The end of the JDB Era.
This one seemed like a forgone conclusion, but it’s now official: Jake DeBrusk will not return to the Bruins.
Instead, the winger will take his services out west, where he’ll ply his trade with the Vancouver Canucks:
Vancouver Canucks General Manager Patrik Allvin announced today that the club has agreed to terms with forward Jake DeBrusk on a 7-year contract with a $5.5M AAV.
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) July 1, 2024
That’s a pretty reasonable salary for DeBrusk, though the seven-year term jumped out at me.
This has been coming since GM Don Sweeney essentially said at season’s end that they had made their best offer and that was that.
Thus ends the JDB Era, an up-and-down run that featured a trade request, some big goals, and some lulls.
The B’s drafted DeBrusk 14th overall in 2015, and he’d end up being their only salvageable piece from that botched draft.
He scored 138 goals over the course of 465 regular season games with the B’s.
He added another 27 goals in 86 playoff games.
Given the salary he commanded, the Bruins appear to think they can get similar offensive production elsewhere.
I guess we’ll see!
DeBrusk will be joined in Vancouver by fellow former Bruins Derek Forbort and British Columbia native Danton Heinen, who both also signed with the Canucks.