BOSTON — For myriad reasons, the Boston Bruins have needed to play Jake DeBrusk over the last six games, even though he’s requested a trade.
Now, the Bruins not only need to use him, but also use him in a prominent role.
The B’s will be without Brad Marchand and Craig Smith for the next six games after they were placed in the COVID-19 protocols. During morning skate Tuesday ahead of Boston’s meeting against the Vegas Golden Knights, which Marchand did take part in, it was DeBrusk skating in Smith’s vacated spot on the second line right wing.
Where he’ll go now that Marchand can’t play is unclear, but it is trending toward a spot in the top six being his to lose for the foreseeable future.
“Someone had to go to the right side, right?” Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy said Tuesday morning. “We could put (Karson Kuhlman) back in, but at the end of the day we’ve got a lot of left wingers. We’ve seen Erik Haula play better on the left side than in the middle. Jake has played the right, last year, it’s a chance to move up the lineup a little bit. Playing with Taylor Hall, he’s a guy that he looks up to, so maybe that sparks him as well.”
Secondary scoring has been a point of emphasis for the Bruins, who are a markedly better team when they are getting scoring from players whose sweaters don’t read Marchand, Bergeron or Pastrnak. After Hall, DeBrusk has arguably the highest potential to offer goal-scoring.
“Jake has the ability to finish, we’ve seen that,” Cassidy said. “He had a couple of nice goals on the road trip, power-play goals. If he can translate that into some 5-on-5 numbers, some secondary scoring, that’s what we all want. He wants that, we want that, that helps the team win, so just thought he was probably a good fit to go up there. So, we’ll give it a look.”
The Bruins do have options, even with the two down. Haula, Nick Foligno, and even Kuhlman and Tomas Nosek could play up in the top six in a pinch.
Cassidy never has been afraid to mix things up in-game, so DeBrusk likely won’t get unlimited leash.
“If it doesn’t work, then Foligno has been up there on that line earlier in the year and has had some success with both Coyle and Hall, helping with the net-presence, etc,” Cassidy said. “That’ll be what you run into with Taylor and Jake, that’s a good line off the rush, but can they generate 5-on-5 down low by getting to the net, recovering pucks, playing below the goal line, so that’s something we’ll have to keep an eye on.”
The situation does bring up an interesting case study, though.
Cassidy has always rightfully been a proponent of playing his best 12 forwards, no matter a player’s contract status, experience or other external factors. But DeBrusk has made clear he wants out, which would lend credence to a decision to just healthy scratch him.
For Cassidy, the approach isn’t going to change.
“Going back to even when Jake got scratched, we just didn’t feel his game was where — we had Anton Blidh waiting that played that role and played it well,” Cassidy said. “I think a lot was made out of, ‘Well, it was all on Jake.’ No, it was just we felt the lineup was stronger with Anton in there — I think it was Anton at that time — the way the lines shook out. We’ll always do that, but right now with Jake, there’s an opportunity with Smith out.
“(Smith is) a guy we’re counting on to score, as is Jake, and he pushes across to the other side and hopefully it’ll, like I said, help everybody involved. That’s how I look at the situation, I’ve got to do what’s best for the Boston Bruins. We hope Jake is a part of that, and he has been since his request. He’ll get his opportunity to play, he’s got to give back what we ask and we’ll give him the minutes to play his game. That’s probably the same with any player to be perfectly honest.”
Puck drop for Bruins-Golden Knights is set for 7 p.m. ET, with pregame coverage beginning at 6 on NESN.
