The Detroit Red Wings have acquired forward Alex DeBrincat from the Ottawa Senators for forward Dominik Kubalik, defense prospect Donovan Sebrango, a conditional first-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft and a fourth-round pick in the 2024 draft.

The Red Wings get: DeBrincat, a smallish (5-8, 178 lb.) winger who was a one-time point-per-game scorer (56 PTS in 52 GP) in 2020-21. In his only season in Ottawa, DeBrincat "fell" to 66 points in 82 games (0.80 PTS/GP), his lowest total in three seasons. He's also a high-volume shooter who has averaged at least three shots per game in each of his last four seasons. Shortly after the trade was reported, the Red Wings also announced that they had signed Michigan native DeBrincat to a four-year contract with an AAV of $7.875 million.

The Senators get: Kubalik, who scored 20 goals and 45 points in his only season in Detroit. In comparison to DeBrincat, Kubalik averaged 0.68 PTS/GP over each of his first two seasons (including a 30-goal season as a rookie), then fell to between 0.4 and 0.6 PTS/GP over each of his past two seasons. He has averaged at least two shots per game in each of his four seasons, but has never reached three shots per game in any season.

Sebrango was a third-round pick in the 2020 draft who split the 2022-23 season between the AHL and ECHL. Should he make it to the NHL, he projects to be more of a blocks and hits provider than a points producer.

Fantasy players impacted: DeBrincat is a huge get for the Red Wings, who had only one 30-goal scorer last season (Dylan Larkin) with no other player reaching 25 goals. DeBrincat has two 40-goal seasons under his belt in addition to another 30-goal season over his six NHL seasons. He immediately upgrades the Wings scoring and should boost Larkin's value should the two line up on the top line and first-unit power play. Lucas Raymond, a frequent linemate of Larkin's last season, also stands to benefit, especially if the Wings run a first line of DeBrincat – Larkin – Raymond.

The Red Wings power play should likely include the aforementioned first line plus David Perron and Moritz Seider. That means the likelihood of the Wings running a 3 F – 2 D power play with Shayne Gostisbehere on the point is also reduced. Or perhaps recent signing J.T. Compher was penciled in as that fourth forward, but he should get bumped by DeBrincat. At this point, it's nothing more than an opportunity cost for Ghost and Compher and more reflects what could have been instead of a straight points deduction. Perron has recorded at least 20 power-play points over each of his last four seasons, so he probably isn't going anywhere and could also stand to benefit in a small way.

In his one season in Ottawa, DeBrincat seemed to split time with Claude Giroux and Drake Batherson on the other wing with a variety of centers, most often Shane Pinto. These were his three top Even Strength Best Linemates, according to Frozen Tools. In addition, Batherson was often on the first-unit power play with DeBrincat, so he stands to lose the most out of any Senators player. Brady Tkachuk and Tim Stutzle could also see a mild deduction in power-play points as well.

Kubalik should swap into DeBrincat's role on the left side, although he certainly doesn't bring the same level of scoring as DeBrincat. Kubalik has a 30-goal season under his belt, but has between 15 and 20 goals over his other three seasons. Numerous Senators forwards stand to lose with this trade, since Kubalik offers more middle-six-level production compared to first-liner DeBrincat.

Players this helps, in order:

Larkin

Raymond

Perron

Seider

Players this hurts, in order:

Batherson

Pinto

Giroux

Tkachuk

Stutzle

Gostisbehere

Compher

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Discuss the trade in this thread on the Forum.