In an article today by Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald, he discusses the pressing matter of a Jake DeBrusk extension with the Boston Bruins. Moving forward, Conroy asserts that if the Bruins cannot extend DeBrusk at a reasonable price, he could be the central piece in a trade bringing in some top-level talent to Boston.
After requesting a trade from the Bruins only two seasons ago, DeBrusk has rebounded nicely in the last several years, scoring 39 goals and 75 points in 111 games over the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons. Even though most teams would gladly accept a player of DeBrusk’s talent, his status as a pending unrestricted free agent this upcoming offseason would make him an odd trade chip for most selling teams. Suppose DeBrusk is not willing to discuss an extension until after the season has concluded; in that case, Boston will be hard-pressed to find a team willing to acquire him, unless the Bruins are comfortable selling him for additional trade assets in a separate deal.
If Boston can extend DeBrusk before the March 8th trade deadline, Conroy points to the new eight-year, $49.6MM extension recently handed to Owen Tippett of the Philadelphia Flyers as a reasonable comparison. Although Tippett does not have a similar track record of success compared to DeBrusk, a contract value of around $52MM-$55MM over eight years seems reasonable for DeBrusk’s talents.
Other snapshots:
- Sticking in Boston, Nick Goss of NBC Sports Boston wrote an article highlighting two of the Bruins’ biggest needs leading into the deadline: a middle-six forward and a physical veteran defenseman. Without a draft pick until the fourth round of the 2024 NHL Draft, it’s going to be incredibly difficult for Boston to procure said talent, so they may have to shop at the bottom-tier options at this year’s deadline. With an incredibly saturated roster, the Bruins may able to pry pending unrestricted free agents Victor Olofsson and Erik Johnson from the Buffalo Sabres by the deadline for a lower price comparatively.
- The NHLPA has extended the deadline for Corey Perry to file for grievance against the Chicago Blackhawks according to Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times. The original deadline was January 27th, a full 60 days after his contract was originally terminated by the Blackhawks on November 28th, 2023. Perry believes that Chicago did not have proper grounds to terminate his previous contract, while Commissioner Gary Bettman does not have any issue with how the situation was handled by the Blackhawks.
Perry claimed that he has taken responsibility for his actions and yet filing or threatening to file a grievance against his former employer in this case proves the opposite.
That really wasn’t his decision. The union must grieve or it sets a precedent. Whether Perry feels the grievance is justified or not, he must play the good soldier & let the grievance protocols take its course. Now, it is possible that he feels the grievance is valid, but I’m pretty sure we’re not going to hear it from him.
He has to pay the paternity suit to Bedard’s mom
Dabum should’ve been trade in the offseason when he actually had some value from a good season now he’s back to his normal garbage another major screw up by Sweeney and Neely
DeBrusk has 14 points in his last 16 games. What “top-level” talent is going to be moved at the trade deadline? There really isn’t anyone that is going to be a significant upgrade over DeBrusk at this point.
He’s a free agent this offseason and plays like trash my hope is they trade him to forget about him because if he’s gone it’s less likely they’ll resign (overpay) him or that he will want to be here