When, not if, DeBrusk return is low, it’s on Don Sweeney

News broke late last night that Jake DeBrusk has requested a trade from the Boston Bruins, both his agent and the team confirmed.

It doesn’t come as a huge surprise. DeBrusk has been in trade rumors dating back to last season when the Bruins reportedly were shopping him at the deadline. Nothing happened then and nothing happened in the offseason, so it appeared as though he would be giving it a go with the Bruins this season.

Well things haven’t worked out. He’s bounced around the bottom two lines and most recently, found himself watching the game from the press box as a healthy scratch. It was a day later that the news came out that he had asked for a trade.

The No. 14 pick from the 2015 NHL Draft has just six points this season in 17 games played. He is in the final year of his two-year, $7.35 million contract. The 25-year-old’s trade value couldn’t be any lower than it is right now.

Don Sweeney should have traded Jake DeBrusk earlier for a better return

If the Bruins do pull the trigger on a trade with DeBrusk, don’t hold your breathe on the return.

His value is at an all-time low. You can no longer showcase him to other teams as a young winger that has scoring potential and uses his feet to his advantage. In reality, now he’s a struggling third-liner who is not doing the things asked of him, is a liability on defense and isn’t making up for it offensively.

DeBrusk had some value to him when he was in the lineup. But as soon as he was taken out, that value is gone. Boston is saying they would rather play without him at this point. And you expect to get a good return from a player like that?

This isn’t the first time he’s been scratched either. He watched games up in the press box last season as well, when similar issues were arising in his game. The unhappiness between the two sides isn’t anything new. The Bruins tried to trade him before. Now he definitely wants out. No other GM in their right mind should be giving up good assets for DeBrusk.

And that is on Don Sweeney. This has supposedly been going for months now, where DeBrusk could be traded and he didn’t package together anything. Now? You’re going to be lucky to get a mid-round pick for him.

He’s not a first-round value. I mean, he’s not even a top-six forward value. So what realistically can Sweeney expect? He should have put something together before, when DeBrusk’s value was low, but not through the floor low like we’re seeing it is at the present time.

Only the Bruins are hurting themselves in this case. I would not be shocked to see DeBrusk get traded somewhere else, get a fresh start and thrive. He has shown flashes that the tools are there, but it’s clear Bruce Cassidy’s message to him is falling on deaf ears. It’s just not resonating with the winger anymore and he can use a change of scenery.

The Bruins had a chance to get a good return for him. But they decided to wait. And wait. And wait. And now I don’t see anything satisfactory coming back to Boston.

So whatever expectations you have for Sweeney to get for DeBrusk, lower them. And then maybe lower them some more.