Latest news with #AlexDeBrincat
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
NHL Draft Watch: Ottawa Senators Hope To Deal Themselves Another Winner At 21
So far, here in the roaring 20s, the Ottawa Senators' first-round picks at the NHL Draft have been all or nothing. They've either landed in the top 10 or haven't had a first-round pick at all. In 2020, the Senators had three first-rounders, including two in the top five, where they landed franchise pillars, Tim Stützle and Jake Sanderson. The following year, they picked 10th overall and selected Tyler Boucher, who had 10 points in 47 AHL games this season. Sens Headlines: Carter Yakemchuk Ranked 26th Overall In Magazine's New NHL Prospect RankingsOttawa Senators Make More Front Office ChangesOttawa Senators Prospect Parts Ways With Organization And Signs Back Home In Sweden Bookmark The Hockey News Ottawa and never miss the latest Senators news, interviews, columns, features and more. In 2022 and 2023, Ottawa didn't have a first-rounder, having traded those picks in separate deals to acquire Alex DeBrincat and Jakob Chychrun. Then in 2024, they returned to the top 10, drafting defenseman Carter Yakemchuk at 7th overall. This year, it's a happy medium, with the Senators holding the 21st pick. It won't be the first time Ottawa has picked at No. 21. This will actually be the fourth time, and in each previous instance, the Senators ended up with an NHL player. Anton Volchenkov – 2000 We're nearing the 25th anniversary of the Senators drafting Russian defenseman Anton Volchenkov at No. 21 in 2000. Known for his fearless shot-blocking and physical play, Volchenkov debuted with Ottawa two years later and spent seven seasons with the team in its glory years. In 2010, he signed a six-year, $25 million deal with the New Jersey Devils. But with a lot of wear and tear on his body, the Devils bought him out four years in. He wrapped up his NHL career with the Nashville Predators in 2014–15. Stefan Noesen – 2011 Just like in 2020, the Senators had three first-round picks in 2011. They took Mika Zibanejad at No. 6, Matt Puempel at No. 24, and in between, they selected Plymouth Whalers forward Stefan Noesen at No. 21. Two years later, Noesen was part of a trade package sent to Anaheim—along with Jakob Silfverberg and a first-round pick—for Bobby Ryan. Noesen developed slowly, not becoming a full-time NHL player until 2017–18 with the New Jersey Devils, where he scored 27 points in 72 games. After bouncing around as a depth player for a few more years after that, he found his stride with the Carolina Hurricanes for two years, and just had a career-best season back with New Jersey at age 32, scoring 22 goals and 41 points in 78 games. Colin White – 2015 Three picks after selecting Thomas Chabot, the Senators drafted center Colin White at No. 21. The two quickly became close—roommates and friends—with identical birthdays (January 30, 1997). Seen as part of Ottawa's core, both signed long-term contracts in the offseason in 2019. While Chabot's deal is too pricey at $8 million, White's six-year, $28.5 million deal became a much bigger issue. Just three years into the deal, the Senators bought him out. Under the terms of the buyout, Ottawa will be paying him $875,000 annually for each of the next three seasons. In the meantime, he's a half-decent AHL scorer who wasn't able to crack the lineup of the San Jose Sharks, the NHL's worst team. White will be a UFA on July 1st. Sharks To Sign Former First-Round Pick To NHL Deal The San Jose Sharks are in the process of converting forward Colin White's contract to an NHL deal. The general managers of the past – the Twenty One Pilots – were Marshall Johnston (Volchenkov) and Bryan Murray (Noesen and White). This year, it's Steve Staios. Staios and the Senators still have work to do on the roster, both among their top-six forwards and on the blue line. Since so many teams tend to prioritize forwards early in the draft, and considering that Volchenkov remains their best historical pick at No. 21, perhaps it's a sign that it might be a good point in the draft to look to the blue line again. Steve WarneThe Hockey News/Ottawa Bookmark The Hockey News Ottawa and never miss the latest Senators news, interviews, columns, features and more.
New York Times
07-04-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Red Wings' winning weekend sets up ‘biggest game of the year': 5 thoughts
DETROIT — For weeks now, looking ahead to this weekend on the Detroit Red Wings' schedule was a cautionary exercise. The Carolina Hurricanes and Florida Panthers — two of the league's best (and toughest) teams — represented all the reasons the Red Wings couldn't afford to squander other games. And when Detroit squandered nearly its entire March mired in losing streaks, this weekend set against two powerhouses started to look like a potential nail in their coffin. Advertisement Instead? Both teams brought banged-up (and frankly, watered-down) lineups into Detroit, and the Red Wings handled their business. After all the dread, Alex DeBrincat was able to look ahead to Tuesday's game in Montreal and accurately say: 'It's probably the biggest game of the year.' Now, just how meaningful it will look in hindsight remains to be seen. Detroit's win Sunday pulled them back within four points of the Canadiens for the Eastern Conference's final wild-card spot for about an hour before Montreal's win in Nashville pushed the mark back to six. That's still an awfully steep hill to climb, and Detroit's path to the postseason is still a significant long shot. But with a game in hand and that head-to-head contest still remaining, the Red Wings can at least keep their dreams alive another day — which is more than looked possible a week ago. Some thoughts on how they did it, and what it would take to actually pull off this late push. 1. Let's start with who wasn't on the ice this weekend, because it's a pretty relevant detail. Carolina played the Red Wings without Jordan Staal and Andrei Svechnikov in Detroit's 5-3 win on Friday. Florida took the ice without any of Aleksander Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Bennett, Sam Reinhart or Gustav Forsling — not to mention Aaron Ekblad, who is serving a 20-game suspension for violating the terms of the league's Performance-Enhancing Substances Program. That's a whole lot of talent missing, particularly on Sunday. So it was certainly a different look taking on the defending Stanley Cup champions. And yet the Red Wings aren't going to question that too much, considering they're desperate for every single point right now. To hear it from Todd McLellan, too, that kind of lineup dynamic can work both ways in a game. 'What often happens is the workers get an opportunity,' McLellan said. 'They've been waiting, and I thought their workers really worked tonight. Made it hard on us to execute plays. There wasn't a lot of — and if I say this, I mean it respectfully to all the players in the game — there was less skill in the game, so there was more scramble plays, there was more sticks that just touch pucks, there was more scrums and standing over it. Less execution. And sometimes that's hard to play.' Advertisement Along those very lines, this was not the Red Wings' prettiest game. As McLellan put it, 'I think we have better.' And if they're going to go into Montreal and actually make things interesting Tuesday, they're going to need better. But in a game they basically had to win, they'll take it regardless. 2. The biggest reason the Red Wings won Sunday was a simple one: Cam Talbot. Talbot stopped 32 of 33 shots, including a pair of spectacular saves late — first with his paddle on Jesse Puljujärvi, and then stretching across to stop an Anton Lundell one-timer from the right circle. It looked a lot like the save Talbot had made on Boston's Casey Mittelstadt late in the final seconds last weekend, and it kept the game from going to overtime. 'It's just desperation,' Talbot said. 'Get as much of body as I can to the other side of the net, make the save. Luckily it fell right underneath me and I was able to cover it up and not give them a second chance.' Sunday was the fourth consecutive game Talbot has started, and the fifth straight he's played in after coming on in relief for Alex Lyon against the Ottawa Senators. In those five games, he has an absurd .945 save percentage — a huge step up from where he had been since the 4 Nations break, when he had just an .869 save percentage from Feb. 22 through March 22. So, what's McLellan seeing now from his goaltender? 'When Petr (Mrazek) came in, and Alex (Lyon) went in and had a couple starts or couple runs, Talbs had a chance to work on his game and he got rested,' McLellan said. 'And now he looks fresh, he looks focused, his game is on. So perhaps that helped him. But whatever it is, we're going to need him to keep doing it.' There's no doubting that. For all the issues the Red Wings have, goaltending is the one thing in hockey that can cover it all up. And while Detroit will have to be careful in how much they try to ride the 37-year-old Talbot down the stretch, he's yet to give them a reason to look elsewhere in this current run. Advertisement 3. There have been a few promising stories for the Red Wings this year, from Marco Kasper and Albert Johansson's emergence as rookies to Lucas Raymond setting a new career high in scoring (75 points and counting), but no player has been as consistently impactful for Detroit as DeBrincat. DeBrincat scored his 35th goal of the season Sunday, a power-play blast set up by Raymond, right on the heels of an even better look that he missed. His 35 goals are the third-most he's had in a single season, and while his career high (41, twice) will be hard to reach with only six games to play, threatening 40 is not out of the question for him. It's already a nice jump from the 27 goals he scored each of the last two seasons, and while DeBrincat feels he's gotten 'a lot more puck luck' this season, there's more to it. 'I think just consistency in my play,' he said. 'I think I had quite a few dips in my play last year, and you know, this year just trying to do a better job of being consistent, just work hard even when it's not going in, and find a way to get to the net and put them in. … Sometimes you can play your best game and not score, and sometimes you can play your worst game and have two or three. So, sometimes you need the luck on your side, but I think that work ethic is really what drives everything.' It shows. DeBrincat has been noticeable nearly every night this season, whether he's scoring or not. He even fought 6-foot-3 Andrew Peeke recently to stick up for himself after a hit, surely giving some spark to his team. 'Sometimes in some of those scorers, there's a cheat element and not a total commitment to the return to your own end play,' McLellan said. 'I don't see that with Cat. I think it's there all the time.' Trading for DeBrincat two summers ago was the most effective non-draft move Steve Yzerman has made as Red Wings GM, and while it's not always easy to replicate a hometown RFA coming available, DeBrincat's success in Detroit should only reinforce the value of such big swings going into this summer. 4. Two goals on Sunday was enough to win, but finding more five-on-five offense continues to be a pain point for these Red Wings. DeBrincat's goal came on the power play, which has kept Detroit afloat all season, and J.T. Compher's goal to make it 2-0 came less than 30 seconds after another power play had expired. Advertisement It's beating a dead horse, perhaps, but even in low-scoring playoff-style games, the Red Wings can't expect to get by that way too often. There are some obvious culprits they've needed more from all season — particularly Vladimir Tarasenko and Jonatan Berggren, neither of whom registered a shot on goal Sunday. But even beyond that, Detroit's top six is going to need to break through more outside the power play too. Dylan Larkin has now gone eight games without a goal, and only had one shot on goal Sunday. Larkin has seemed to be battling through some kind of injury since the 4 Nations, and McLellan recently said Larkin had been 'dinged up' even before that, describing Larkin as 'pushing through' now. That certainly helps put Larkin's quieter offensive stretch in context. 5. This Detroit team has been streaky all year — and going back to previous years, too. They lost 11 of 14 to put themselves into this precarious situation in April, but they've also had two seven-game win streaks under McLellan. With points now in four straight, they seem to have righted the ship from that March collapse. But now the key is to keep it going without getting too intoxicated by a couple of wins against undermanned teams. 'You just have to channel that energy the right way,' Talbot said. 'You can't get too high, you can't get too low, you have to kind of stay even-keel. But you can also take the momentum from this game and just keep trying to build and build and build. And the confidence that comes with the wins, you just want to continue to play with that confidence.' If they can do that Tuesday, their playoff dreams will start to look a little more plausible. (Top photo of Michael Rasmussen and Mackie Samoskevich: Gregory Shamus / Getty Images)
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Detroit Red Wings grab must-win game with 2-1 victory over Florida Panthers
The desperation lacked at the start, but the points were there at the finish. The Detroit Red Wings were able to take advantage of a Florida Panthers team sorely lacking in star power Sunday, overcoming a subpar performance to claim a 2-1 victory in what was the Wings' second-to-last regular-season game at Little Caesars Arena this season. It's the first time since Feb. 23-25 the Wings have won consecutive games. Cam Talbot came through with 32 saves and was scored on by Mackie Samoskevich with 40 seconds to go. Advertisement The Wings (36-33-7) have seven points over their past four games. They have six games left, and the next one is a big one: Tuesday at the Montreal Canadiens, who occupy the East's second and final wild-card berth, with the Wings four points behind them. Detroit Red Wings right wing Alex DeBrincat (93) celebrates his goal during the second period against the Florida Panthers at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Sunday, April 6, 2025. GREAT ONE AND GREAT 8: Wayne Gretzky honors Gordie Howe as Alex Ovechkin breaks NHL goal record Sunday's performance was lacking in energy and execution, but two second-period goals gave the Wings a cushion: Alex DeBrincat used a power play to score his 35th goal of the season, and J.T. Compher scored his 10th of the season. The third period was punctuated by a big scrum with about seven minutes to go. If there's anything left to settle, the teams can do so on Thursday, when they meet again in Florida. Missing some bite The Panthers were without top forwards Matthew Tkachuk and Alexander Barkov (both injured), Sam Bennett and Sam Reinhart, and top defenseman Aaron Ekblad (suspended), giving a minor-league flavor to the lineup. The Panthers also played the day before in Ottawa, where top netminder Sergei Bobrovsky got the start, so the Wings faced backup Vitek Vanecek. Sorry start For all the players the Panthers didn't have, they still outworked the Wings in the first period, maneuvering the puck around Detroit's zone with efficiency and forcing 10 saves from Talbot. Even when super-beast Brad Marchand, a trade-deadline acquisition, landed in the penalty box for hooking Simon Edvinsson, the best the Wings got against Vanecek was a shot by Lucas Raymond from just outside the left post. The second power play unit did little to help; in fact, Vladimir Taraseko's decision to immediately pass the puck back to Edvinsson led to the Panthers intercepting the puck. Advertisement STILL ALIVE: How Red Wings came to embrace Pearl Jam thanks to a plane ride and a card game Simon Edvinsson of the Detroit Red Wings battles for the control of the puck in front of Brad Marchand of the Florida Panthers during the first period at Little Caesars Arena on Sunday, April 6, 2025 in Detroit. Advantageous response The Panthers put the Wings on a power play again early in the second period. DeBrincat missed on one setup from Patrick Kane, but succeeded on the next rush off a pass from Raymond, making it 1-0 at 4:37. The Wings didn't get any shots on net on their third power play, at 8:55, but scored a minute after it was over, with Compher taking advantage of sloppy defensive coverage to snap the puck into Florida's net. Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@ Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames. Advertisement Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter. Her latest book, 'The Franchise: Detroit Red Wings, A Curated History of the Red Wings,' was released October 2024. Her books, 'On the Clock: Behind the Scenes with the Detroit Red Wings at the NHL Draft,' and 'The Big 50: The Men and Moments that made the Detroit Red Wings' are available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies available via her e-mail. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Red Wings get must-have win, beat Florida Panthers, 2-1
Fox Sports
06-04-2025
- Sport
- Fox Sports
Panthers bring losing streak into matchup with the Red Wings
Associated Press Florida Panthers (44-28-4, in the Atlantic Division) vs. Detroit Red Wings (35-33-7, in the Atlantic Division) Detroit; Sunday, 5:30 p.m. EDT BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Panthers -125, Red Wings +105; over/under is 6 BOTTOM LINE: The Florida Panthers, on a four-game losing streak, play the Detroit Red Wings. Detroit is 35-33-7 overall with a 9-11-1 record against the Atlantic Division. The Red Wings rank first in NHL play with 62 power-play goals. Florida has a 44-28-4 record overall and a 9-10-2 record in Atlantic Division games. The Panthers are first in the league with 312 total penalties (averaging 4.1 per game). The matchup Sunday is the second time these teams play this season. The Red Wings won 5-2 in the previous meeting. Dylan Larkin led the Red Wings with two goals. TOP PERFORMERS: Alex DeBrincat has 34 goals and 30 assists for the Red Wings. Marco Kasper has four goals and one assist over the last 10 games. Sam Reinhart has 37 goals and 41 assists for the Panthers. Sam Bennett has scored three goals with three assists over the last 10 games. LAST 10 GAMES: Red Wings: 4-5-1, averaging 2.7 goals, 3.9 assists, 2.5 penalties and 7.5 penalty minutes while giving up 2.7 goals per game. Panthers: 3-6-1, averaging 1.8 goals, 3.2 assists, 3.7 penalties and 9.8 penalty minutes while giving up 2.7 goals per game. INJURIES: Red Wings: None listed. Panthers: None listed. ___ The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar. recommended
Associated Press
06-04-2025
- Sport
- Associated Press
Panthers bring losing streak into matchup with the Red Wings
Florida Panthers (44-28-4, in the Atlantic Division) vs. Detroit Red Wings (35-33-7, in the Atlantic Division) BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Panthers -125, Red Wings +105; over/under is 6 BOTTOM LINE: The Florida Panthers, on a four-game losing streak, play the Detroit Red Wings. Detroit is 35-33-7 overall with a 9-11-1 record against the Atlantic Division. The Red Wings rank first in NHL play with 62 power-play goals. Florida has a 44-28-4 record overall and a 9-10-2 record in Atlantic Division games. The Panthers are first in the league with 312 total penalties (averaging 4.1 per game). The matchup Sunday is the second time these teams play this season. The Red Wings won 5-2 in the previous meeting. Dylan Larkin led the Red Wings with two goals. TOP PERFORMERS: Alex DeBrincat has 34 goals and 30 assists for the Red Wings. Marco Kasper has four goals and one assist over the last 10 games. Sam Reinhart has 37 goals and 41 assists for the Panthers. Sam Bennett has scored three goals with three assists over the last 10 games. LAST 10 GAMES: Red Wings: 4-5-1, averaging 2.7 goals, 3.9 assists, 2.5 penalties and 7.5 penalty minutes while giving up 2.7 goals per game. Panthers: 3-6-1, averaging 1.8 goals, 3.2 assists, 3.7 penalties and 9.8 penalty minutes while giving up 2.7 goals per game. ___
