Senators GM releases critical update on Alex DeBrincat

Will he or won't he? 

That's the question on the minds of Ottawa Senators fans everywhere with regard to forward Alex DeBrincat re-signing with the team for next season and beyond. He was a key addition made by the Senators last summer that also saw them lure veteran Claude Giroux back to his home city, and finished fourth on the team in goals scored with 27, along with total points in 66.

He's eligible to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, as he just wrapped up the final year of the three-year, $19.2 million contract he inked with Chicago in 2019. But the prospects of his agreeing to stay in the Canadian capitol city didn't appear to be very good when reports surfaced that he wasn't interested in committing to the team long term. 

For general manager Pierre Dorian, it's extremely important to bring him back for a second go-around, but knows that he must consider all options if a new deal can't be hammered out. 

“Obviously as an organization when we traded for him we wanted to sign him to as much term as possible,” Dorion said in an interview on TSN 1200. “He wanted to feel his way out in Ottawa." 

“We’ve had preliminary talks with Alex’s agent [Jeff Jackson]. “We’re waiting to see what transpires. First and foremost, we’d like to sign him. And if we can’t sign him, you know, he had 27 goals last year but I think if he plays with Josh [Norris] or Timmy [Stützle] I think he would get more and if you look at all the posts and crossbars he hit, even half of them or a quarter of them, he’s in the 30s.”

In 450 career NHL games, DeBrincat has scored 187 goals to go with 373 career points. 

“There’s a situation where we sign him to a long-term deal,” said Dorion. “There’s a situation where we qualify him at $9 million next year on a one-year deal. There’s a situation where we see if we’re not making any progress, we’re going to do our due diligence.

“Because we’re going to be a cap team, so maybe we go to club elected arbitration and if they came to us and said they don’t want to sign here, there’s a situation where we might have to trade him and see what’s out there on that market.

“Obviously we’d love to sign him first but I think we have to look at every option. If they come back and they want a number that doesn’t work for us, we’re going to have to look at other options too with Alex.”