Boston Bruins: 3 keys to success for left wing Jake DeBrusk in 2020-21

3. Jake DeBrusk has to have a better 200-foot game to be successful with the Boston Bruins in 2020-21.

Over his first two seasons, DeBrusk defensively-responsible winger. He had a combined plus/minus (+/-) of +15 and expected goals against (xGA) of 31.6 in each season.

However, something seemed to change in DeBrusk’s game this season. His +/- was just a -1 after being positive in both of his previous seasons and his xGA increased a bit to 31.9.

Furthermore, DeBrusk’s defensive point shares (DPS) went from a 1.7 and 1.4 over his first two seasons to just a 1.2 this season.

Additionally, after blocking 24 shots, having 45 hits, and having 42 takeaways last year, DeBrusk’s blocks, hits, and takeaways all dropped to 15, 35, and 26 respectively.

In fact, DeBrusk has been increasingly less physical each season — going from 70 hits his rookie year, to 45 hits last year, to just 35 hits this year.

I believe if DeBrusk wants to be successful this year he’ll have to be better defensively, in every zone. To do this, he has to be more physical, block more shots, and get into better position to create turnovers. This, in turn, will result in more scoring opportunities for himself and his line as a whole.

2. Jake DeBrusk has to be better at driving the play to be successful with the Boston Bruins in 2020-21.

There’s no question that DeBrusk has the talent to be a top-six forward, however, he needs to use his talent to drive the play and create scoring chances for his teammates.

After having a Corsi-for percentage (CF%) of 54.3 and 55.9 in his first two seasons, DeBrusk’s CF% dropped to just 51.7. Additionally, his Fenwick-for percentage (FF%) went from 54.0 and 56.3 to just 50.3 this season. DeBrusk’s FF% of 50.3 was actually 0.3 worse than the Bruins’ average.

These stats mean that DeBrusk wasn’t controlling play as well as he was the previous two seasons. This often leads to goals against and the inability to score.

Furthermore, DeBrusk’s expected goals for (xGF) dropped significantly from 39.9 and 38.8 in his first two seasons to just 34.3 this season. This is a clear result of his decreased ability to control and drive the play.

So, if DeBrusk wants to have a successful 2020-21 season he needs to better utilize his speed and skill to control and drive the play. This will lead to more scoring opportunities for and less against, resulting in more goals for and less against.

1. Jake DeBrusk has to be consistent to be successful with the Boston Bruins in 2020-21.

DeBrusk’s biggest issue in 2019-20 was the inconsistency in his game. He went from averaging 0.40 goals and 0.62 points per game to just 0.29 goals and 0.54 points.

The main reason for this was DeBrusk’s inconsistent effort game in and game out and his inability to score for multiple games in a row.

2018-19 and 2019-20 started off the same way for DeBrusk, not scoring for the first four games. The main differences for these two seasons were actually how they ended for DeBrusk and how many multi-point games the young winger had.

In 2018-19 DeBrusk had nine multi-point games — four of these were three-point games — and recorded at least a point in six of his last 10 games.

In 2019-20, DeBrusk had just seven multi-point games — in just one of these, he scored more than two points — and recorded just one point throughout his last 14 games of the season — including a 10-game scoring drought.

To put this into perspective, in 2018-19 DeBrusk had multiple scoring droughts that more than one game, but none went more than five games. Including the 10-game scoreless streak, DeBrusk didn’t have any other scoreless streak that went more than four games and only had one of these.

So, the real downfall of DeBrusk’s 2019-20 season wasn’t his inconsistency, it was his consistency at the end of the season of being bad and invisible. In my opinion, this is worse than being inconsistent, as with this he at least has spurts of being good.

All in all, DeBrusk still has to be more consistent in 2020-21 to get back to his 2018-19 form. If he can cut down on scoreless droughts, he won’t have to rely on multi-point games as much and may actually beat his 2018-19 totals.