Alexander Lloyd DeBrincat (born December 18, 1997) is an American professional ice hockey player who is a winger for the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected by the Chicago Blackhawks in the second round, 39th overall, of the 2016 NHL entry draft. He has previously played for the Blackhawks and the Ottawa Senators.
Born in Farmington Hills, Michigan, DeBrincat spent one year at Harrison High School before transferring to Lake Forest Academy in Illinois. He had planned to play college ice hockey in Massachusetts but signed with the Erie Otters of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) for the 2014–15 season. There, he set a franchise record with over 50 goals and 100 points in his first season, and he won the Emms Family Award and CHL Rookie of the Year trophies. During the 2016–17 season, DeBrincat became the all-time Otters goal leader and the top scorer of any OHL player born in the United States. He won the Eddie Powers Memorial Trophy, Jim Mahon Memorial Trophy, Red Tilson Trophy, and CHL Player of the Year award for his performance. He spent three years with the Otters, becoming the second player in OHL history to score 50 goals and 100 points all three years.
DeBrincat joined the Blackhawks for the 2017–18 season, where he experienced goal streaks and droughts as a rookie, including three hat-tricks. He surpassed his rookie scoring totals in 2018–19 season, but fell into a slump during the 2019–20 season, particularly when he was not on the power play. DeBrincat's offensive production improved during the COVID-19 pandemic-shortened 2020–21 season, during which he maintained a pace of over a point per game. DeBrincat continued this production the following year when he represented the Blackhawks at the NHL All-Star Game and recorded his second 40-goal season.
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Early life
DeBrincat was born on December 18, 1997, in Farmington Hills, Michigan, to David and Tracey DeBrincat, who met at Michigan State University. His favorite ice hockey player as a child was Pavel Datsyuk, who played for the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League (NHL) from 2001 to 2016. DeBrincat attended Harrison High School in Farmington Hills for one year before transferring to Lake Forest Academy, a college preparatory school in Illinois. Because all hockey players at Lake Forest were required to play a spring semester sport, DeBrincat also played baseball. In his single season there, he scored 54 goals and recorded 111 points in 50 games.
Playing career
Junior
DeBrincat signed with the Erie Otters of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) as a free agent on April 28, 2014. At the time, he had planned to play junior ice hockey and then attend the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he had committed to play college ice hockey for the Minutemen, but he left Lake Forest to play for the Otters. Erie general manager Sherwood Bassin had scouted him during Lake Forest's 8–2 rout of the Soo Indians, in which DeBrincat scored three goals and recorded two assists.
DeBrincat scored his first OHL goal in his first game with the Otters, a 7–1 win over the Saginaw Spirit to open the 2014–15 season. After scoring 10 goals and 21 points in 10 games, DeBrincat was named the OHL Rookie of the Month for October 2014. He followed that with his first junior hockey hat-trick in a 5–2 win over the Sarnia Sting on November 7. He was named the OHL Rookie of the Month again in November with another nine goals and 17 points in 13 games. DeBrincat finished the regular season with a six-point game in Erie's 8–7 win over the Niagara IceDogs. In addition to securing the Otters' 50th win of the season, DeBrincat finished the season with 51 goals and 104 points, becoming the first rookie in franchise history to score 50 goals and 100 points. He added another nine goals and 16 points in 20 playoff games, but the Otters lost to the Oshawa Generals in the J. Ross Robertson Cup finals. At the end of the season, DeBrincat followed Connor McDavid as only the second Otter to win the Emms Family Award, given to the OHL Rookie of the Year, and in May, he was named the CHL Rookie of the Year. He was also named to the OHL All-Rookie First Team and the Second All-Star Team.
On October 1, 2015, DeBrincat scored five goals in the Niagara IceDogs' home opener for the 2015–16 season. The following week, he had a four-goal game against Niagara, giving the Otters a 7–2 win to stay unbeaten through five games. He was named the OHL Player of the Month after scoring 16 goals and 23 points in 12 games, and he followed the award with his third hat-trick of the season, this time against the Peterborough Petes. That January, DeBrincat was one of two Otters named to the CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game, playing on Team Cherry. DeBrincat scored his 50th goal of the season against the Owen Sound Attack on March 17, becoming the first player in franchise history to record consecutive 50-goal seasons and the first OHL player to do so since Tyler Toffoli in 2011 and 2012. Two days later, he picked up his 100th point with two assists in the Otters' 4–2 win over the London Knights. DeBrincat finished his sophomore OHL season with 51 goals and 101 points, and he was named to the 2015–16 OHL Third All-Star Team. Additionally, he was a highly rated prospect going into the 2016 NHL entry draft: the NHL Central Scouting Bureau ranked DeBrincat 20th among all North American skaters in their midterm rankings and 21st in their final rankings. In June, he was drafted in the second round, 39th overall, by the Chicago Blackhawks of the NHL. He signed a three-year, entry-level contract with the team on November 7, 2016.
Professional (2017–present)
Prior to the start of the 2017–18 season, the Blackhawks traded Artemi Panarin to the Columbus Blue Jackets, a move that created an opening for DeBrincat on Chicago's opening night roster if he performed well in training camp. He earned preseason praise from head coach Joel Quenneville, who said DeBrincat "seems to have a good approach to the game" and "fit in well with his teammates" following a 4–2 victory over the Detroit Red Wings. DeBrincat ultimately made the opening night roster, making his NHL debut on October 4, 2017, and playing on the third offensive line with Patrick Sharp and Artem Anisimov. He scored his first NHL goal on October 10, beating Carey Price of the Montreal Canadiens and helping the Blackhawks to a 3–1 victory. After a slow October in which he had one goal and four assists, DeBrincat, playing on the third line with Sharp and Ryan Hartman, scored 10 goals in November. On November 27, he scored a hat-trick in the Blackhawks' 7–3 rout of the Anaheim Ducks. He was the second-youngest player to score a hat-trick in franchise history, four days younger than Jeremy Roenick had been when he set the record. Promoted to the top line with Jonathan Toews and Anthony Duclair, DeBrincat broke a seven-game scoring drought on January 26 with his second hat-trick, this time against the Red Wings. He was the youngest player in franchise history to score two hat-tricks and the first rookie to do so since Steve Larmer during the 1982–83 season. Shortly after another 12-game goal drought, DeBrincat's third hat-trick came on March 18 against the St. Louis Blues. It was the first time that any Blackhawk rookie had three hat-tricks in one season and the first time that any United States-born rookie had done so since Tony Granato of the New York Rangers in 1988–89. Despite receiving less than 15 minutes of ice time per game, DeBrincat finished his rookie season with 28 goals and 52 points, and he became the youngest player to receive the Blackhawks Player of the Year Award at the team's end-of-season banquet. Those 28 goals came in streaks, however: in 82 games, DeBrincat had four droughts of at least seven games where he did not score. Despite DeBrincat's performance, the Blackhawks finished the season with a 33–39–10 record, last in the NHL Central Division and the franchise's worst since 2007–08.
DeBrincat started the 2018–19 season on a hot streak, with six points in his first five games. That November, the Blackhawks traded Nick Schmaltz to the Arizona Coyotes for Brendan Perlini and DeBrincat's OHL teammate Dylan Strome, who was immediately placed on DeBrincat's line. Partway through the season, head coach Jeremy Colliton dropped DeBrincat from the second to the third line as part of his larger vision to have one prominent goal-scorer on three of the four lines. By the NHL All-Star Game break at the start of February, DeBrincat had 25 goals and 53 points in 51 games, including seven goals in 10 games in January. On February 18, 2019, DeBrincat had a five-point game, adding two assists to his fourth career hat-trick in the Blackhawks' 8–7 win over the Ottawa Senators. His two goals against the San Jose Sharks on March 29 made DeBrincat the second-youngest Blackhawk to reach 40-goals in a season. He was 21 years and 100 days old at the time, 35 days older than Jeremy Roenick when he reached the milestone in 1991. Playing in all 82 games for the second season in a row, DeBrincat surpassed his rookie season with 41 goals and 76 points at the end of the year.
International play
DeBrincat made his international tournament debut when he represented the United States junior team at the 2016 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships in Helsinki. He was ejected on a spearing penalty in the first game of the tournament and missed the next two with a shoulder injury, after which he was relegated to a bench player role for the remainder of the tournament. Team USA took bronze, with DeBrincat scoring one goal in five games. He was expected to make the team again for the 2017 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships based on his performance that season with the Otters, but he was cut from the team and sent back to Erie during evaluations.
Following the conclusion of his rookie NHL season, DeBrincat was one of four Blackhawks named to the United States senior team for the 2018 IIHF World Championship in Denmark. He scored one goal and nine points in ten tournament games, and his team came away with the bronze medal. DeBrincat appeared for Team USA again at the 2019 IIHF World Championship in Slovakia, where he contributed seven goals and nine points in eight games for the seventh-place team.
Personal life
DeBrincat's older brother Andrew graduated from Lake Forest Academy in 2012. After four years at American International College, Andrew began playing professional ice hockey in 2019, and has appeared in the ECHL for the Cincinnati Cyclones and Kalamazoo Wings. DeBrincat and his brother are of Maltese descent on their father's side.
DeBrincat married Lyndsey Bice, in July 2021. Their first child, Archie David DeBrincat, was born on May 18, 2022.
In April 2020, DeBrincat was the Blackhawks' representative in the NHL Player Gaming Challenge, which featured one player from every NHL franchise. The charity video game tournament was held to raise money for the CDC Foundation during the COVID-19 pandemic.