After a very good rookie season and even better sophomore season, Boston Bruins‘ winger Jake DeBrusk has been in a steep regression the last two seasons.
After scoring 16 goals and 43 points through 70 games his rookie season, DeBrusk followed up with 27 goals and 41 points through 68 points in his second season — a 0.61 and 0.62 points per game, respectively.
In his third season, DeBrusk was still decent, scoring 19 goals and 35 points through 65 games — 0.54 points per game. However, he was much more inconsistent than years prior as he would go long stretches of games without scoring a single point. A big part of this was DeBrusk’s inability and reluctance to go to the front of the net — the way he scored most of his goals.
After signing a two-year bridge deal this offseason to stay with the B’s, DeBrusk vowed to get back to his old style of aggressive and physical hockey. However, this just didn’t happen as DeBrusk was invisible and often looked disinterested.
Jake DeBrusk was one of the worst and most disappointing Bruins in 2020-21.
As I mentioned earlier, DeBrusk talked a big game after re-signing with the B’s in November. In his video chat discussing the contract and the upcoming season, he said he was excited for the season and was planning on getting back to what made his first two seasons so successful — physicality and aggression.
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Well, DeBrusk didn’t seem so excited during the season and wasn’t very aggressive or physical.
Head coach Bruce Cassidy tried getting DeBrusk going. DeBrusk was moved up and down the lineup throughout the season. He started on the second line in what was his normal spot on the left of David Krejci. However, with David Pastrnak still out due to offseason hip surgery and other injuries occurring, he got a chance to play on the right of Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron.
Not even this could get DeBrusk going.
DeBrusk also dealt with his own injuries this season. He would spend over a week on injured reserve (IR) in early February and then spend two weeks on the COVID list with the illness.
Overall, DeBrusk was at his best when he just came back from being a healthy scratch, playing on his strong side, or playing on the fourth line.
This season, inconsistency wasn’t DeBrusk’s problem. Being consistently bad was his issue. He finished this season with just five goals and 14 points in 41 games — just 0.34 points per game. He also averaged over a minute less in ice time than the previous two years.
Grade: D-
The Bruins were looking for DeBrusk to have a comeback season in 2020-21. But they got even more of a regression. With how poorly DeBrusk played this year, we might’ve seen him play his last game in the Black and Gold.