Bruins have decision to make on DeBrusk

Jake DeBrusk has had it going on of late, connecting for eight goals and 14 points in 16 games since the Christmas break.

Now, with less than five weeks until the NHL’s March 8 trade deadline, the question is, will the Bruins 27-year-old winger be going . . . somewhere else?

“It’s a business, at the end of the day,” mused DeBrusk Sunday when asked if he had any desire to reach the free agent market July 1. “Hopefully it doesn’t get to that point. That’s kind of where I come from; I don’t even want to have that option . . . hopefully [a contract extension] gets done.”

Nonetheless, the calendar, along with past practices by the Bruins front office, suggest that it’s getting late. Just 33 days to go before the 3 p.m. deadline. The lights above the bar have been turned up slightly, the first sign of last call.

General manager Don Sweeney generally has been proactive in his dealings with veterans on expiring contracts, often signing players to extensions six months or more prior to their deals terming out.

In Brad Marchand’s case, the veteran left winger, then 28, signed an eight-year extension ($6.125 million AAV) in Sept. 2016, a deal that didn’t kick in until 13 months later. Charlie McAvoy signed his huge extension (eight years/$76 million) in Oct. 2021. He was only 23, under contract for that season, and would not have transitioned from RFA to UFA status until this July 1.

Pavel Zacha and Charlie Coyle were five and seven months, respectively, from reaching UFA status when they signed their extensions (average five years/$5 million AAV). David Pastrnak signed his megadeal, the richest in club history (eight years/$90 million) last March, four months before he could have walked.

Despite being one of the industry’s most active GMs at the trade deadline, Sweeney has yet to deal away a significant roster piece, one akin to a top-six forward such as DeBrusk, at the deadline. That’s all the more impressive when considering some of the high-profile names he acquired, including Rick Nash in 2018, Hampus Lindholm in

‘I always have optimism. I feel like it would be pretty depressing if I didn’t have optimism that I’d be here.’

’22, and Tyler Bertuzzi and Dmitry Orlov at last year’s deadline.

So if it is DeBrusk’s time to go, some nine years after the Bruins selected him at No. 14, in the ’15 draft, Sweeney will be breaking from past practice. It’s anybody’s guess, and that would seem to include DeBrusk, what the GM will do. The next contract negotiation Sweeney makes public will be his first.

DeBrusk’s situation could mirror what happened with Torey Krug in the wake of the pandemic-shortened 2019-20 season. Krug, then 29, termed out of his deal that summer and most everyone (hand up here) figured the veteran blue liner would sign a long-term extension with a healthy bump over the $5.25 million he averaged his previous four seasons. Instead, contract talks suddenly went colder than the corner of Portage and Main Streets, and Krug was outta here, signed as a UFA by the Blues for 7 years/ $45.5 million. That annual average of $6.5 million, by the way, is around what DeBrusk might reasonably target as a free agent this July, if he gets there.

Allowing Krug to walk as a free agent, of course, meant the Bruins received no asset in return. For his seven seasons of ac

JAKE DEBRUSK Bruins left wing

tive duty, beginning with the 2013-14 season, Krug produced 335 points, ranking him seventh among defensemen across the league. He also ranked fourth in power-play points (159) among defensemen. It may have been the right decision not to extend Krug, and it was money used the following spring to tie up Lindholm, but Krug in the trade market could have brought back at least, say, a couple of Round 2 draft picks. Highly uncharacteristic of Sweeney to allow assets to disappear.

If the decision has been made not to keep DeBrusk for a figure north of his current $4 million AAV, at least for the next three years, then Krug’s case has to play a part in Sweeney’s thinking. He’ll have to weigh whether keeping DeBrusk around for a Stanley Cup run is worth more than whatever assets he could get in return.

For now, DeBrusk is here, though not at 100 percent. Whatever ails him kept him out of the Jan. 27 game in Philadelphia. Following the club’s 40minute workout Sunday in Brighton, he said he was feeling better and sounded optimistic about his chances of suiting up Tuesday night when the Flames visit the Garden for the start of a seven-game homestand.

DeBrusk also sounded optimistic that he’ll get a deal done here.

“I always have optimism,” he said. “I feel like it would be pretty depressing if I didn’t have optimism that I’d be here. But it’s one of those things that I hope it gets done. I feel like I know where I stand in this lineup, and where I am with the guys in this room, and in the city as well, the highs and lows . . . ”

Meanwhile, March 8 looms. The clock ticks.

“Probably when it gets around that time,” DeBrusk said with a slight smile, “if you ask me again [about a contract] and it doesn’t get done, I’ll probably be a little more nervous.”