The Boston Bruins enter the new season with high hopes and expectations of a deep run in the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Before the regular season begins, the Bruins face a list of questions they must answer as the season progresses which includes solving Bruins forward Jake DeBrusk’s offensive inconsistencies.
With the departure of longtime Bruins center David Krejci returning home to the Czech Republic, the Bruins must figure out how are they going to supplement the secondary scoring with his absence. If Jake DeBrusk can have a big bounce-back season, it will go a long way in solving some of the questions the Bruins have regarding the secondary scoring.
Jake DeBrusk is going to be the most important part of the Boston Bruins in 2021
Out of all of the free agent signings, the Bruins made this past offseason, the most important Bruin for this upcoming season is going to be Jake DeBrusk. When you reflect on the season he had a year ago, it is understandable why Bruins management, fans, and media grew weary and frustrated with DeBrusk. Some even wondered whether a trade elsewhere would do him some good. The Bruins decided to bring DeBrusk back for another instead of trading him away.
Given that the Bruins decided to bring back DeBrusk, it’s time to lay down some cold hard truths regarding DeBrusk. The Bruins don’t bring DeBrusk back if they do not think he could contribute and become a consistent full-time NHL player.
It was never a question of talent regarding DeBrusk, it was always a question of whether he can produce at a consistent level. The consistency aspect of his game has been the most maddening part of DeBrusk’s inability to become the player the Bruins believe he can become when he was drafted in the 2015 NHL Draft at 14th overall.
We have seen too many times over the course of the last 3 seasons that DeBrusk has gotten either extremely hot with the goal-scoring streaks or has gone ice cold and not produce at all offensively. The Bruins need DeBrusk to solve his own inconsistency woes and produce at a consistent level throughout the entire season.
Considering that the Bruins have concerns regarding secondary scoring and figuring out who is going to take over the second-line center role, they can ill-afford for DeBrusk to not produce offensively on a consistent basis. This is a make-or-break season for Jake DeBrusk with the Boston Bruins. The Bruins are banking on DeBrusk making it work, they need him now more than ever.