General manager Stan Bowman said the Blackhawks’ biggest issue in their first-round loss to the Predators was they didn’t score goals.
In winger Alex DeBrincat, the Hawks have someone in their pipeline they hope can carry his elite goal scoring from juniors to the NHL.
DeBrincat on Friday won the Red Tilson Trophy as the Ontario Hockey League’s most outstanding player after scoring 65 goals in his third season with the Erie Otters. A second-round draft pick last year, DeBrincat scored 51 goals in each of the previous two seasons.
The main concern is how his diminutive stature (he is 5-foot-7) will translate to the NHL. DeBrincat, 19, said he will continue to block out the skepticism he has heard his whole life about his height.
“If I start doubting myself, I’m not going to play my game, and if I keep believing in myself, I’ll be fine,” he said. “I believe I can play in the NHL pretty soon.”
DeBrincat said he hasn’t had much contact recently with the Hawks but said they told him he needs to improve his strength in the offseason to play in the NHL next season.
“They like the way I’m playing right now,” he said, “but in regards to next year, I don’t think we’ve really gone over that, and I don’t think they really know what they’re going to do with me either. So I need to have a big summer and get stronger and be able to play that pro game.”
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DeBrincat said he also has been fine-tuning his defense in juniors. But if he makes the Hawks next season, they won’t be looking for him to be a defensive force. They would need him to put the puck in the net, something sorely lacking as the Predators swept the Hawks out of the playoffs.
“I always believed in myself, probably more than other people believed in me,” DeBrincat said. “That’s what brought me to where I am today. If I doubted myself, I probably wouldn’t be in this position.”.
Twitter @ChristopherHine
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