The Detroit Red Wings will begin the season without a captain, and while Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider remain alternate captains, Alex DeBrincat has made a strong case to be the third player wearing the "A" on his jersey.
It was a whirlwind offseason for the Detroit Red Wings, who not only had to deal with a stunning trade request from top-line forward Dylan Larkin but also underwent an equally surprising leadership transition, with Shawn Horcoff taking over as interim general manager two months later.
The Red Wings announced that they're entering the season without a captain, meaning that Larkin will no longer be wearing the "C" on his jersey, a role he'd held since the start of the 2020-21 campaign.
Last season, Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond each wore the "A" as alternate captains, and recently, head coach Todd McLellan announced that a third player will be doing so this season, though that player has yet to be decided on.
Enter Alex DeBrincat.
A Farmington Hills native, DeBrincat strong-armed his way to the Red Wings from the Senators in 2023 and signed a four-year extension upon completion of the trade. He's also voiced his desire to remain with Detroit beyond this season, the final year of his deal.
According to head coach Todd McLellan, DeBrincat has helped fill the leadership void left by Patrick Kane's departure, while also providing a steady presence amid the uncertainty surrounding Larkin's situation. He is also a candidate to be named an alternate captain.
“He’s done a really good job of providing leadership in the void that’s there right now. It’s not out of character; he hasn’t changed from what he’s done last year," McLellan said of DeBrincat. "Maybe away from the rink a little bit more with the guys to bring them together, but at the rink, he’s still Cat, and he would certainly be a candidate to be that."
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However, according to McLellan, wearing a letter on his jersey won't change the way DeBrincat conducts himself in the locker room or on the ice.
“The thing with Cat, though, is we could probably put the whole alphabet across his chest, and he would still be Cat. And if we took every letter of the alphabet away from him, he would still be Cat. He’s not going to change who he is based on that little piece of felt.”
DeBrincat dropped the gloves in the third period of Detroit's preseason tilt earlier in the week over the Buffalo Sabres, and followed that up by scoring the game-winning OT goal.
During Training Camp, he openly expressed his pride in wearing the Winged Wheel and his desire to help return the franchise he grew up rooting for to championship form.
"I take a lot of pride playing with the Red Wings," DeBrincat said earlier in the month. "Putting on that jersey every night, I think all of us in this room take a lot of pride in that and the history that comes with it.
"There's so much respect that comes with that crest - it's a privilege," he continued. "It's something I don't take lightly, and I definitely want to be part of the solution, get back to the glory days, and be a big part of that."
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