Even with missing 17 games because of leg and hand injuries suffered in the Winter Classic, Jake DeBrusk has a career-high 48 points this season. He could still match or surpass his career high of 27 goals, sitting two shy with five games left in the regular season.
Many have pointed to the offseason coaching change from Bruce Cassidy to Jim Montgomery as the reason for not just DeBrusk’s career year, but also for his decision to rescind the trade request that had been open all of last season.
While that change didn’t hurt, the reality is that DeBrusk’s turnaround, both on and off the ice, was already underway before last season ended. After registering just 15 points in his first 43 games last season -- a disappointing rate of production that was on par with his 14 points in 41 games in 2020-21 -- DeBrusk finished the season strong with 18 goals and 27 points over his final 34 games.
Early on during that run, Cassidy moved DeBrusk up to the top line with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand. He has stuck with the two captains and franchise legends pretty much ever since.
Appearing on WEEI’s Skate Podcast, DeBrusk credited Bergeron and Marchand with basically saving his career.
Jake DeBrusk goes 1-on-1 with The Skate Podcast
“Honestly, it takes a lot of things to get out of that,” DeBrusk said of his career low point. “It’s one of those things where, weirdly enough, I think I put myself, my back against the wall, and realized I had to play a certain type of way. I wasn’t necessarily with Marchy and Bergy right away after that… but those guys helped me out a ton. They pretty much redeemed my career and made me find the joy in the game again. Marchy’s pretty hard on me, but it’s one of those things where they push me just to be better. Any time that someone’s trying to help you, it’s dumb not to listen.”
DeBrusk knew there was going to be a negative reaction from fans and media once his trade request went public in Nov. 2021, and getting booed at TD Garden in his first game after that was probably the low point on that front. But as the season went on, he heard and felt more support -- not necessarily on social media, but at least in person.
“After it got public, obviously I knew it was coming -- from media, fans, whatever,” DeBrusk said. “But any time I walk around Boston, it’s always positive stuff. Any time it’s actually in person or I’m going somewhere in the North End, they love us here. Even when that was going on, there was only support, just from random people. It was interesting, you could go on Twitter and see everything you want that’s not good, but then you go outside and go to dinner or something like that and someone recognizes you and says, ‘Good job.’
“It’s kind of weird, at least last year for me, to see both sides of it. Obviously there were some tough times. Getting booed at home was not necessarily a bright spot either. I’ve been booed in Toronto and booed in Boston. But like I said, I was expecting a reaction, and I knew it wasn’t going to be a good one.”
By the time last season came to an end, DeBrusk -- now with a new two-year extension in hand -- was feeling much better about his situation and once again saw a bright future with the Bruins. His strong finish to last season carried into a strong start this season, with DeBrusk putting up 16 goals (including two in the Winter Classic) and 30 points in 36 games prior to his injuries.
While DeBrusk was initially more concerned about the hand injury, he realized as the Winter Classic went on that his leg injury was worse than he first thought. He says the real wakeup call was a shift where he couldn’t keep up with the not-so-fleet-of-foot David Krejci. It turned out to be a broken fibula, and that wound up requiring the longer recovery.
The goal-scoring has slowed down slightly since his return (nine in 23 games), but DeBrusk still has 18 points during that time, putting him right around the same points-per-game pace he was on before the injuries. His line with Bergeron and Marchand has cooled off a little bit recently, but their overall numbers since DeBrusk’s return have been very good. The Bruins have outscored opponents 13-5 in 155 5-on-5 minutes with them on the ice, and they have the best Corsi (57.8%) and expected goals share (57.8%) of any of the team’s lines since Feb. 18.
“I think ever since DeBrusk came back, that line’s been really dominant,” Montgomery said Wednesday. “Not giving up much. Their offense maybe not every game has been good, but every line’s been like that when you’re playing four in six nights. Just the wear and tear, you don’t have legs every night. It’s harder to produce offensively when you’re tired than it is to play defense.”
When asked what DeBrusk brings that makes him a difference-maker on that line, Montgomery summed it up succinctly.
“Tenaciousness, speed, the ability to create turnovers, and the ability to make high-end plays off the rush,” he said.
Last year, Bergeron and Marchand were difference-makers for DeBrusk, helping to turn his career around when it was at its lowest point. Now, as the team prepares for what it hopes will be a long playoff run, DeBrusk is proving to be an asset for those two as well, showing that he can not only keep up with them, but that he can help drive play and give that line a spark.
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