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Detroit Red Wings

This Red Wings Player Must Strive For More Consistency

DeBrincat was too hot and cold as a scorer

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4 months ago

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Alex DeBrincat, detroit red wings
Red Wings forward Alex DeBricant wants to be a more consistent scoring presence next season.

Where would the Detroit Red Wings have found themselves at the end of the NHL regular season had Alex DeBrincat been a more consistent scoring presence?

Probably in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

“Same way as a team, a lot of ups and downs,” DeBrincat acknowledged of his first season with the Red Wings. “I would have loved to have been more consistent.”

He knows it. You know it. But only he can rectify the situation.

That’s his main objective over the offseason, to work to be more reliable at lighting red lamps.

“I’m hoping to just get better next year and be more consistent,” DeBrincat said.

DeBrincat would finish the 2023-24 campaign with 27 goals. That was good enough for third on the team. Under normal circumstances, that would be a more than acceptable season in today’s NHL.

However, DeBrincat netted nearly half of those goals – 13 in total – over the first 23 games of the season. Now, no one was expecting him to keep scoring at a 50-goal pace. On the other hand, he’s a two-time 41-goal scorer as an NHLer. After that quick start, anticipating that DeBrincat would be at mere minimum settling in somewhere in the 30-plus goal range certainly was not out of the question.

DeBrincat Endured Many Slumps

During the season, DeBrincat would endure a pair of seven-game goalless skids. He also went through 10- and 12-game slides without denting any twine.

Perhaps the most damning slump came from Feb. 29 through April 11. Over that 20-game span, with the Red Wings fighting for their playoff lives, DeBrincat would score one goal.

“I thought Alex was great,” Detroit coach Derek Lalonde said. “Obviously, his goal total, I think he wanted more of it. At the same time, he adds a lot of goals.

“Even through some of those stretches where he wasn’t scoring, he had chances. I was not concerned.”

Lalonde likes that DeBrincat went from minus-31 with the Ottawa Senators in 2022-23 to plus-one with the Red Wings this past season.

“I think when you’re going through those slumps there’s still other things you can do to be effective, be beneficial to the team,” DeBrincat said. “Those are the things I try to do.

“It’s not always perfect. Each year in this league I think I’ve gotten better.”

Bottom line, though, DeBrincat understands he was brought to Detroit to be a regular scoring presence. He knows that he needs to do more.

“I think consistency is what makes great players and I want to be a great player,” DeBrincat said. “I think that’s something I need to work on.”

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