Over the summer, Boston Bruins GM Don Sweeney had a lot of money to spend in free agency. He went about by letting most of his free agents from last season walk and bringing in some talent from the outside.
One question was whether or not Sweeney would find ground with 2015 first-round draft pick Jake DeBrusk who had become a key piece of the Black and Gold's top-six. He was valuable in all three areas, even strength, power play, and penalty kill. In the end, DeBrusk walked in free agency to the Vancouver Canucks and so far this season in 23 games, he is proving that move by Sweeney to be a mistake.
Don Sweeney not re-signing Jake DeBrusk looks like a mistake
You had the feeling when Boston was eliminated in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs by the Florida Panthers for a second straight season, it was pretty clear that he was not returning. He was coming off of two good seasons and was a big contributor for the Black and Gold.
Sunday afternoon in Detroit, DeBrusk continued his scoring barrage early in the season with three goals, his first hat trick as a member of the Canucks and he also added an assist. He scored the game-winning goal in overtime. So far this season, he has 10 goals and nine assists with a plus/minus rating of plus-7.
Considering the Bruins' struggles scoring goals this season to date, letting DeBrusk leave in free agency feels like a miss by Sweeney. Of course, it's easy to sit back and look at what has happened and say this, but if you're Sweeney and the Bruins, for all the times DeBrusk was a no-show, he made up for it with energy and scoring around the dirty areas of the ice. Case in point, last Tuesday night he scored the game-winner in the second period on the power play when he was camped out in front of former teammate Jeremy Swayman.