After walking away in NHL free agency, Jake DeBrusk’s tenure with the Boston Bruins is officially gone.
A former first-round draft pick in 2015, DeBrusk was a vital piece of the Bruins’ lineup for seven years. And yet, DeBrusk’s lasting legacy in Boston will always be highlighted by his notorious trade request during the 2021-22 season while unsatisfied in his job with the Bruins at the time.
“Just with the way the team was shaping up when it came to looking at where I could possibly play in the lineup and things like that and how the [previous] year ended, I got scratched in the playoffs, and I was just thinking about a fresh start for both sides,” said DeBrusk in a recent interview on The Cam & Strick Podcast. “At that point, I made the call to try and get it moving forward. I didn’t think they were taking it seriously, and I thought that, at that time, I was fighting for my career. I thought I could add more than what was happening, and I didn’t see anything changing.”
Jake Debrusk said he requested a trade out of Boston two separate times 👀⬇️
🎧: https://t.co/usZ5iG0XAe
📺: https://t.co/GuP11qYYgV pic.twitter.com/abQGIpVIv5— The Cam & Strick Podcast (@CamandStrick) July 16, 2024
In the interview, DeBrusk said that he discreetly notified the Bruins front management of his wish to be traded during the summer of 2021. But, following a terrible spell in which he scored only three goals through his first 15 games of the regular season, DeBrusk’s request became public knowledge, and he swiftly became public enemy No. 1 in Boston.
“I know I made some enemies,” DeBrusk remarked. “There are different fan groups in Boston. It’s not a pretty thing to do. I just felt desperate in the sense of my own career. I needed a change.”
At that time, the Bruins considered it best to keep DeBrusk off the ice while they searched for a trade. However, a string of injuries to some of the other players on the squad drove him back into the lineup and back into the public limelight.
While he was still a pariah among the Bruins’ crowd, DeBrusk’s status within the dressing room remained status quo. Although he no longer wanted to be in Boston, he felt the only way to improve his situation was to remain a solid contributor to the Bruins.
“When it came out, it was very uncomfortable,” DeBrusk recalled. “It was very uncomfortable at the rink the next day. I talked to the men in the room, and the guys that were there were the primary reasons why I got out of that scenario. They had my back and were with me through it all, and they were all good with me. They realized I was trying to find a better fit for me to have a longer NHL career and a greater chance at something.”
Eventually, DeBrusk canceled his trade request and signed a two-year extension with the Bruins on the same day as the 2022 NHL trade deadline.
The following year, DeBrusk experienced the best individual season of his career, earning 50 points for the Bruins while playing under the newly hired head coach, Jim Montgomery.
“It’s not that I didn’t want things to work out,” said DeBrusk. “Sure enough, things fell back into place again. At that point in life, I wouldn’t have seen this four years later. It taught me a lot about myself. I felt like my back was against the wall continuously, I was walking on eggshells, and to be honest, it helped me grow up extremely fast. It was maybe a little premature, but looking back at it, it brought me to this place today.”
Now with the Vancouver Canucks, DeBrusk will begin the new chapter of his career that he was hoping for. DeBrusk will return to TD Garden for the first time when the Canucks play the Bruins on Nov. 26.
