Jake DeBrusk knows this might be the end of his run with Bruins
For better or worse, Bruins winger Jake DeBrusk will always tell you what he’s thinking.
But speaking with reporters for perhaps the last time at this past Sunday’s break-up day ahead of a potential summertime jump into unrestricted free agency, DeBrusk had a lot of thoughts that seemed tough to summarize when it came to an almost decade-long run with the Bruins.
It’s been good, it’s been bad, and something DeBrusk didn’t seem ready to accept as potentially being over.
“I think that’s something that creeps in your mind,” DeBrusk said of Sunday maybe being his last day inside the B’s facility at Warrior Ice Arena. “You know, it sucks. It’s not a good feeling to think about.
“I hate it, to be honest. It sucks. But in saying that, I think that I still have hope that it’ll all work out. And that’s what I want, obviously. But, yeah, if this is my last time in the building, I think I’ll probably decompress that more when I guess that’s finalized on their side. But it’s hard, I guess, when you don’t have a deal up to this point to not think like that.”
For all of the noise that’s often surrounded his name, the 27-year-old DeBrusk has made it clear that Boston is where he wants to be. He’s openly talked about his desire to sign an extension with the Bruins, he’s embraced the expectations that come with being a Bruin, and he admitted that the summertime version of himself would be shocked to find out that he didn’t hammer out an extension with the B’s.
“Yeah, but I understand business is business,” DeBrusk told me when I asked if he was surprised at the lack of talk on an extension between his camp and Bruins general manager Don Sweeney. “You know, I’ve been here for a while. I’ve seen lots of deals get done with guys and things, so I kind of understand, I guess, what their side is and how they usually operate. So it wasn’t necessarily like [I was] completely surprised, but I thought it’d be done.
“I thought that things would all work out earlier, I guess.”
DeBrusk’s tenor and disappointment is not too dissimilar from the feelings that Torey Krug went through in his final contract year with the Bruins. Krug made it clear again and again that he wanted to remain with the Bruins, but the sides didn’t make much of anything that resembled progress when it came to their in-season talks, and Krug ultimately left Boston without an offer from the Bruins.
But if this is indeed a budding repeat of what the B’s did with Krug in 2020, DeBrusk doesn’t see it.
Or doesn’t want to see it, at the very least.
“Yeah, I see a path [to re-signing] here,” DeBrusk offered. “I mean, I think I’ve seen it all year. I want to still have hope. I’ve always loved my time here. There’s a lot of great memories, even from my rookie season to now my seventh year in the playoffs. So lots of good memories and lots of good things that hit you on the emotional side of things.”
Speaking on Sunday, DeBrusk did not have an update on where he stood with management. He also made it clear that he was ready to ‘get away’ with the wounds of a playoff exit still fresh and a stressful year that was limited by a broken hand still weighing on his mind.
DeBrusk has a rough idea of his market value, though he didn’t throw a specific number out there and was quick to say that he’s “not a know-it-all.” Relatively recent contract extensions signed by Brandon Hagel in Tampa Bay and Owen Tippett in Philly could give you an idea as to what DeBrusk could earn on his next deal. It’s also entirely possible that despite a rather tame regular season by his normal standards, DeBrusk may have driven his price up with a postseason that saw him lead the Bruins in both goals (five) and points (11) in 13 games played.
But what’s truly telling here is that despite all the BS, DeBrusk wants to remain a Bruin.
DeBrusk will always be mentioned as part of that botched 2015 first-round for Sweeney. He’s always hated his inclusion in that group, though he would never outright say it, and you understood why he felt that way. DeBrusk, taken with the No. 14 overall pick, is clearly not a bust, and was drafted in his proper slot, with the 12th-most goals and 18th-most points among members of the 2015 NHL Draft class.
He also went through his own set of ups and downs in Boston, headlined by a trade request in 2021 due to issues with then coach Bruce Cassidy, and has ended (maybe?) it on a high, with three strong postseasons after his playoff game cratered due to a 2019 concussion and shattered confidence in 2021.
That’s a skill that DeBrusk thinks sticks out about himself and namely his time with the Bruins.
“I think probably just how I play in the playoffs,” DeBrusk said of what he’s most proud of when it comes to his Bruins tenure. “I think that there’s been some good years, bad years in the playoffs, but I think the one thing I was proud of is I felt like I scored some timely goals for the team.
“I think that’s something that I’ve done since I’ve been younger. I think that there’s some big moments, and I think it’s just how I played in the playoffs. I felt that I gained a lot of confidence. I think I played almost 80 or 90-something [playoff] games, so I had a lot of trial and error in there. But that’s when the chips are down, and I think that I have a pretty good understanding of what it takes.”
Now comes seeing if a timely contract follows.
What we learned about the Bruins during their 2024 playoff run
Swayman can be The Guy™
May 8, 2024; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Boston Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman (1) looks on prior to the game against the Florida Panthers in game two of the second round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Amerant Bank Arena. (Sam Navarro/USA TODAY Sports)
When the talk of Jeremy Swayman and a massive, big-money extension first came about, I said I needed to see more before I was sold on that kind of deal for the 25-year-old. And, boy, did I see it this postseason.
Given the keys to the net — and put in an advantageous spot for the first time in his playoff career, you could argue — Swayman more than delivered, with a postseason-best .933 save percentage in 12 games.
Swayman was also downright lethal in the three elimination games he started, with just four goals allowed in all, and a .955 save percentage over the course of that three-game run. Swayman also allowed two goals or fewer in nine of his 12 outings during this postseason, which was the most since Tuukka Rask did it 16 times in 2019. It also happened 15 times during Rask’s 2013 run, and 16 times for Tim Thomas on his incredible 2011 run. The common theme among those runs is that the Bruins made it to the Finals all three times, whereas Swayman did it nine times despite playing just two rounds. Swayman also finished the postseason with a staggering 13.3 goals saved above expected (per Moneypuck.com), which is almost five goals higher than second-place Igor Shesterkin and his 8.8 GSAE.
“Overall, [Swayman] is a very confident kid,” Bruins winger David Pastrnak told me during Boston’s second-round series. “You know you can see that from day one he came to the locker room. And to be quite honest, that’s what you need from the goalie. He had that healthy cockiness. There’s never a doubt in him.”
“His maturation has been has been amazing and just seeing the growth he’s had his game, and I think the biggest thing with him is his confidence and his belief in himself,” echoed Charlie McAvoy. “It really does rub off on everybody. I have so much confidence playing in front of him.”
In essence, Swayman proved that he can be The Guy for the Bruins in the playoffs.
That wasn’t known before this run, and it was a big reason why people like myself pushed back on the idea of splitting up the goaltending tandem until one of these guys proved capable of carrying the load on their own. Swayman did exactly that this postseason, and it’s certainly put Swayman in line for a massive, massive contract this offseason (eight times eight, anybody?) and paved the way for what feels like a likely split between the Bruins and Linus Ullmark.
Bruins need a center (and badly)
Nov 30, 2023; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Bruins center Pavel Zacha (18) celebrates his goal with center Charlie Coyle (13) and defenseman Charlie McAvoy (73) during the third period against the San Jose Sharks at TD Garden. (Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports)
Let’s make this absolutely, crystal effin’ clear: Charlie Coyle, Pavel Zacha, and Morgan Geekie gave you absolutely everything you could’ve expected out of them this season. It’s not easy replacing Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci, and it turns out that it’s even harder when you’re wrecked by cap overages and stuck in a year-long sentence in cap jail.
But as the playoffs dragged on, it became more and more apparent that the Bruins need another high-end center added to the mix if they’re going to elevate themselves beyond ‘second-round hopeful, third-round challenger’ status.
One could argue that the Bruins were lucky to escape the first-round given the center matchup of Auston Matthews and John Tavares against the Bruins’ group. And potentially getting out of a second-round showdown with Aleksander Barkov and Sam Bennett would’ve been downright miraculous. But when this series shifted into high gear, and Barkov became more and more of a factor in crunch time, it was evident that it was downright impossible.
The Bruins were simply on the wrong end of a key faceoff, offensive-zone carry, or offensive contribution from the center position too many times in their second-round showdown. You actually lost count by the late stages of it, really.
Now, the truth is that the Bruins are unlikely to acquire a center that successfully bridges the gap between whatever they have and the three-zone monster that is Barkov, or the 69-goal scorer that is Matthews. But all true Cup contenders begin down the middle, and it’s a ‘must address’ for the Bruins this offseason.
“I mean, we pride ourselves on being two-way players. That’s what I strive to be. That’s what we’ve had here [with] Bergeron, Krejci, those guys,” Coyle said when asked about a potential addition down the middle this offseason. “That’s what you want: Someone who’s played both ends of the ice, produces, meshes well, and is a good team guy. You can always add in that department and make it better. If that’s the plan, we’ll welcome a guy like that with open arms.”
Notable free-agent centers that may fit that bill include Elias Lindholm, Chandler Stephenson, and Sean Monahan.
Bruins have a keeper on backend
Apr 2, 2024; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Boston Bruins defenseman Mason Lohrei (6) waits for a face off during the second period against the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena. (Christopher Hanewinckel/USA TODAY Sports)
Truth be told, I think the Bruins have a few too many players who almost appear to psych themselves out when it comes to the postseason and the stakes of these games. They get a little too jacked up, they grip the sticks a little too tight, and they make mental mistakes that they don’t make in, say, Games 43 and 67 of the regular season.
One player who was shockingly ready for the moment: Mason Lohrei.
Whether it was taking a chance with a ‘skill’ play in his own zone or in the attacking zone, Lohrei never looked stunned by the moment in front of him. In fact, he seemed to embrace it. He was huge in the games where the Bruins were actually able to break the puck out of their own zone, and similar to Swayman, his swagger rubbed off on teammates.
With the way the game is trending, the Bruins are going to need all the skill they can get. And being 6-foot-4 and having those kind of natural puck skills, and as a defenseman? There’s an awful lot you can do with that. Especially when the confidence to make those plays and take those chances is not only there, but seemingly encouraged.
I’m not sure that I’m ready to say that the Bruins have to carve out a top-four role for Lohrei out of the gate next season (though I would say they should leave that door open for him to grab that spot in training camp), but they should absolutely consider giving him top power-play unit responsibilities in 2024-25.
Needed: More natural goal scoring
Feb 22, 2024; Calgary, Alberta, CAN; Boston Bruins right wing David Pastrnak (88) skates during the first period against the Calgary Flames at Scotiabank Saddledome. (Sergei Belski/USA TODAY Sports)
Similar to the center issues rearing their head at the worst possible time and really as the games and talent levels intensified, Boston’s lack of natural goal-scoring skill was on display throughout the postseason, as teams were able to completely key in on David Pastrnak and by all means force the Bruins’ other scorers to beat them.
That played out to the Bruins scoring just eight goals over their final five games of their second-round series with Florida, and what felt like Pastrnak’s most limited postseason to date, with just four goals and eight points in 13 games played. In fact, if we look at this from a pure points-per-game perspective, this was indeed Pastrnak’s worst postseason, with this year’s 0.62 points per game even worse than his 0.67 points per game in his first postseason (2017).
For what it’s worth, it wasn’t for a lack of trying on the part of No. 88. He was trying to be a one-man breakout, a one-man zone-entry, and even brought a more physical, complete game to the first two games of the Florida series. But it also appeared to grind him down by the end of the series, and sloppiness followed. For as good as Pastrnak is and was for the club this season, the Bruins gotta get some more natural offensive help to force the opponent to adjust and spread out their defensive focuses to both free up their top talent and make it so he doesn’t have to be a one-man band.
This feels like a solid offseason for the Bruins to address that, too, with plenty of scoring available in this year’s free-agent market, and with the Bruins possessing enough cap space to make a potentially big splash.
Shots, shots, and more shots
Apr 6, 2024; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Bruins center Morgna Geekie (39) shoots the puck while Florida Panthers defenseman Gustav Forsling (42) defends during the first period at TD Garden. (Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports)
This postseason turned me into the villain. And by villain, I mean the pure gremlin screaming, “Oh my God! Shoot!” at players with approximately 500 times the skill I’ve ever possessed. Much to the chagrin of blood pressures around New England, the Bruins’ belief that they were not a shot volume team became a maddening theme of this postseason.
It was said by both Jim Montgomery and Don Sweeney, as if they were trying to reinforce it themselves. But that message didn’t really seem to resonate with the players on the Bruins. All throughout the postseason, countless players told me that they felt that the Bruins needed to shoot more and that “any shot is a good shot this time of year.” In fact, only one player spoke to me about the potential pitfalls of ‘just sending a shot on goal’ when in the offensive zone.
If there was any sort of disconnect with the Bruins, as an organization, it seemed to be when it came to the offensive approach that stressed quality over quantity. If only because they were going up against goalies that had shown leaks when it came to quantity, especially in the second round against the Panthers’ Sergei Bobrovsky. Now, first of all, a tip of the cap to Bobrovsky. He got better as the series went along. But his series also came with a split personality disorder.
When it came to high-danger shots, Bobrovsky turned aside 39 of the 45 shots thrown his way (an .867 save percentage, which is actually damn solid when it comes to high-danger looks). But when it came to low- and mid-danger shots, Bobrovsky allowed seven goals on 73 shots (a .904 save percentage). Yes, you read that right: Bobrovsky actually allowed more low and mid-danger goals than he did high-danger goals in six games against the Bruins.
Now, the additional frustration within that is that the Bruins by all means built a team designed to score mucker goals. There’s really no reason to ice a bottom-six featuring Justin Brazeau. James van Riemsdyk, and Pat Maroon if the plan isn’t to send pucks through and hope for rebounds and second and third-chance opportunities. And when Bobrovsky proved to have difficulty handling shots from distance, the Bruins simply didn’t exploit it enough.
Like the players themselves said, there’s no such thing as a bad shot in the spring months. Let’s see if that’s something that the Bruins’ coaches and front-office heads embrace between now and next year’s run.
