned to last year with DeBrincat was his transition from being a -31 in his final year as an Ottawa Senator to +1 in his first year as a Red Wing.  Moving forward, Lalonde's challenge will be to preserve DeBrincat's early season production, while molding it into a more effective line that can better contribute to team success.

In the featured video above, I spoke more about DeBrincat's early season form, touching on both the successes and the areas for growth.

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