If you're dividing the 24 NHL playoff teams into a "hurt by the pause" column and "helped by the pause" column, you'd probably have to put the Bruins under "hurt by the pause."
They had the best record in the NHL at the time of the pause, they were playing well, and they were relatively healthy. None of that means much now. They could now lose their No. 1 seed in the round-robin tournament, there's no guarantee any team is going to play the way it was before the pause, and other teams that weren't as healthy have had four months to get healthy.
The Bruins also lost valuable regular-season time to figure out their lines following the trade deadline acquisitions of Ondrej Kase and Nick Ritchie, a problem that has been further exacerbated by Kase missing all of the Bruins' return to play practices to this point.
All that said, there are a couple Bruins for whom the break may prove to be a good thing, perhaps none moreso than Jake DeBrusk.
The 23-year-old left wing was in quite the slump at the time the season was paused, having registered just one goal and zero assists over the Bruins' final 14 games. Coach Bruce Cassidy tried splitting up him and usual linemate David Krejci in an effort to spark something, but DeBrusk didn't get much going with new center Charlie Coyle either.
Slumps like that aren't exactly a new thing for DeBrusk, who has been a bit of a streaky player throughout his three-year career. In fact, just before he started going cold in February, he was on one of those hot streaks that reminds you of his potential and gets Bruins fans excited, as he had scored seven goals in a 12-game stretch from Jan. 9 to Feb. 8.
Sometimes the best way to break out of a slump is to put your head down, plow forward, and just play through it. But sometimes an opportunity to take a step back, really evaluate your game, and hit the reset button might be the answer.
The Bruins hope that will be the case with DeBrusk, and that's something team president Cam Neely discussed on a Zoom call with the media on Wednesday.
"For Jake, I certainly hope he took this four-month kind of pause to assess his game, be honest with himself with his game," Neely said. "Jake has got all kinds of skill. He certainly has got the skating you want in today's game. It's just the consistency piece that I think Jake needs to work on. If he can find a little more consistency in his game, then he can be one of those players who certainly can break games open for you and help you win hockey games, like he's shown in the past."
One of the times DeBrusk showed that in the past was during the first round of the 2018 playoffs, when he scored five goals in a seven-game series victory over the Maple Leafs, including this memorable go-ahead goal in the third period of Game 7:
It remains the perfect example of what DeBrusk at his best looks like: fast, aggressive, taking on defenders, going hard to the net, willing to take a hit, and finishing.
But in keeping with the theme of inconsistency, DeBrusk has scored five goals total in five playoff series (29 games) since then. Needless to say, this is going to be an important postseason for DeBrusk, and DeBrusk is going to be important for the Bruins.
Especially with so many questions elsewhere on the wing -- both of the "who fits where" variety and of the "who's actually available to play" variety -- the Bruins need DeBrusk to not be a question mark. They need him to step up and play like that 2018 vs. Toronto version, or like the January version.
"I think everybody certainly would love to be known as a playoff player," Neely said, "and Jake has had some great moments in the playoffs, but this particular playoffs will be a good test for Jake to show everybody where he's at and show himself where he's at. I certainly hope that Jake looks at this as a great opportunity for him, because he can make such an impact in the game the way he can play."
To DeBrusk's credit, he says he did in fact use this break to reflect on his game. First he cleared his mind a bit, and then he dove into video to look at what was going wrong.
"Obviously there was a lot of time there. I didn't really necessarily love the way I was heading into this pause," DeBrusk said. "Definitely took time away from it, took some time and hung out with my family. They really kind of helped bring me back to me. Then started watching some video and some things like that. I'm my biggest critic. I'm hard on myself.
"I obviously understand what I can bring. We watch video and stuff throughout the year, but kind of seeing it pretty consistently in different games, good ones and bad ones, it's moreso of a mental state for me I think. I think that's a big part of my game and a big part of when I am consistent, is sort of my mind frame going into certain things no matter what's going on around me, and limiting distractions as well. It's one of those things that as a player it just kind of was good for me to take a step back and look and understand what I can bring to this team and understand the person that I am and just kind of roll with it."
So what is his mindset now that he's back on the ice and a week away from games?
"Just bring my JD vibes and just kind of play my game," he said. "I think that's the best way I can help this team and that's the best way that I can play."
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