Alex DeBrincat With Goals, An Assist And A Fight In The NHL Rookie Tournament...Oh My

Well well well, its time to get the hype train going for Alex DeBrincat. Two games into the NHL’s rookie tournment in Traverse City, Michigan and DeBrincat is showing why he was such an intriguing prospect and how he absolutely lit up the OHL. I wrote back in May that I am highly skeptical of DeBrincat and his ability to translate his game to the NHL. So maybe the hype train has already left after he scored 332 points in just 191 OHL games. I am an optimistic guy by nature and I’m starting to come around on DeBrincat

By all accounts, Alex DeBrincat didn’t show well at the Blackhawks prospect camp in July, BUT that wasn’t really set up for him to be successful. If you’re small and not particularly fast it’s difficult to show well in battle drills and one on ones. DeBrincat is a gamer. He has a great release and knows how to find soft areas in the zone. He is never going to be a guy like Patrick Kane who can create offense by himself, but that doesn’t mean he won’t be able to find the net consistently in the league.

In the first game against the Rangers, DeBrincat slipped a shot through traffic and it found the back of the net

Then in his second game DeBrincat did what he does best and snapped home the game winner upstairs

And….I’m tingly. I know its just a rookie tournament, but its hard not to get excited when you see DeBrincat’s quick release get piped in upstairs. He’s a natural goal scorer. Now he just needs to learn how to apply that skill against bigger and faster competition. So far so good.

And if two goals and an assist wasn’t enough for you, Brinksy started throwing BOMBS in a fight

I don’t know how this started, but I LOVE it. Now, I hope that DeBrincat never does this again because it’s clear that he doesn’t know how to fight and he’s gonna get himself hurt BUT Alex DeBrincat has always played with a lot of bite. The kid goes to the net, he competes, and he clearly doesn’t back down.

I still don’t think DeBrincat makes the team out of camp. I don’t know where he fits on the team with Saad, Panik, Sharp, Kane, Wingels, Bouma, and Hartman locked in as wingers. And that’s assuming Schmaltz starts the season as a center. Having said that, no team makes it through the season without injuries and having DeBrincat waiting in the wings(no pun intended but) is a great situation.

PS: Rest in peace, Blackhawks legend Pierre Pilote. I can’t say that I know much about Pilote because he played in the 50s and 60s, but he’s a name and a face every Blackhawks fan is familiar with. His No.3 is hanging in the United Center rafters. A member of the 1961 Stanley Cup Championship team and a three time Norris Trophy winner(also finished 2nd three times). I saw a quote floating out there on twitter, but I couldn’t find it this morning…it said “Pilote was Bobby Orr before Bobby Orr”. I don’t know about all of that, but he’s a true Hall of Famer and known as an all-around great guy.