Off-season move involving Jake DeBrusk is already hurting the Bruins

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Joshua Deeds
October 21, 2024 (10:44)

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The Boston Bruins have started the season off with a 3-2-1 record, and it hasn't been great, as the Bruins lost to the Utah Hockey Club, 2-1 in OT.

The holes in the lineup have been prominent since former Bruins winger Jake DeBrusk packed up and left for Vancouver.

While Pavel Zacha has taken DeBrusk's spot in the lineup, the top six are missing significant pieces and are arguably a work in progress.

DeBrusk's production has been missed as in 2022-2023 he produced 27 goals and 50 points. While in 2023-2024 scored 19 points, and 40 points in 80 games.

A role that Don Sweeney has failed to fill:

The opening in the top-six is a void left by Jake DeBrusk leaving for the Canucks in free agency and Sweeney currently has $10.21 million remaining in cap space, however, most of that will likely go to Jeremy Swayman whenever his contract gets settled. If Swayman's contract comes in at, let's say, $8 million, that doesn't leave a lot of dough for many more additions. Lindholm and Zadorov are huge additions, but with one glaring need still not addressed, will what has been done be good enough in 2024-25? Time will tell.

The Bruins are already missing DeBrusk in the line despite the decline in production as he was a key piece in the Bruins' post-season runs.

In 2023-2024 he scored 11 points(5 G, 6 A) in 13 games with the Bruins, and with the Bruins top-six struggling to produce, his presence is sorely missed.

DeBrusk has 4 points in 5 games with the Vancouver Canucks as he slots in on the 1st line with Elias Petterson.

While Don Sweeney did make important moves in acquiring Nikita Zadarov, and Elias Lindholm, you can't help but feel that Don Sweeney's reacted too conservatively to losing players like Jake DeBrusk, Danton Heinen, and failing to re-sign James Van Riemsdyk.

He prioritized the bottom six, which you can't argue isn't a bad idea, as they have been producing but the top six is missing scoring talent, as arguably Morgan Geekie and Pavel Zacha are middle-six or top-nine talent in any other organization.

So, how long till we acknowledge the fact that the repairs for the Bruins organization aren't timely, and aren't happening often enough?

The "check engine" light has been on for the past two-seasons, will he respond?