Jake DeBrusk is one of the hottest players in the NHL, with seven goals in the last five games, and he seems to be enjoying playing with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand over the past week.
Naturally, this newfound success raises the question: Is there any chance DeBrusk is having second thoughts about the trade request he made three months ago?
DeBrusk declined to answer that question last week, which led to the fairly safe assumption that he had not changed his mind. Now his agent has confirmed that.
On TSN’s Insider Trading segment on Tuesday, Pierre LeBrun said he talked to DeBrusk’s agent, Rick Valette, earlier in the day, and Valette confirmed that nothing has changed and DeBrusk still wants to be moved before the March 21 trade deadline.
“What I can tell you, in speaking with Jake DeBrusk’s agent, Rick Valette, on this day is there has not been a change of heart,” LeBrun said. “The trade demand remains in place for Jake DeBrusk to hopefully, in his case, get a trade out of Boston by the March 21 trade deadline.”
LeBrun added another interesting detail, which is that Don Sweeney and the Bruins have allowed Valette to talk to other teams about an extension. One of the major sticking points for potential trade partners to this point has been the $4.41 million qualifying offer that DeBrusk would be due as a restricted free agent this offseason. A pre-negotiated extension would bypass that issue and potentially make it easier to get a trade done.
“Now the other thing that Rick Valette talked about is this: That he has informed teams -- and by the way, he has permission to talk directly to other teams -- that they’re willing to work on an extension to help facilitate a deal, because a lot of teams are concerned about that $4.4 million qualifying offer to retain his rights this summer,” LeBrun said. “Maybe an extension at a cheaper price, and everyone goes home happy. Bottom line is, if he keeps scoring, he’s playing a bigger role right now, might help the Boston Bruins and Don Sweeney get better offers than they’ve had to date.”
None of this means that Sweeney absolutely needs to trade DeBrusk in the next three weeks. While a trade would seemingly be in the best interest of all parties, Sweeney will still want fair value, and right now that likely means an impact NHL roster player or assets that could be used to turn around and go get one. The Bruins can’t afford to just dump DeBrusk given how important he’s been to their offense recently.
Related
