2nd life for DeBrincat
After down year, he reworked game to be a more complete player
Patrick Kane said he has been around some competitive teammates in his time, but linemate Alex DeBrincat has a unique appreciation for winning.
“In the gym, if we’re doing races or something he always wants to win,” Kane said. “Same thing on the golf course. He’s competitive at everything, he wants to win everything and he’s happy when he does.
“It’s almost like a little kid when he wins at something.”
It has been a winning type of season for DeBrincat — his 19 goals entering Saturday are tied for fourth in the NHL. But in DeBrincat’s estimation, he had to take a step back to get where he is now.
“All goal scorers go through droughts. Obviously last year was a little tougher,” DeBrincat said about last season, in which he scored 18 goals in 70 games.
“But last year was good for me to experience. It helped out my (defensive) zone game a lot. I had to focus on other things to still be an effective player every night.”
DeBrincat scored 41 goals two seasons ago, but after meeting coaches before the summer break, they emphasized to him that he needed to work on his defensive game, and he took that to heart.
“(Offensive) production went down, which obviously wasn’t what I wanted, but other areas of my game had to improve for that,” he said. “Long run, it definitely has helped me.”
DeBrincat’s all-around game has made a remarkable turnaround. He had a minus-10 rating last season but has a career best plus-8.
His 25 takeaways in 35 3 games are nearly half of the career-best 51 in 82 games in 2018-19.
“He’s scoring goals and producing offensively, but I just think his whole 200-foot game has really been effective for us this year,” Kane said.
“If you watch him, the way he plays, he’s hard on pucks, he’s good on the forecheck, he’s got the best plus-minus on our team and I don’t think that’s a fluke.”
Coach Jeremy Colliton said DeBrincat decided he wanted be known as a contributor on both ends of the ice.
“He’s been a treat to work with as far as being open to feedback and sticking with it when the offensive side maybe wasn’t going his way,” Colliton said. “There’s a lot of angst last year about his game, and he was determined enough to just keep working and getting better.
“(It’s) nice to see the individual production come around for him. You love seeing guys like that rewarded.”
DeBrincat said coaches have helped him maintain confidence through the ups and downs of his production.
Through 33 games, he’s shooting a career-high 18.8%.
He leads the Hawks with six power-play goals.
But he chalked up some of his offense to puck luck — just like when it was going against him last season.
“If luck’s not with you, you’re not going put pucks in the net,” DeBrincat said. “I spent a lot of time (this summer) working on my shot, but overall there’s just certain situations where maybe this year it went in and last year it didn’t.
“Last year was a good year for me to have, and I’ve become a more complete player from it.”