Tom Brady’s NFL combine photo lives in infamy and has stuck with the quarterback throughout his legendary career.
While it doesn’t rise up nearly to the level of Brady’s, Boston Bruins forward Jake DeBrusk had his own combine photo resurface while taking part in the “NHL ’23 Awkward or Awesome Cup.”
In the picture, a much younger DeBrusk sports a sleeveless black shirt revealing muscular arms, which ended up drawing a terrific and hilarious response from the now-26-year-old. You can see his reaction at the 2:32 mark in this video.
“Look at those guns,” DeBrusk said. “That’s me at the combine. Just jacked. Think I just got a fresh haircut there.”
The sixth-year pro was flanked by teammates Charlie McAvoy and Matt Grzelcyk, who had a good laugh over seeing the photo. Grzlecyk’s assessment of it matched DeBrusk, though, instead of poking fun at his teammate.
“Oh, boy,” Grzelcyk said. “You look kind of jacked there.”
Who knows, maybe it was DeBrusk’s frame that ended up convincing the Bruins to take the winger with their second of three consecutive picks at No. 14 overall in the 2015 NHL Draft — a draft that has been dissected continuously over the years and not in Boston’s favor.
DeBrusk has been productive this season as the Bruins are off to a league-best 18-3-0 start, including a 12-0-0 mark at home, which set an NHL record Friday. While playing on the top line with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand, who was critical of his own play following practice Saturday, DeBrusk has recorded seven goals and nine assists for 16 points.
Maybe all that time lifting weights has paid off in the long run for DeBrusk.
