At the start of the season, Bruins' forward Jake DeBrusk faced a lot of questions regarding his reasoning for rescinding the trade request he made early in the 2021-2022 season.
And although he never gave a direct answer as to what changed his mind, it was brought up again on Tuesday at the exit day interviews at Warrior Ice Arena.
DeBrusk said he was happy he wasn't traded and ultimately happy to wear the Spoked-B this season.
"For sure. It was obviously a crazy year ago at this point in time and even before that. I did feel lucky," DeBrusk said. "I felt lucky to be here every day. Even just with the start that we had as a group. With the guys in this locker room, it just felt special, and I tried to take every moment I could of any day that I was here, and I was just really grateful for the opportunity. Obviously, at the same time, it was not the result we wanted, so it stings as well."
The 26-year-old forward had a career year in Boston, potting 27 goals and adding 23 assists for a total of 50 points for the Bruins. And that was after he missed 17 games with injuries he sustained in the Winter Classic win over the Pittsburgh Penguins at Fenway Park.
"That was my goal at the beginning of the year, was to have a year to grow off of the year before," DeBrusk said. "It's hard to kind of think about that right now, but there's lots of good moments in some ways. You take those positives with it. That's kind of what you use to go into the next offseason of training and things like that. It's fresh, so I honestly don’t look at that too much."
While most of the Bruins said it was a little too soon to watch the Stanley Cup playoffs, DeBrusk had a different take.
"I'm from Canada, man. The Oilers are in," DeBrusk said with a laugh. "I don't know. It's probably going to be everywhere… I got my family and my girlfriend there, so I'm kind of in one on that side of things. Of course, you always watch especially the finals. As a competitor, you try to take different things, and also as a fan, I guess. I'll probably get away from hockey for a little bit."
Another reason DeBrusk may not be able to take any time off from watching the playoffs -- his father Louie is the Sportsnet color analyst for the Edmonton Oilers, and like last season, the elder DeBrusk is expected to work the Eastern Conference Finals.
