Debrusk’s door is open with B’s
Report says trade request is rescinded
Jake Debrusk no longer wants to be traded by the Bruins, according to a report by TSN’S Ryan Rishaug. According to a tweet by the Edmonton-based reporter, DeBrusk’s agent Rick Valette spoke with GM Don Sweeney last week and rescinded Debrusk’s longstanding trade request.
No reason was given for the winger’s change of heart, but it would not be a stretch to connect the dots to the B’s coaching change this offseason after the team let go Bruce Cassidy and hired Jim Montgomery. Cassidy, who has since been hired by the Vegas Golden Knights, had long butted heads with the inconsistent DeBrusk.
Debrusk had issued a trade request last summer after a difficult, Covid-marred season in which he produced just 5- 9-14 totals in 41 games. Valette made the request public after Cassidy made Debrusk a healthy scratch for a game in November after the coach did not like
a backcheck by Debrusk in the B’s loss to the New York Rangers in the traditional Black Friday game.
After that, the two managed to co- exist and Debrusk actually played some of the best, most consistent hockey of his career in the second half of the season. He earned a promotion to play on the
top line with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand, moving over to his off side on the right wing, and he wound up with a 25-17- 42 final line for year. If he could play like that from the start of the season till then end of it, Debrusk could well flirt with 40 goals.
Even as Debrusk’s play flourished and his output started to resemble pre-pandemic levels — he had notched 27 goals in his second NHL season in 2018-19 — the trade request remained in place.
Speculation grew that Sweeney would trade Debrusk as the trade deadline approached, even after the B’s signed Debrusk to a two-year extension worth $4 million a season on deadline day, with the belief that cost certainty on a player who had been approaching restricted free agency would make him a more attractive target for teams. But Sweeney did not see a deal that he liked and decided to hang on to Debrusk.
Debrusk has no trade protection in his new deal and Sweeney could still wheel him if a deal to his liking came across his desk. With the B’s just approximately $2.3 million under the salary cap, it’s a good bet the GM will be looking to move money in order to re-sign Patrice Bergeron and any other help he might want to acquire when free agency opens on July 13.
But if Sweeney wants to bet that the 25-year- old’s Debrusk’s career path is back on the rails, then that $4 million cap hit would represent solid value. And with Brad Marchand expected to be out until around Thanksgiving after surgery on both hips, the B’s will need Debrusk to provide some pop, most likely moving back to the left side.