Ottawa Senators:What are Some Realistic Trade Packages for Alex DeBrincat?
By Alex Adams
With the Ottawa Senators ownership process seemingly coming to a close. Senators fans have one big on-ice decision to speculate about and that is what will happen with Alex DeBrincat.
The Ottawa Senators have currently $17,075,953 in cap space. They also have to re-sign restricted free agents Shane Pinto and Erik Brannstrom and also presumably fill out their roster with other additions.
The Senators have plenty of space for Debrincat who is a restricted free agent, and if he decides to pick up his 9 million dollar qualifying offer he would become an unrestricted free agent at the end of next season. The ball is in DeBrincat’s court as to whether he wants to re-sign long term and if not, then the Senators would want to trade him at the draft. That way, when they could acquire and draft in this year’s draft. rather than later this off-season when of course they would not be able to.
Last year, when the Senators acquired Debrincat at the 2022 draft, they traded away a 2022 first round pick which was the 7th overall pick, the 39th overall pick and a 2024 third round pick. If the Senators are in a position where they have to trade Debrincat because he does not want to sign long-term, presumably they would ask for a similar package: a 1st, 2nd and 3rd, and or another good NHLer in return.
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St. Louis Blues
Ottawa receives: 10th overall pick, 2024 2nd-round pick, 2023 3rd-round pick and Kasperi Kapanen.
St. Louis receives: Alex Debrincat with a contract extension.
While, for St. Louis they had a down year but were rumoured to be trying to acquire Timo Meier at the draft, and still have a very young core and seem prepared to win again next season.
In this trade the Senators again get a top-10 pick in this loaded 2023 draft, and they also get a third-round pick which they currently do not have in this year’s draft. The Senators successful would fill back up their draft stock while also getting Kasperi Kapanen who can be a successful depth player for the Senators with one year remaining on his contract. While, for St. Louis they had a down year but were rumoured to be trying to acquire Timo Meier at the draft, and still have a very young core and seem prepared to win again next season.
Detroit Red Wings
Ottawa receives: 9th overall pick, 2023 2nd-round pick, and 2023 3rd-round pick.
Detroit receives: Alex DeBrincat with a contract extension.
For the Red Wings this is a move to be competitive now for the Red wings. Unlike the previous deals I described above, the Senators do not receive a forward in this exchange because Detroit has more than enough cap space to sign Debrincat outright. This is a move to be competitive now for the Red wings. This trade proposal gives the Senators a lot of cap flexibility as they do not need to bring back money in this deal. Meanwhile they also getting a top-10 pick, a 2nd-round pick and a 3rd-round pick similar to the other trade packages proposed.
It is incumbent on whoever might be the general manager of the Ottawa Senators at the draft to find out DeBrincat’s intention: as to whether he wants to stay long term or not. The team should not do what it did in 2019 with Mark Stone and keep Debrincat until the trade deadline before trading him. The Senators can get more value right now and can use their extra cap space to bring in players this off-season especially in free agency. If the Senators wait past the draft, they lose leverage and potentially squander getting a high pick in a loaded draft class that could help this team for years to come.
If the Ottawa Senators do go for a trade, Sens fans cannot expect the team for to get back much more this summer than what they gave up for to get Debrincat last summer if they are to trade him this summer.
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It is a very high priority on whoever might be the general manager of the Ottawa Senators at the draft to find out DeBrincat’s intention as to whether he wants to stay long term or not. Either way the Senators must make a decision by the draft.
As to wait is to lose leverage and potentially squander getting a high pick in a loaded draft class that could help this team for years to come. They should not do what they did in 2019 with Mark Stone and keep Debrincat until the trade deadline to trade him. The Senators can get more value right now and can use their extra cap space to bring in players this off-season especially in free agency. At the end of the day none of these trades make the Senators better for the 2023-24 season. However, trading Debrincat might bring back players and draft capital that can help the team become a better team in the long run.