Boston Bruins

Jake DeBrusk Returns to Face Bruins Feeling at Home with Canucks

Published

2 weeks ago

November 26, 2024

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AP Photo/Jayne-Kamin-Oncea

BOSTON — Jake DeBrusk has experienced almost everything one possibly could playing hockey in Boston. Except for being part of the visiting team, that is.

DeBrusk will get that chance Tuesday night when he and the Vancouver Canucks play the Boston Bruins at TD Garden in what will be his first game back in the city where his NHL career began.

“I was there since I was 18,” DeBrusk said. “I went through a lot with some of the guys on the team that are still there. It kind of brings back everything. It’s closing the chapter on part of your life. At the same point, you know, it’s also excitement. It’s been an exciting second chapter for me in terms of my career here in Vancouver. I feel like I made the right decision for myself and my future.”

DeBrusk played seven seasons with the Bruins but never quite reached the expectations that many had of him as the 14th overall selection in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft, with inconsistency being a major issue.

In his second year as a pro, DeBrusk set a career-high by scoring 27 goals, only to come back and pot just 19 the year after and five the year after that in a COVID-shortened season.

It also didn’t help matters in 2022 when DeBrusk asked the Bruins to trade him. He later rescinded the request, but by then, his relationship with the organization was already strained.

When his contract expired at the end of last season, the writing was on the wall. DeBrusk entered free agency without ever having much of a serious conversation about returning to the Bruins and eventually signed with the Canucks on a seven-year, $38.5 million deal.

Read More: Jake DeBrusk Has ‘Mutual Interest’ With Bruins Top Rival

“I didn’t want to believe it,” said DeBrusk. “I didn’t know for sure, but I just didn’t think they’d do anything different, which they didn’t. At that point, the decision is you move on. It was tough. It’s tough always after how you have losses. But that one was definitely where I knew inside.”

The peaks and valleys that DeBrusk went through in Boston have so far followed him to Vancouver, with his 13 points and five goals coming in spurts.

After failing to score in the first nine games of the year, he broke out with goals in three straight games. He then went cold for another five-game stretch but recently came up with two goals and three points during the Canucks’ win in Ottawa last Saturday.

“There are certain things that he’s getting used to in our system,” Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet said. “I try to talk to him every day and give him something. You don’t want to overload guys, but when you get a guy who’s a really good hockey player and you hear inconsistent a lot from him, it’s my job to make him consistent. So how do you do that? For me, it’s information. I talk to him a lot and show him video on the bench. That’s something that I’ve tried to do more and more as the season has gone on.”

Danton Heinen knows firsthand what it’s like to play for the Bruins and return as a visitor. He spent four years with the organization before being traded to Anaheim in 2020, but eventually made his way back last year.

Now in Vancouver, Heinen believes DeBrusk will only be motivated more in his first game against the Bruins.

“We’ve talked about it a little bit,” Heinen said. “It’s a little different at first, but you’re not thinking too much about the game until game day. It’s easy to get up for playing your old team.”

DeBrusk’s old Bruins teammates are as excited for his return as he is.

“I loved having him here in the locker room,” Brandon Carlo said. “He was a guy that I came into this league with, so he’s definitely a good friend of mine, and there’s a lot of love there. But on the ice, it’ll be interesting to see him in a different uniform. When it comes to the game, we’re all competitors. It’ll be nice to see him afterward, but hopefully, we can catch a couple of bodies on him. There’s plenty of criteria to chirp him with, so we’ll be giving it to him a little bit.”

The sentiment doesn’t surprise DeBrusk at all.

He’s prepared for it and has been since the moment he left Boston.

“There’s probably a couple of guys that will take some punishment on me for all the times that I was so annoying,” said DeBrusk. “It would be funny to hear a couple of guys chirp me. It would definitely be a weird situation for myself. But in saying that, I get it. They’re doing anything they can to win, and so are we.”