Detroit Red Wings
DeBrincat Another Red Wings Player Who Benefitted From Coaching Change
Leads Detroit with 37 goals
Patrick Kane has spoken often about how much the arrival of Todd McLellan as Detroit Red Wings coach meant to him getting his game back.
Now, Kane’s partner in crime is also emphazing how much the move from Derek Lalonde to McLellan behind the Detroit bench has helped enhance his time to shine.
DeBrincat scored his 37th goal of the season in Monday’s 6-4 win over the Dallas Stars. That leads the Red Wings and isn’t far off the career high of 41 goals he reached twice as a member of the Chicago Blackhawks. It’s also the most goals by a Detroit player since Marian Hossa scored 40 in 2008-09.
Detroit goal!
Scored by Alex DeBrincat with 06:08 remaining in the 1st period.
Assisted by Patrick Kane and Marco Kasper.
Detroit: 2
Dallas: 1#DALvsDET #LGRW #TexasHockey pic.twitter.com/Lh9lZEjWRz— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) April 14, 2025
He’s of the opinion that McLellan’s design to push the pace and the way he’s freed up Detroit’s offensively talented players to use their creativity and go on the attack frees him up to play the game which suits his skillset the best.
“I think for me, the way Todd wants to play and be aggressive . . . I think the way we play now is probably a little bit more catered to my game and makes me a little bit more effective,” DeBrincat said.
Under Lalonde, DeBrincat scored 13 goals in 34 goals. That works out to .382 goals per game. He had one multi-goal game.
Since McLellan took over, DeBrincat’s tally is 24 goals in 46 games. That’s an average of .521 goals per game. There have been three multi-goal games.
Red Wings DeBrincat Appreciates McLellan As A Communicator
There’s another factor that DeBrincat finds refreshing about McLellan’s leadership. It’s the fluid way in which he gets his point across clearly and strongly to the team.
“I think just the way he explains things and has the guys going throughout the system is, for me, it was probably a better fit,” DeBrincat said. “So, not saying the other one was bad in any means, but I think overall I feel just a little bit more comfortable with the way Todd wants to play.”
Power play goal for Detroit!
Scored by Alex DeBrincat with 15:23 remaining in the 2nd period.
Assisted by Lucas Raymond and Patrick Kane.
Detroit: 1
Florida: 0#FLAvsDET #LGRW #TimeToHunt pic.twitter.com/y6Wt2AqzUi— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) April 6, 2025
McLellan believes that DeBrincat’s natural feisty nature and competitive spirit just works better when he’s in attack mode.
“He has an impact on the game every night,” McLellan said. “Physicality for his size, the desire to be on the ice and want the puck and finish checks.
“I talked about us wanting to or having to play a bit of a heavier game as we go forward. He can already do that at his size. You hope other guys look at him and see, well, if he’s doing that . . . that’s part of being a leader. You lead by example, and you hope that you can drag others into the fray, if you will.
“And I think Cat does that on a nightly basis. You know, not everybody has their best game every night. If I look at the 40-some games that we’ve been here, he hasn’t had many nights off.”
Evidently not enough of them improved after the coaching change.
A coach can only do so much. Some of them are simply good enough to compete with the good teams. I actually thought the goaltending was the least of their problems. Talbot was mostly very good and Lyon ok.