FEATURE: DeBrincat Putting Down Year Behind Him, Building Towards Rebound

Alex DeBrincat knows that his third NHL season didn't live up to his breakout sophomore year.
"Obviously this year wasn't the best year for me," he said last week reflecting on a campaign that saw his 41-goal, 76-point season from a year prior drop to just 18 tallies and 45 points in 2019-20.

"It was different for me. Never really had that problem in previous seasons or most of my life," he added of his drop in production. "It was a learning experience."
It wasn't for a lack of chances that the 22-year-old forward couldn't find the net. He was on pace to eclipse his shot total from the year before -- one not all too different from his rookie season either -- but his conversion rate at 8.7 percent in the regular season was a stark contrast from his 15.5 and 18.6 percentage rates in his opening two seasons, respectively.

"I feel like I was putting it where I wanted most of the time. Maybe goalies are reading my shot better. Maybe I need tweak something," he said, unable to put a finger on difference. "I haven't really figured out why they weren't going in as much this year. That's something I'm going to have to try to figure out and tweak. Coming into next season, hopefully I can score a few more goals."
Overall, his game didn't drastically change from a year ago. In fact, DeBrincat actually improved his play defensively, facing drastically fewer shots, chances and goals against at 5-on-5. He saw comparative ice time with linemate regulars Patrick Kane and Dylan Strome, similar time on ice metrics and numbers in shot attempts, blocked shots, posts hit, you name it.
To the naked eye, it just seemed at times that in the offensive zone unlucky break after unlucky break kept coming his way. And goalies kept finding ways to stop more pucks that found twine the previous year.
There was perhaps no greater sign of DeBrincat's bad luck than in Game 3 against Vegas. Having contributed early in the playoffs as a setup man with three assists in the opening three games, he was still in search of his first playoff goal. Down 2-0 in the series, the forward put eight shots on net in Game 3 alone, including several prime scoring chances, with nothing to show for it.
"I thought I had a lot of good chances, just didn't squeak through," was all a visibly frustrated DeBrincat could muster after the game.
"It's hard when the bounces don't go your way and you're working hard, you're making good plays and making things happen," Toews said of his team that struggled converting as a whole that night. "(DeBrincat was) all over the puck in the offensive zone."
The work ethic paid off with goals in Chicago's final two games - the first, a monkey-off-the-back empty-netter to seal a season-prolonging Game 4 victory and the second, a tap-in by virtue of being in good position to clean up a Dylan Strome feed at the top of the crease off a rush. Neither were highlight-reel tallies, but sometimes just seeing a puck finally cross the goal line off your stick can put a racing mind at ease.

This offseason, DeBrincat said, it's all about putting his head down and getting back to work -- and with a lengthy break still in recent memory, he plans on being back on the ice soon. He'll continue to work on and refine his shot, hoping to pick up where he finally left off in Edmonton. He also plans on watching back games to see what didn't work in his game and, more importantly, what did.
By all accounts, DeBrincat is putting the down season behind him as an outlier, trying to build on the positives to get back to the offensive weapon he has shown he can be in the league. His body of work over his short career shows that it more than likely is. But he knows he'll be better for it if he can bounce back whenever the new year begins.
"Just because it's not going in doesn't mean you're not playing well," he said of his mindset. "A lot of times it's hard to think like that when things aren't going in for you, but you need to take a step away and assess your game and see how you're actually playing and just keep your confidence up. For me, (I spent) a lot of time wondering why they're not going in and working hard to try and put them in but they wouldn't go. You can still do a lot of things without scoring goals and a lot of good things to help your team win.
"It was definitely a good learning thing to go through for me and hopefully it makes me a better player down the road."