Alex DeBrincat trade: Who won the Blackhawks and Senators deal?

It’s safe to say no one saw this coming ahead of the 2022 NHL Draft.

On Thursday, the Ottawa Senators acquired Alex DeBrincat from the Chicago Blackhawks in an absolutely stunning deal. There had been talks for a few weeks now that DeBrincat was likely on the move out of Chicago, but no one believed Ottawa to be a major player in this.

This isn’t the first eyebrow-raising trade of the day, as earlier on the Avalanche traded for goaltender Alexandar Georgiev of the Rangers, but DeBrincat to Ottawa absolutely blows that deal out of the water. Let’s take a look at how the Senators and Blackhawks grade out in the DeBrincat trade, with more madness still to come at the 2022 NHL Draft this evening.

DeBrincat is the only player changing teams in this deal, with the particulars being:

And that’s it! But is it a good package in return for the skillset DeBrincat brings to a team?

Senators grade: A

This is essentially a slam dunk trade for Pierre Dorion and the Senators. DeBrincat is coming off a career-high 41 goal, 78 point season in 82 games on a Blackhawks team that finished 14th in the Western Conference.

At age 24, DeBrincat already has two 40-goal seasons under his belt with the high potential for many more to come with his goalscoring talent. DeBrincat is the kind of player a team can build around for the future, and with pieces such as Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stutzle, Drake Batherson, and Joshua Norris already blossoming into great players for the Senators, Ottawa’s future seems really bright.

The only small quibble about this for the Senators is that DeBrincat will be due for a huge raise — a $9 million qualifying offer, to be exact — from his $6.4 million AAV deal once he finishes this contract at the end of next season. Thankfully, Ottawa likely won’t be in salary cap hell by then, meaning they’ll have as much space as possible to re-sign a cornerstone piece to a long-term deal.

Blackhawks grade: D

Oh Chicago. I don’t really understand why the Blackhawks had to make this deal at all. Sure, the franchise’s Stanley Cup window is closed, but DeBrincat is a player you can build around for the future instead of sending away a two-time 40 goal scorer for three — admittedly quite high — draft picks.

This all looks even more bizarre when you look back at what the Blackhawks gave up to trade for then sign defenseman Seth Jones last year. In that deal, Chicago gave up Adam Boqvist and three draft picks (No. 12 and No. 44 in the 2021 draft, and the No. 6 pick in the 2022 draft) to acquire Jones and sign him to an eight-year, $76 million contract.

All that for a player who isn’t nearly as good as DeBrincat!

This is just the latest in a line of baffling decisions from the Blackhawks, not to mention their hand in the NHL’s biggest sexual assault scandal that rocked the hockey world last year. The Blackhawks are clearly trying to rebuild, but they absolutely botched the return for a stud player like DeBrincat.