Alex DeBrincat Is Missing the Net-But Still Lighting the Lamp for the Red Wings
If you’ve found yourself watching a Red Wings game this season and muttering, “Man, DeBrincat misses the net a lot,” well, you’re not wrong.
Heading into the Olympic break after Detroit’s 4-1 road loss to the Utah Mammoth, Alex DeBrincat leads the entire NHL in missed shots. Through 58 games, the winger has whiffed on the target 106 times.
That’s not a typo. Of the 401 shots he’s taken, 26.4% have missed the mark entirely-66 wide, 27 over the crossbar.
But here’s where things get interesting: despite all those misses, DeBrincat is also leading the Red Wings in goals with 30. So while he’s missing more than a quarter of his attempts, he’s still putting up numbers that matter on the scoreboard.
Let’s break it down further: 203 of DeBrincat’s 401 shots have been on goal-good for a 50.6% on-target rate. Another 92 have been blocked (22.9%).
That might sound like a lot of wasted chances, but the volume tells a bigger story. DeBrincat isn’t hesitating-he’s firing, and when you shoot as much as he does, some misses are part of the package.
And he’s not alone at the top of the missed shots leaderboard. Minnesota’s Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy are right there with him at 106 missed shots.
So are Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov and New Jersey’s Timo Meier. Even Alex Ovechkin-yes, that Ovechkin, the NHL’s all-time regular-season goals leader-is just behind at 104.
So no, DeBrincat isn’t broken. He’s in elite company. And he’s still getting results.
Larkin’s Iron Game
As for those times when DeBrincat doesn’t miss wide or high but instead rings one off the pipe? That’s happened nine times this season. Painful to watch, sure-but it’s not even the most on the team.
That honor belongs to captain Dylan Larkin, who’s hit the post 11 times this year. Only Florida’s Sam Reinhart (13) has more iron-clangers this season, according to data from Dobber Prospects.
Larkin’s also no stranger to the missed shot column. He’s racked up 102 misses of his own, putting Detroit in rare company-one of the few teams with two players who’ve topped the 100-miss mark this season.
But just like DeBrincat, Larkin’s shooting volume is a sign of his central role in the offense. He’s the engine of this Red Wings team, and when he’s firing-even if it’s off the post-you know he’s engaged and driving play.
Bottom Line
Yes, DeBrincat misses a lot of shots. But he also scores a lot of goals. And in today’s NHL, where offensive chances can be hard to come by, having a player who’s confident enough to keep shooting-regardless of the outcome-is a good problem to have.
Detroit’s got two of them in DeBrincat and Larkin. And while the missed shots might make you groan from the couch, the goals they’re producing are a big reason the Red Wings remain competitive heading into the Olympic break.