Alex DeBrincat signing comes as a surprise amidst Red Wings chaos

The Detroit Red Wings locked up one of their highly skilled forwards on Tuesday, signing Alex DeBrincat to a seven-year contract extension that will carry a cap hit of $13 million.

The deal locks up the Farmington Hill, Mich., native through the 2033-34 season and gives the Red Wings some stability in the long term. But with the team struggling out the gates in 2026-27 and former captain Dylan Larkin’s status up in the air, does signing DeBrincat mean Detroit wants to be a contender? Or is he willing to stay for a rebuild?

On Wednesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton discuss DeBrincat’s extension and what that means for the Red Wings going forward.

Tyler Yaremchuk: DeBrincat is a three-time 40-goal scorer, and he was north of a point-per-game last season. He is off to a tremendous start on a disappointing Red Wings team.

Honestly, that’s why I’m a little bit surprised that he agreed to this. He has eight points in six games, the Red Wings look like they’ll be a tire fire this season, and probably for another couple years down the line. I suppose the $13-million AAV makes it worth it, and Detroit could offer the seventh year.

I’m just surprised that a 28 year old in the prime of his career was willing to sign up and stay a Red Wings.

Carter Hutton: As I dive into it a little bit more and you start to look at DeBrincat, it’s a bit of a head-scratcher. He is a Michigan native, which is important, and the other factor is his wife is from just outside of there. Those are factors when you talk about familiarity.

But does this put pressure on Detroit now to flip Larkin and make this team competitive? Now you’ve committed to this guy, and he’s an asset in the sense that he’s a goal-scoring player. But what are you going to do when you try to figure out if you’re rebuilding or trying to make the playoffs?

You just agreed to give this guy $13 million over seven years, there’s a lot of pressure on this management and the lack of full-time general manager.

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…