#detroithockey

a) apologies for the hostility, it’s not directed at you, it’s directed at hockey usa -- why in fresh hell do i care about the opinion of one of the guys in charge of selecting the team, like, he and i are clearly not on the same page here? i don’t care if he thinks alex debrincat can’t keep up??? because alex debrincat clearly CAN keep up with the likes of connor mcdavid (who plays the game faster than anyone like, literally anyone) and dylan strome (who settles the pace of a game to precisely his liking) and this year, largely taylor raddysh (who is a power forward in a way that mcdavid and strome aren’t) so it’s.... not an issue of not being able to keep up 

also, not only does he keep up perfectly well, he DRIVES OFFENSE himself. he has benefited from having very talented linemates, but that’s a two-way street. they have also benefited from him. 

(hot take: barring national teams and all-star games, connor mcdavid will literally never again play with a finisher as good as alex debrincat.)

b) ??? literally what do you mean he couldn’t keep up with matthews last year lmfao. he was a dipshit and got suspended for spearing and then once he returned he was like, immediately injured? and okay, fine, he couldn’t keep up while he was injured. wow. sue the kid. 

c) when you say “college” points, what do you mean? because the quality of play from conference to conference is pretty varied. there’s no real way to compare major junior offense w/ college offense, but i assure you that scoring in major juniors is not ~less impressive~ than scoring in college?? the ushl --> ncaa hockey route is on the rise and i am a huge huge huge proponent of that fact, but like... if anything, traditionally major junior players are often seen as more desirable to nhl teams, and for now, many, many more nhl players come out of major juniors than college. 

additionally, the only way playing in the ohl hurt debrincat re: team usa selection is that hockey usa really favors college players. (hockey canada is basically the opposite.) hockey usa is also really fond of their players in the usntdp fold. like, they like keeping a group together, and it’s much harder to break into a usa national team if you didn’t do the usntdp route. (which alex didn’t, because they thought he was too small. *upside down smile emoji*)

d) why do you think he can’t keep up with guys older than him when his entire junior career has been defined by keeping up with guys older and bigger than him oh my god? also it’s a moot point for world juniors because last time i checked, that shit is u20, so... literally everyone there is 16-20 years old, which is conveniently also the age bracket that plays in juniors. 

e) one thing that genuinely drives me crazy about hockey usa is the way they fill national rosters by filling roles. look at how canada tends to just take the best forwards, regardless of ~role~ or position. their world cup team had like?? two natural wingers? everyone else was a center? 

hockey usa is like, “okay, we need two grinding types, two power centers, one offensively creative dynamo, a guy that’s literally only here because of his forecheck,,,” 

and you know what? there is more or less room on the roster for one undersized chl forward. last year it was debrincat. this year it was bracco. both years they should have taken both. :)))

f) look. i am a person that likes to believe in people. there are so many detractors and naysayers who have been saying that debrincat is not big enough, not fast enough, not good enough for his entire life. and i would much rather be part of the crowd that throws down on the “he can do this and he’s going to do this” side of things. he hasn’t let us down yet, man. he’s scored at an insane clip at every level he’s played. i think he’s going to be a legitimate nhler. 

and hey, i might be wrong. you run that risk, making predictions about people.