Alex Debrincat’s departure from Ottawa had some pundits a bit confused. There is, in general, a preseason push to see Ottawa grab a wild card spot while Toronto, Tampa and Florida take the top three spots. With this in mind, Debrincat’s choice to forego an extension seemed counter productive. It turns out that Red Wing’s fans can thank Brady Tkachuk for the move.
Debrincat views himself as a top line right wing. Unfortunately for Ottawa that honor goes to the Captain and arguably the face of the franchise. Detroit is a land ripe with opportunity, especially for someone who can score 30+ goals. Without having seen Larkin and Debrincat work on give and go plays it’s difficult to comment on their NHL chemistry. However, Larkin can still skate and found his way past the 30 goal mark last year. That seems like a potent center/right wing combo and takes some of the sting out of losing Bertuzzi.
The left side of the top line is where you have to stop and wonder. Do you throw another right shot player in Raymond on the left and have a line that can skate and get in position? Is there a chance that Copp may find himself with an opportunity to move to the wing for that line and play net front? That would move Compher into the second line center position with Perron and potentially Raymond. The third line could be a “redwood” reunion with Rasmussen and Soderblom with the potential for Perron on the right. That gives you Berggren, Kostin and Sprong/Veleno to round out the fourth line.
All of this is speculation of course. It’s interesting to have more right shooting options up front. There seemed to be a patch where Detroit was chock full o left shooters. The focus will turn abruptly to the prospect tournament soon as I’m sure that videos of prospects learning to make their own power bars will hit Redwings TV soon enough. A very exciting cap off on the week will be watching some of these young players don the Winged Wheel in competition for the first time.
Detroit Red Wings Blogger • 
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