Blackhawks' Alex DeBrincat gets 3-year, $19.2M deal

Alex DeBrincat has been known as a smaller player with a big game. Now he has a paycheck to match that game.

The Chicago Blackhawks announced Thursday that they have signed the 21-year-old to a three-year extension with an annual average value of $6.4 million. DeBrincat is in the final year of his entry-level contract with an AAV of $894,166.

DeBrincat is coming off a season in which he scored 41 goals and added 35 assists. He became the first Blackhawks player to score 40 or more goals at age 21 or younger since Jeremy Roenick in 1990-91.

During his rookie season in 2017-18, DeBrincat led the Blackhawks in goals with 28.

Despite gaudy offensive numbers in the minors -- during which he skated on the same line with Connor McDavid for a time -- DeBrincat slipped to the second round of the NHL draft because of his 5-foot-7 stature. That size hasn't stopped the Farmington, Michigan, native from becoming one of the top snipers in the NHL.

The Blackhawks open the 2019-20 season Friday in Prague, Czech Republic, against the Flyers.