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RW Alex DeBrincat (2016, 39th, CHI)

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Ace101 said:
Those are probably two of the best qualities an undersized player can have to have a good career. Would a less chippy but more skilled Brendan Gallagher be a good comparison for DeBrincat or am I way off?
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I asked about Robby Fabbri earlier. Is this a good comparison to deBrincat?
 
I've only seen him play twice, but he didn't seem like an elite skater to me. That would be my concern, relative to the comparisons of Gaudreau or Fabbri, who are elite skaters. His hands are crazy good and he is certainly evasive and not a bad skater by any stretch, but he just didn't seem to have that top gear which is a concern for smaller guys. Typically those that bust through as top 6 NHL players are true elite level skaters. Still, that production is really hard to ignore.

And am I wrong about his skating? two games is not enough to really know how a guy skates.
 
Posting here for some more insight - how is this kid not even projected in at least the 1st round?

Is his skating **** so he's a mini Heatley?
 
Dr.Sens(e) said:
I've only seen him play twice, but he didn't seem like an elite skater to me.
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He's not. I watched him play over Thanksgiving and he seems pretty slow, unless he wasn't giving it his all that night. He's slippery; can easily get in front of the net for rebound goals and tap-ins. He certainly doesn't have the blazing speed a player like McDavid has, though. I wouldn't spend a 1st on him.
 
Brewsky said:
Posting here for some more insight - how is this kid not even projected in at least the 1st round?

Is his skating **** so he's a mini Heatley?
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Was just about to ask the same, his stats is good.
 
rt said:
Yeah. This level of production simply can't be dismissed. He's small, but you have to pull the trigger at some point late in the first. Especially if you have two picks in the round. For example, does anyone think there's any chance Arizona passes on him with that late Rangers 1st? There's no way. I'd say the Rangers 1st is the latest possible pick he'll be selected with.

We all said the same about Jordan Schroeder. Can't ignore the production, even with the size. We were all wrong on that one, but they're different players and the Schroeder flop doesn't mean that this player isn't worth a shot late in the 1st.
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Yes , but Schroeder is fast, even for an NHL'er.
 
Icebreakers said:
You want to draft Debrincat with Drouin and Point in the system
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By that rationale they should have passed on Point, because they have Kucherov, Johnson and Drouin?

The good scouting teams simply don't worry about that kind of thing and draft the best players. It takes 5 years for a player to become a real contributor typically, and by that time, a team's roster and system can have completely changed, and what seemed like a deep position, is now one of weakness.
 
Daniel Briere might be a decent comparison. Briere might have been a better skater, but he was certainly around the same size. Grimaldi is also a comparable of a guy just a bit shorter than your typical "diminutive forward".
 
Dr.Sens(e) said:
Daniel Briere might be a decent comparison. Briere might have been a better skater, but he was certainly around the same size. Grimaldi is also a comparable of a guy just a bit shorter than your typical "diminutive forward".
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Haven't seen a ton of Debrincat (just YT vids) but from what I have seen Mike Cammalleri is the closest style comparable I can think of.

Both pure shooters with rocket shots and elite releases.

Elite at finding soft ice and arriving at just the right time. Very much finishers more than puck possessors.

Good but not elite skaters.

Both considered "too small" for the NHL (Cammalleri is 5'9, Debrincat 5'7).

It's not perfect but I think it's closer than most of the other style comparisons I've seen.
 
The thing I've noticed with DeBrincat is that he doesn't play with that edge that you see in a lot of undersized players, there's not really any "jam" to his game. He'll play hard for the puck, take contact and skate hard but he definitely stays within the rules and doesn't have that pest-like edge that some smaller players bring to the table.

You definitely won't be calling him soft, but between whistles you won't see him stirring up any trouble or trying to get away with anything subtle behind the play.

Not trying to sway anyone's opinion with this point saying this is good or bad, there's just a lot of comparisons to smaller players that have that chip on their shoulder and that's not part of DeBrincats game as far as I've seen.
 
Woll Smoth said:
The thing I've noticed with DeBrincat is that he doesn't play with that edge that you see in a lot of undersized players, there's not really any "jam" to his game. He'll play hard for the puck, take contact and skate hard but he definitely stays within the rules and doesn't have that pest-like edge that some smaller players bring to the table.

You definitely won't be calling him soft, but between whistles you won't see him stirring up any trouble or trying to get away with anything subtle behind the play.

Not trying to sway anyone's opinion with this point saying this is good or bad, there's just a lot of comparisons to smaller players that have that chip on their shoulder and that's not part of DeBrincats game as far as I've seen.
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Which probably kills the Gallagher comp then. With his shot he seems able to score from some distance meaning his willingness to scrap and battle around the net a la Gallagher is less important. As a shooter it's more about finding gaps in coverage than bumping and cross checking for space.
 
Dumb penalty for sure... but it did not cost his team


has elite hockey sense.... so we will see how it plays out..

I know Jim Benning - Canucks GM has seen him live 3 times this year so far.


Benning thinks he may be like Johnny Hockey.... I do not see it ... but hey he is the expert
 
hobgoblin933 said:
He didn't really help himself, today. Hopefully he makes the best of his remaining games at the Jr's.
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For every scout that might view what he did as bad you probably will find 2 that view it positively(ie he has high intensity and a little bite to his game)
 
boredmale said:
For every scout that might view what he did as bad you probably will find 2 that view it positively(ie he has high intensity and a little bite to his game)
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Hah.. any scout that saw that play just simply views it as selfish play, but it is just one moment in one game which makes up the big picture, which is exactly what it was. There is nothing redeemable about a completely undisciplined spear really, regardless if it was hard/malicious or not. There is no reason to do that other than losing your composure from the emotion of a big game. Any evaluator that tries to twist that into intensity/bite is just creating their own narrative.
 
puckfan13 said:
Hah.. any scout that saw that play just simply views it as selfish play, but it is just one moment in one game which makes up the big picture, which is exactly what it was. There is nothing redeemable about a completely undisciplined spear really, regardless if it was hard/malicious or not. There is no reason to do that other than losing your composure from the emotion of a big game. Any evaluator that tries to twist that into intensity/bite is just creating their own narrative.
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DeBrincat's face immediately after that play said it all. He realized he messed up immediately. Selfish but forgivable. If there were a larger pattern here maybe there'd be more to talk about...
 
foxygen said:
DeBrincat's face immediately after that play said it all. He realized he messed up immediately. Selfish but forgivable. If there were a larger pattern here maybe there'd be more to talk about...
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Yes exactly, it is just one play at one point in time... it doesn't tell you if he's selfish or if he's feisty. It's just one play. To take something of his overall character one way or the other would be specious.
 
boredmale said:
For every scout that might view what he did as bad you probably will find 2 that view it positively(ie he has high intensity and a little bite to his game)
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Probably not. It was a display of stupid decision making by an 18 yr old playing at WJC for the first time and cost the team a top line player for the rest of the game.

I do not think scouts will make a negative inference about Debrincat from one foolish play (especially considering he is young and at his first U20) - but I'm entirely confident that 2 out of 3 scouts will not be viewing the play positively, as you suggest.
 
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