Boston Bruins: Comfortable Jake DeBrusk and Danton Heinen need a bump

The Boston Bruins have lost another three straight games. Lately, it seems like the Bruins comfortably sit in the playoff spot and don’t feel the urgency to remain highly competitive. Will the Bruins experience a lineup shuffle, maybe involving Jake DeBrusk and Danton Heinen?

Many players on the Boston Bruins roster, currently, seem like passengers. You hear it so often after miserable performances and results. “We have had only passengers on the ice tonight.” Young players like Jake DeBrusk and Danton Heinen obviously need a spark.

The Bruins’ middle-six offense is simply not producing lately. There is no need to hit the panic button yet. The Bruins will, most likely, make the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs. But is that all the Bruins should aim for? Absolutely not.

Just take a look at the New England Patriots, who entered the playoffs in a poor form and how was their fate on Saturday night. If the Bruins want to avoid an embarrassing first-round exit, they need to step on the accelerator. It’s still more than three months until the playoffs begin.

However, there is a lot of work to be done on this team, and the time shortens. Additionally, the Bruins haven’t clinched a playoff spot yet. Not at all. Bruce Cassidy himself identifies the issues. He called out David Krejci‘s connection with Jake DeBrusk. Cassidy sat Danton Heinen last week in Newark against the Devils.

The warning points are there, but the Bruins need more. Heinen has not scored a point in 13 of his last 14 starts. Additionally, his CF% is at 46.8, in contrast to his career average of 52.6. In that matter, Heinen has dropped his even-strength input by more than six percentage points in comparison to his overall prior career.

If we take a closer look at the advanced stats for Jake DeBrusk, it’s the same. His career CF% is 54.3, while this season’s CF% is at 50.6. It’s not horrible, but it has dropped significantly. Heinen´s xGF% is at 46.26 at even-strength, while DeBrusk’s is at 45.98. We would find seven regular forwards better on the roster in that aspect than DeBrusk and Heinen.

The Bruins can find cheap and progressive options down in Providence. The P-Bruins have hit a losing streak recently, but they recovered previously injured Zach Senyshyn and Karson Kuhlman. Both young wingers delivered strong performances for the Bruins prior to their injuries.

The second line with DeBrusk, Krejci, and Kuhlman, with the third line of Anders Bjork, Charlie Coyle, and Senyshyn, looked much better than what we witness nowadays.

Bruce Cassidy has never been petrified of teaching the youngsters a hard lesson. Bringing the players out of their comfort zone has brought Cassidy up to the peek at the Stanley Cup.

Is it all about Heinen and DeBrusk? No, of course not. However, the Bruins cannot afford to scratch centers as Krejci or Coyle, and Bjork has been the most impactful middle-six winger for Boston.

Not creating anything at even-strength, and adding egregious turnovers to help the opposition change the flow of the game, that’s calling for attention from the middle-six offensive lines for the Bruins, in a negative way.