Jake DeBrusk can skate just like the wind. He shoots the puck fairly nicely, too.
And you’ll be able to add faucet dancing to that ability set.
DeBrusk met reporters on Tuesday at Warrior Ice Arena for the primary time since rescinding his commerce request underneath which he performed all of final season. He by no means totally defined his causes for the request, although it was simple to imagine {that a} huge a part of it was a difficulty with former Bruins’ coach Bruce Cassidy, who had discovered it needed to sit down the younger winger every now and then.
That perception was solely fortified when, after Cassidy was fired, DeBrusk and his agent let GM Don Sweeney know that he now not needed to be traded.
That the change behind the bench had so much to do along with his DeBrusk’s change of coronary heart appeared so apparent that it didn’t should be spelled out, and DeBrusk handed on doing so.
“Hey, it’s been speculated enough, I think,” mentioned a relaxed DeBrusk. “You guys know I see stuff and obviously that’s an easy answer. It’s one of those things that we can talk and talk about and I respect that you guys that it’s your job to ask those types of questions. Obviously it’s one of those things that’s interesting and it’s a hot topic on why I even asked for a trade, but I am just looking forward to this year. I think it was in Montreal (when he signed a two-year extension on trade deadline day) that I was looking forward to not having to answer those questions anymore. It’s one of those things where that’s in the past and this whole summer’s been focused on getting right and getting ready for the season and that’s kind of how I view that question.”
DeBrusk did credit score his teammates for sticking by him regardless of the commerce and never letting the problem be one which poisoned the dressing room.
“At the end of the year I said I’d talk to my family and think things over. I think the biggest thing, honestly, was the support I got from the guys in this room last year,” mentioned DeBrusk. “I think that was one thing where obviously there was a lot of stuff coming my way, for obvious reasons, and the guys in this room really kept it tight and kept it as one. That’s something I’ve always loved about this team. I love the boys, and also the city and everything else. This is what I know, this is what I’m comfortable with. It wasn’t honestly that hard of a decision to make. And I’m also building off last season.”
After his profession appeared to go off the rails through the pandemic-shortened season of 2020-21 when he had simply 5-9-14 totals in 41 video games, DeBrusk acquired off to a decidedly mediocre begin final season. Cassidy known as him out for a half-hearted backcheck after the B’s loss to the Rangers within the annual Black Friday matinee and he was scratched for the subsequent sport. It was after the scratch that his commerce request that was issued the earlier summer season grew to become public.
While it regarded like DeBrusk’s Bruins days have been dwindling, Sweeney selected to not commerce him simply to do away with him. And after managing simply seven targets by February 17, one thing clicked in DeBrusk. It didn’t damage that he was finally moved to proper wing on the Patrice Bergeron-Brad Marchand line. He wound up with 25 targets on the season and his sport was again on monitor, although he wouldn’t rescind the commerce request till after Cassidy was sacked.
Now it appears to be like like he has an enviable spot within the lineup on Bergeron’s proper aspect, whereas it seems his 2015 draft classmate Pavel Zacha will deal with the left aspect whereas Marchand recuperates from hip surgical procedure. While it didn’t appear like he was constructed to play his off wing in his first forays earlier in his profession, he feels good about taking part in on he proper aspect now.
“I didn’t have the best start over there, going back a couple of years now. But I think it gave me confidence to bounce back and find my game again,” mentioned DeBrusk. “That was my goal at the beginning of the year and it wasn’t pretty at times but we got there and obviously playing that position on that line at times when things were rolling, that’s something that gave me a lot of confidence going into the season knowing that it’s there and it’s not gone forever. It makes you want it more and it makes you want to do it consistently every night.”
He’s exchanged just a few texts and spoke with new coach Jim Montgomery within the offseason and expressed a type of nervous pleasure for the contemporary begin that the change represents for him. But he additionally is aware of that the onus is on him now to achieve for his ceiling.
“I’ve got to prove that I can build on that year and build on the second half,” mentioned DeBrusk. “And with the new coach, new regime it’s time to show what I’ve got. It makes you excited again.”
And that needs to be a very good factor for everybody concerned.
Source: www.bostonherald.com