NHL Draft Prospect Alex DeBrincat: Top 10 Skill-Set/Talent

NHL Draft Prospect Alex DeBrincat Possesses Top 10 Talent, Size an Unfair Knock by Scouts

2016 NHL Draft prospect Alex DeBrincat is a late December birthday which forced the 1997 Michigan born player to miss the 2015 draft by a couple of months.

Ranked 21st among North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting, DeBrincat walks into June’s draft projected to be taken late in the 1st round – but don’t be surprised if he slides even further down due to his undersized 5’7 161lbs frame. Scouts tend to get nervous on whether or not a smaller player can adapt to the bigger, stronger NHL game.

DeBrincat is in his second season with OHL’s Erie Otters, getting ready to face-off Wednesday night in game one of the Western Conference Final against Mitch Marner, Matthew Tkachuk, Christian Dvorak and the rest of the London Knights.

More from Editorials

He’s coming off a stellar 2014-15 OHL rookie campaign in which he scored 51 goals, adding 53 assists (104 points). DeBrincat added nine goals, seven assists in 20 playoff games last year. He managed to nearly duplicate his performance in 2015-16 scoring 51 goals once again, adding 50 helpers (101 points). Alex has five goals, 11 assists (16 points) through two playoff rounds (nine games).

NHL Draft prospect Alex DeBrincat also represented Team USA at the World Juniors. He should be able to dominate next year at the tournament as a 19-year-old leader for the American squad.

via Tyler Parchem of Elite Prospects,

DeBrincat is a small player with a dynamic skill set. He is a pure sniper, scoring over 50 goals in two straight years in the OHL. He is very undersized, but can be very nasty to play against and shies away from no one. He had to deal with injuries at the 2016 World Junior Championship, but that did not hamper his production when he returned to the OHL. He skates well and is very effective around the net. He is hard to contain for such a small player, and has great chemistry with anyone he plays with. A decade player in the OHL.

Alex DeBrincat might be small in stature, but he plays a big man’s game. Not afraid to get into the dirty areas or mix it up, Alex doesn’t shy away from physicality. He’s a strong player on the boards with an ability to get his center of gravity nice and low to protect the puck in his skates.

DeBrincat is a smart player, high hockey IQ, who makes good decisions with the puck. A good stick-handler, Alex is extremely creative in his ability to deke. He’s also an elusive skater that is very slippery, making it difficult for the opposition to contain him.

More puck prose: CHL Round 3 Preview, Predictions

First question most people will ask, “who’s an NHL comparable?” There’s no one particular player he reminds me more than another, but has shades of Artemi Panarin and Cam Atkinson at different times.

More from Puck Prose

The NHL is slowly shifting to a style of game where a smaller player has a greater chance of success. In recent years, Tyler Johnson and Johnny Gaudreau emerged as elite players. Artemi Panarin helped Patrick Kane remind the NHL in 2015-16 who the NHL’s best undersized forward is .

In recent years, clubs are increasingly showing a willingness to invest draft picks in players that would once be passed over. But there’s still a reluctance by teams or second guessing as it would be when it comes to undersized players. Sure, Tampa Bay got lucky with their late round pick of Tyler Johnson. Rewind to 2015, Calgary drafted Andrew Mangiapane in the late rounds after being among the league leaders in points (104 in 2014-15, 106 in 2015-16).

It’s about time we lose the scouting bias on smaller stature players. If they’ve made it this far (major junior), you know a few things:

1) they’re probably a fast skater with dynamite acceleration due to the quick small stride.
2) they’ve battled bigger, stronger competition their entire life.
3) the smaller player is naturally elusive given their size.

Embed from Getty Images

The hockey world continues to bang their head on the table wondering why goal-scoring continues to dip year-after-year. Meanwhile, you can scroll through the CHL (OHL, QMJHL, WHL) rosters and see numerous teams with goals/points leaders at 20-21 years of age without an NHL contract, or even NHL consideration for that matter. The common denominator between the majority of those players is a smaller frame.

Now obviously Alex DeBrincat is being noticed, but would anyone be surprised if he landed in a veritable Nathan Gerbe-like situation bearing a third line duties (with a short leash for top six opportunities upon injuries)? Probably not.

Next: NHL Mock Draft 4.0: Rounds 1-7

He’s not going to be the next Patrick Kane or Johnny Gaudreau, but NHL Draft prospect Alex DeBrincat possesses elite talent. There is a legitimate argument for selecting him in the top 10 at June’s draft. In reality, that won’t happen. But for the sake of this young man, I hope he finds away to slide into the top of the second round – he would be an excellent fit for Toronto or Vancouver, among a few other teams with better opportunities for younger players to flourish.