After dominating the QMJHL with elite scoring touch, Alexandre Doucet failed to find his rhythm in Grand Rapids. The former prolific prospect now heads to Liiga's Ässät.
After racking up nearly 60 goals and 115 points in just 70 games during the 2022-23 QMJHL season, fans were understandably excited about what French Canadian scorer Alexandre Doucet could bring to the Detroit Red Wings organization as an undrafted free agent. That excitement, though, never quite translated once he made the jump to pro hockey.
Doucet signed a three-year entry-level contract with Detroit in March 2023 after a dominant final junior campaign, one that also saw him post 31 points in 21 playoff games as Halifax advanced deep into the postseason. But the offensive touch that made him one of the QMJHL's top scorers largely disappeared once he turned pro.
The right winger spent the bulk of his first season with the Toledo Walleye of the ECHL before working his way up to a regular role with the Grand Rapids Griffins over the past two seasons. The results at the AHL level never came close to matching his junior production as Doucet finished with just 35 points in 122 games with the Griffins.
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It was a stark contrast to his brief ECHL outings this past season, where he looked every bit the dominant junior scorer again, picking up four assists in just three games with Toledo.
The fit never quite came together in Grand Rapids, and Doucet entered this offseason without a new contract from the Red Wings. Rather than look for another opportunity in North America, he opted to head overseas, signing with Ässät of Finland's Liiga, one of the more respected professional leagues in Europe.
It's a change of scenery that could do Doucet some good. The hope is that he eventually finds the game that made him such a prolific scorer in junior hockey. That breakthrough just didn't happen to come during his time in the Red Wings organization.
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