Quoting: ChiHawk
Let's look at the past 2 seasons
Fiala = 132 games, 53 goals, 125 points
Cat = 134 games, 73 goals, 134 points
And Cat is the more complete player. The advantage to Cat is he's simply a better, elite, player plus he's still under contract.
If a 9 point difference and 20 goal difference because of playing one of the greatest playmakers of all time is the difference between elite and not elite, then yes.
We could also take in the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons to include Reinhart during his time close to the pandemic close and what he produced in Buffalo.
Debrincat = 122 games, 50 goals, 101 points
Fiala = 114 games, 43 goals, 94 points
Reinhart = 123 games, 47 goals, 90 points
And for argument's sake
Eichel = 89 games, 38 goals, 97 points, who was also traded for after this timeframe, granted a while later because of his injury situation.
If I had to choose between one of the players, yes DeBrincat is the best, but the performance/value difference is not that major, and I'd argue Debrincat had the best players to play with during this timeframe.