Could the Leafs and Blackhawks come together on a deal for Alex DeBrincat?
There is a lot of speculation in the air that teams could be considering tabling an offer with the Chicago Blackhawks for forward Alex DeBrincat this summer. According to NBC Sports Chicago's Charlie Roumeliotis, the Hawks are open to moving DeBrincat, but the offer would have to be an enormous one to try to lure the two-time 40-goal scorer away from Chicago.
In addition, Roumeliotis has confirmed that the Blackhawks are on the prowl for a first round pick in the upcoming 2022 NHL Entry Draft in Montreal in early July. We already know that the Ottawa Senators are open to the idea of moving the 7th overall pick and the New Jersey Devils are open to moving the 2nd overall pick, so perhaps there's a deal to be made there.
For the Leafs, this is a pretty unlikely scenario, but they do have their own first round pick in 2022 as well, though their pick is significantly lower than both Ottawa and New Jersey, currently sitting 27th overall, with the chance to move up as high as 24th overall. In order for that to happen, the St. Louis Blues would have to defeat the Colorado Avalanche in their series, the Oilers would have to close out their matchup with the Flames and the New York Rangers would have to upset the Carolina Hurricanes.
Assuming the Leafs pick somewhere between 24th and 27th, the package that they'd have to offer the Blackhawks would have to include that pick and likely one of their top prospects, such as Matthew Knies, Nick Robertson or Topi Niemela. There would also be pieces on top of that, such as a good, young roster player and perhaps even an additional pick. The money, however, might be an issue. The Leafs would certainly have to move out some money to make things work. Seeing as how Alex Kerfoot, Justin Holl, Petr Mrazek and Jake Muzzin likely don't have very high trade values, they may have to look at moving someone else to free up space for an addition as significant as DeBrincat.
There are scenarios available to the Leafs where they could trade William Nylander this summer and use some of the assets they get back to put together a substantial offer, or possibly even work out a deal with the Hawks centered around Nylander + for DeBrincat, but is DeBrincat enough of an upgrade for the Leafs to not view it as a lateral move? We know that they're not interested in lateral moves. Kyle Dubas has revealed as much publicly on a number of occasions.
Nylander has registered 343 points over a 439-game NHL career thus far, good for .781 points per game. Meanwhile, DeBrincat has produced 307 points in 368 games, amassing .834 points per game, so he is certainly an upgrade from an offensive perspective. He's also a year and a half younger than Nylander and will be a restricted free agent when his deal expires, whereas Nylander will be a UFA. It's worth noting that DeBrincat only has one year left on his deal with Nylander carrying an extra year on his contract. As for tenacity, well, we know that Nylander doesn't have much of that. DeBrincat, while not big in stature, does play with a ton of heart and is not afraid to be physical.
Where cap hits are concerned, Nylander makes nearly $7M per season, while DeBrincat earns $6.4M for this year with a massive question mark as to what he might make next season. With arbitration rights and two 40-goal seasons under his belt, he could be looking at a large pay bump in 2023-24, a factor that could be worrisome for the Leafs. A deal like this is one that you don't make unless you get the sense that an extension can be worked out before hand, just so you know what you're getting.
All in all, I'm not sure that the deal would make much sense from Toronto's perspective, given that, although DeBrincat would likely improve their team, the move could still be looked at as a fairly lateral one. Still, stranger things have happened.
| POLL | ||
MAI 26 | 250 ANSWERS Could the Leafs and Blackhawks come together on a deal for Alex DeBrincat? Should the Leafs consider trading for Alex DeBrincat this summer? | ||
| Definitely | 76 | 30.4 % |
| Not worth it | 66 | 26.4 % |
| Why trade for DeBrincat when Forsberg is a UFA | 61 | 24.4 % |
| There are better options out there | 47 | 18.8 % |
| List of polls | ||
