Jets vs. Red Wings Thursday NHL odds, props: Alex DeBrincat, league's leading goalscorer, expected to play despite illness
The Red Wings should have star Alex DeBrincat in the lineup tonight.
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Perhaps the best trade this NHL offseason was pulled off by the Detroit Red Wings when they sent a couple of unremarkable players and a few draft picks to the Ottawa Senators for restricted free agent Alex DeBrincat. He is an early Hart Trophy candidate with a league-leading nine goals. DeBrincat missed practice Wednesday with an illness but is expected to play Thursday vs. the visiting Winnipeg Jets. The Red Wings are +110 on the SportsLine consensus.
Detroit probably would be a slight favorite if it were a slam dunk that DeBrincat were playing, and the team is also without top-six defenseman Jeff Petry. It will be Petry's third straight game missed with an upper-body injury. Playing without Petry on Tuesday, the Wings suffered a crushing 5-4 home overtime loss to Seattle. Detroit scored three times in the third to lead 4-3, only to allowing the tying goal at 18:38 and the winner in OT with only five seconds left. It ended Detroit's five-game winning streak.
Captain Dylan Larkin had a power-play goal and two assists in the loss, becoming the first Detroit player to record a seven-game season-opening point streak since Brian Rafalski in 2008-09. DeBrincat scored a goal and has failed to find the net in just two games. He is +140 for an anytime goal tonight, tied with Winnipeg's Mark Scheifele for the second-shortest odds behind the Jets' Kyle Connor (+125).
A big reason the Wings are 5-1-1 and second in the Atlantic Division is the strength of their power play. They scored three more times with the man advantage on Tuesday and have multiple power-play goals in five of their seven games. Detroit's 41.4% power-play success rate is second in the NHL. DeBrincat has three power-play goals and two assists, but Under 0.5 power-play points is a -280 favorite for him on Thursday.
DraftKings oddsmakers still list DeBrincat as a +1600 long shot to win the Rocket Richard Trophy as the NHL's top goalscorer. Toronto's Auston Matthews, a previous winner, is the +165 favorite and is tied for second in the league with seven goals.
Winnipeg (3-3-0) is currently without coach Rick Bowness, who took a leave of absence after his wife had a seizure on Sunday. She has since been sent home and is resting. The Jets players dedicated their 4-2 win over St. Louis on Tuesday to them. Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck is from Commerce, Mich., a suburb of Detroit, and is 3-2-0 with a 3.38 goals-against average and .881 save percentage this season – not his usual excellent numbers.
The home team is 5-2 in the past seven in the series.
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