Alex DeBrincat Called ‘A Perfect Match’ For Edmonton Oilers

Friday, October 09, 2026
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As the Dylan Larkin and Simon Edvinsson situations continue to play out in a chaotic start to the season for the Detroit Red Wings, questions have begun to arise about the future of Alex DeBrincat as well.

The three-time 40-goal scorer is a pending UFA, and is off to another fine start, with a couple of goals and four points through three games thus far for Detroit. He's playing out the final season of his four-year, $7.875 million deal he signed with the Wings back in 2023. He'll be looking for a massive raise, as David Pagnotta recently pegged his ask as "somewhere in the $12 to $14 million range depending on term."

Would the Red Wings be open to that kind of deal? It seems unlikely, based on the troubles they're having getting their elite young RFA defenseman, Edvinsson, signed. Besides, if Larkin and Edvinsson are eventually dealt for a rebuild, as Frank Seravalli pondered, would DeBrincat be interested in sticking around?

For now, he has not asked for a trade (unlike Larkin & Edvinsson), though he is still primed to be a UFA at season's end. 

With all of that to consider, the trade rumors are starting to percolate. On The Sheet with Jeff Marek on Friday, NHL scout Dennis King suggested the Edmonton Oilers as a "perfect" landing spot for DeBrincat. 

Scout links pending UFA DeBrincat to Edmonton Oilers 

“Jeff Jackson client. Stan Bowman obviously likes Americans. You have the idea that Detroit is basically, I mean, there’s kind of whispers now that Detroit will look to build around the [Moritz] Seider and [Lucas] Raymond cluster. So why would they keep DeBrincat to be kind of part of that?

“And then, of course, Edmonton’s primary trade chip would be a guy who played his college hockey in Michigan.”

That would be Isaac Howard, who exploded at Michigan State University in 2024-25 with a 26-goal, 52-point season (in 37 games), winning the 2025 Hobey Baker Award as the top college hockey player in the nation. He was a first-round selection of the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2022, but was not interested in signing with the Bolts due to a disagreement about what his role would be there coming out of the NCAA. 

Howard is still finding his way at the NHL level with Edmonton, but dominated in his 47 games with Bakersfield in the AHL last year. He has one point in four games this season while playing in the Oilers' bottom six. 

What would it take for Oilers to land DeBrincat from Red Wings?

Obviously, Howard alone wouldn't be enough to convince the Red Wings to trade DeBrincat to the Oilers. So King elaborated on his proposal, with tongue in cheek.

"Isaac Howard and 800 first-round picks!"

Lining up DeBrincat with Connor McDavid and Zach Hyman would be a "perfect match", King added. 

"Hyman goes in and does the (dirty) work... DeBrincat goes in and digs around a little bit in support, try to fish the puck out. Or McDavid does it and DeBrincat goes and hangs around the faceoff circles... I think that would be kind of a perfect match."

At this point, this isn't something that's been discussed by these teams (at least, not that we know of), and, last time we checked, the Oilers didn't have 800 first-round picks. So, for now, we can put this on the back burner. But if Larkin & Edvinsson are ultimately dealt, a DeBrincat trade before he hits unrestricted free agency at the end of the season is certainly not out of the question. 

But King isn't the only one suggesting the Oilers make a move on DeBrincat. Matt Larkin of Daily Faceoff has also written that "The Edmonton Oilers are the Number 1 team that I would picture as the ideal fit for Alex DeBrincat.”

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