DETROIT — Alex DeBrincat scored two goals and added an assist on Tuesday night in the Detroit Red Wings' 5-4 overtime loss to the New Jersey Devils, and shortly afterwards his evening got more rewarding as the club announced a seven-year extension worth a $13 million AAV that keeps the Michigan native tied to Detroit through 2034. The defeat dropped the Red Wings to 1-3-2 on the season.
The max term is a slight concern for a player who will be nearly 30 when the new deal begins, but the figure looks a bargain as the salary cap rises. DeBrincat is 17th in the NHL in goals with 111 and 33rd in points with 230 since arriving in Detroit in 2023-24, and at $13 million his AAV currently ranks as the 11th-largest in the league — a position that will fall quickly. For interim general manager Shawn Horcoff, it is tidy business for an elite scorer.
The announcement gave Detroit a rare positive after a summer of self-inflicted harm, including the ongoing sagas involving Dylan Larkin — who the organisation can only assume still wants out — and unsigned cornerstone defenceman Simon Edvinsson, who is back in North America but without reported progress on a new contract. DeBrincat has opened the season with four goals and eight points in six games, though that production has looked a little empty-calorie given the results. The Red Wings have averaged 89.5 standings points per 82 games since his arrival, up from 75.3 in the three years prior, yet still short of the play-offs. To match that 89.5-point average they must now play at a 92-point pace the rest of the way — last season's total, their best since 2015-16, which still left them seven points short of the cut line in an Atlantic Division full of upheaval.
While locking in a locally-born player who wants to be there is a clear positive, the broader philosophical question remains whether it is the right kind of value. The organisation clearly want to reach the play-offs, but the deal signals a belief they are close to breaking through as, if everything goes right for 84 games, perhaps the seventh-best team in the conference. Ownership appeared to zag after the Yzerplan provided a horizon to build towards, yet tear-down rebuilds that spend money and roster spots on UFA mediocrities have a success rate of basically zero, and almost every Cup winner in the salary-cap era has carried multiple high draft picks earned through years of failing on purpose. In that context, would DeBrincat not have been more valuable as a trade chip, with the haul offering greater long-term value than the points a borderline-elite scorer adds while the club should be accumulating high-end picks?
As it stands, the contract gives supporters something to feel good about and forestalls a more serious rebuild in the hope Detroit sneak into the play-offs once or twice in the next eight seasons. Insiders and local reporters have framed it as a "win" and "exactly what the Red Wings needed," and it is not-not that. But Tuesday's loser point was a perfect encapsulation — an illusion of competitiveness in a match where they were pushed around by a middling side. The agreement follows reports that Detroit were nearing a seven-year, $13m deal for DeBrincat, now finalised after his three-point night.