Boston Bruins winger Jake DeBrusk had a strong close to the NHL regular season and played well in the team's first-round playoff series defeat to the Carolina Hurricanes.
DeBrusk tallied 12 points (seven goals, five assists) in 15 games in April, and he followed that up with four points (two goals, two assists) in seven games against the Hurricanes. He proved to be a strong fit with Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron on Boston's top line.
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It wasn't too long ago that the 25-year-old forward had requested a trade. The request became public in late November. The Bruins ultimately kept DeBrusk through the trade deadline.
How does DeBrusk feel about staying in Boston?
“I haven’t thought about it, to be honest with you,” DeBrusk told reporters Monday. “It was kind of nice to not think about it there since the deadline. I’ve been spending lots of time with the boys here. It’s been two days. I’ll go back home with my family and kind of go over the year more thoroughly, I guess, and then kind of make my call from there. That’s kind of where I’m at."
DeBrusk signed a two-year contract extension with a $4 million salary cap hit on trade deadline day back on March 21. At the time, it was thought that this extension might make it easier to move DeBrusk. But what if he remains in Boston on that contract?
"Yeah. I don’t think I would’ve signed something like that if I wasn’t OK with that," DeBrusk said. "I think that, obviously, it was crazy circumstances around that time especially. I’m signed for another two years. I was excited to sign that, and I think my game took off after that as well. I think that’s when, like I said earlier, I didn’t have to answer these questions for a while, so it was kind of nice. Sure enough, my game came around."
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The Bruins actually need DeBrusk on the roster. Their lack of scoring depth, particularly on the third and fourth lines, was exposed against the Hurricanes in Round 1. Boston was too dependent on its top two lines carrying most of the scoring burden in big games.
DeBrusk finished with 25 goals in the regular season, which tied Bergeron for the third-most on the team. Guys who score 25 goals are not easy to find. DeBrusk has now reached that mark twice in his career. If he wants to stay, the Bruins absolutely should try to make that work.
They cannot afford to be losing any of their top goal scorers when offensive depth is already a huge concern for this roster.
