Loss of DeBrusk being felt as ex-Bruins wing makes return with Canucks

Loss of DeBrusk being felt as ex-Bruins wing makes return with Canucks originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

Jake DeBrusk was a polarizing player in Boston, but he also was an effective goal scorer, and the Bruins are missing that element throughout their lineup over the first quarter of the 2024-25 NHL season.

DeBrusk was part of the infamous 2015 NHL Draft for the Bruins. He was the second of three consecutive first-round picks the B’s made from No. 13 through No. 15. He was the only one of the three to have any sort of career at the NHL level.

The 28-year-old wing spent the first seven seasons of his career with the Bruins before leaving to join the Vancouver Canucks as a free agent back in July. He signed a lucrative seven-year, $38.5 million contract. He’ll make his return to Boston on Tuesday night when the Canucks make their only appearance at TD Garden during the regular season.

“It’s definitely weird being back. I was here for a long time, since I was 18, so it’s pretty much a second home in some ways. It’s nice to be back in this area,” DeBrusk told reporters Monday after Canucks practice at Boston University.

DeBrusk said throughout his last year with the B’s that he wanted to stay. But he admitted Monday that once the Bruins lost to the Florida Panthers in the second round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, he pretty much knew his time in Boston was up.

“I didn’t want to believe it, really, but it was probably when we lost. Probably when it was over. I knew it was over at that point,” DeBrusk said. “I didn’t know for sure, but I just didn’t think they’d do anything different, which they didn’t really. At that point with the decision, you move on, right? But it was tough. It’s tough always with losses but that one was where I knew inside.”

Leaving Boston was difficult for DeBrusk. You build a lot of relationships and create a lot of memories over seven years.

“Oh yeah,” DeBrusk said. “I went through a lot with some of the guys on the team that are still there. It kind of brings back everything. It’s closing a chapter of your life. You try to look at it from the other side, but at the same point, it’s also excitement. It’s been an exciting second chapter for me in terms of my career here in Vancouver.

“I feel like I made the right decision for myself and my future. And the guys here have been great. But it definitely wasn’t a hoorah moment if I’m looking back at it. We have emotions. We’re people.”

DeBrusk’s inconsistency offensively was frustrating at times for Bruins fans. He would often go long stretches without scoring goals, and that has continued in his first season with the Canucks.

DeBrusk didn’t score his first goal with his new team until the 10th game. But in typical DeBrusk fashion, that first goal started a streak of three consecutive games in which he scored. He has five goals in his last 10 games. With DeBrusk, the goals typically come in bunches.

The Bruins are feeling his absence offensively.

They enter Tuesday’s game as the lowest-scoring team in the league at 2.32 goals per game. They also have the second-worst power play (12.8 percent), while ranking 25th in shots per game (27.3) and 28th in 5-on-5 goals (32).

The only players on the Bruins roster with more goals than DeBrusk (five) are David Pastrnak (eight) and Brad Marchand (six). DeBrusk’s 13 points would rank third on the B’s, behind Pastrnak (19) and Marchand (15). The veteran forward also became a better defensive player and a reliable penalty killer during his last couple seasons in Boston. The Bruins’ penalty penalty kill ranks 19th in success rate after finishing as the No. 7 unit last season.

Instead of re-signing DeBrusk, the Bruins decided to use their non-Jeremy Swayman salary cap space to sign top-six center Elias Lindholm and veteran defenseman Nikita Zadorov. It’s still early, but so far those signings have not worked out, although both Lindholm and Zadorov have played better since Joe Sacco took over as Bruins interim head coach after Jim Montgomery’s firing last week.

The decision not to re-sign DeBrusk, especially for the contract the Canucks signed him for, was probably the right decision by the Bruins. When given the choice, it’s almost always better to prioritize a top-six center over a top-six wing, especially when that wing is often inconsistent as a goal scorer.

But the real answer to whether the Bruins should have re-signed DeBrusk will come in the 2025 playoffs, assuming the B’s make it there. DeBrusk’s 11 goals over the Bruins’ last three playoff runs were tied for second on the team during that span, one behind Pastrnak’s 12. Can Lindholm and Zadorov provide more of an impact in all three zones come playoff time? That’s when we’ll really know whether the Bruins made the right decision to move on from DeBrusk.