Alex DeBrincat Said He's Going to Throw a Hit and Possibly Fight a Former Blackhawks Teammate Tonight (jokingly)

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Austin Sabourin
February 17, 2023 (2:45 PM)

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Former Chicago Blackhawks forward Alex DeBrincat was looking back at his somewhat disappointing first season with the Ottawa Senators. When asked this question Thursday DeBrincat, grinned.

«Might he deliver a friendly hit on somebody Friday in his first game against the Blackhawks?» He went on to respond «Maybe Kaner, I'll probably have to fight after that one.» he said jokingly

DeBrincat was by far Kanes best line mate in such a short time. The two have stayed in touch despite him being traded last year at the NHL trade deadline. He never took the trade rumours seriously and said they were «not really something you want to believe,» until the trade evidently ended up happening.

Since DeBrincat got traded both of the players have definitely struggled and things haven't gone according to plan for both players.

Kane is now in the midst of his own drama with trade rumours, and DeBrincat went on to say he couldn't imagine how Kane would even «want to be in a rebuild right now,» considering how competitive Kane is and how he would rather be competing for a playoff spot.

DeBrincat thought with the new pickups the Senators did in the off-season and their top prospects playing pretty well, that they would be competing for a playoff spot, but injury's and subpar goaltending ruined their opportunity up until this point.

«This year hasn't gone great for us, coming into this year our expectations were high. We're still a young team that's still early in [the window of] what we have here. Maybe those expectations were a little too high. But we are playing well right now and we're still in the race.»

«We have a more physical team; everyone plays physical, uou don't want to be the one guy who doesn't. It gets you in the game quick. You have to have that work ethic every night. I would say I had that in Chicago too, but it's a different beast here.»

DeBrincat currently has 90 hits and is on pace for 139, which would destroy his previous record of 101 hits he set last season. But the points haven't really been there for him, he sits tied for fourth in team scoring with 44 points in 53 games and is only on pace for 68 points; which isn't brutal but definitely a difference from the 78 he put up last year and the 41 goals he scored last season.

With the first meeting between the Blackhawks and Senators coming so deep into the year DeBrincat stated that it will make it «less weird» as he is now comfortable playing with the Senators.

He did receive some reassuring news from general manager Pierre Dorion on Thursday when he stated there is «no chance» DeBrincat gets traded before or at the March 3rd trade deadline.

This speculation came about his current contract situation as the Senators will have to offer him a $9 million qualifying offer to keep DeBrincat a RFA come July.

We aren't too sure how the rest of all this will play out, but DeBrincat went on to say he «honestly doesn't know too much» on what's happening with contract negotiations, hopefully for him though it works out, for him to finally be in a situation to experience winning.

At last he went on to say..

»You want to play in the playoffs. That's definitely a goal of mine. It's something I want to do for years to come.»