On July 1, Jake DeBrusk, an unrestricted free agent, signed a contract with the Vancouver Canucks, ending his career with the Boston Bruins.
DeBrusk posted a message on social media two days after he made the decision to move from Massachusetts to British Columbia, wishing the Bruins and their supporters farewell.
“Many thanks, many thanks, many thanks! I would like to express my gratitude to everyone I have had the pleasure of meeting and getting to know over the last seven years in the black and gold. Because of my teammates with whom I fought and the supporters who stood by me from the beginning, I will always have a soft spot in my heart for Boston! Having said all of that, I can’t wait to begin this new chapter in my career, move to Vancouver, and don a Canucks jersey! On July 3, DeBrusk posted on his Instagram account, saying, “#itsshowtime #cheers.”
In the 2015 NHL Draft, the Bruins selected DeBrusk with the 14th overall pick. DeBrusk made his Bruins debut after a couple of years of waiting, playing in 465 games while contributing 128 assists and 138 goals for a total of 266 points.
After finishing his contract with the Bruins and becoming an unrestricted free agent ahead of the 2024–25 season, DeBrusk signed with the Canucks on July 1.
The forward, who played in 80 regular-season games in 2024, is coming off a season in which he scored 19 goals and 21 assists for 40 total points. In 13 postseason games, he also scored 11 points (5 goals, 6 assists).
Were the Canucks to back out of free agency?
Jake DeBrusk was certainly not the best player available for free agency on July 1st.
DeBrusk was viewed by most organizations as a “Plan B” option in case they failed to land the top-tier targets, especially with forwards like Steven Stamkos, Elias Lindholm, and Jake Guentzel hitting the open market.
For the Canucks, though, that was not the case. Vancouver knew that landing Guentzel would be difficult, so according to Thomas Drance of The Athletic, they had DeBrusk as their top target to sign in free agency from the beginning.
Drance stated, “The Canucks never made an attempt to trade for Jake Guentzel’s signing rights.” “They have always favored Jake DeBrusk, who is younger and less expensive, to attack their group of six forwards.
“Of course, the Canucks were very secretive about their plans in free agency, to the extent of breaking almost every signing they made themselves. However, after the dust settled on Monday, a number of team sources told The Athletic that one of the reasons Vancouver didn’t try to trade for Guentzel’s rights was that DeBrusk was always their main top-six forward target.”
On July 1, DeBrusk agreed to a seven-year, $38.5 million deal with the Canucks, which included a $5.5 million yearly cap hit. DeBrusk’s contract will keep him under contract until the 2030–31 season, after which he will make his second career entry into unrestricted free agency.
Bruins Country Vancouver native Elias Lindholm
Boston lost DeBrusk, but the Bruins should be thrilled with how they filled the void.
Inking former Canucks center Elias Lindholm to a massive $54.2 million contract over the next seven seasons, with an average annual value of $7.75 million, was the largest deal the Bruins signed during the 2024 offseason.
The only AAV difference greater than Lindholm’s Boston contract is that of new Nashville Predators forward Steven Stamkos, whose $8 million AAV is the second-largest.
Boston completed the Canadian sweep on the first day of free agency by signing defenseman Nikita Zadorov from the Canucks in addition to snatching Lindholm from Vancouver.
Zadorov signed yet another big contract with the Bruins. The blueliner signed a $30 million, six-year contract with a $5 million cap hit each season.
Comparable to the great defenseman Zdeno Chara of the Boston Bruins, Zadorov issued a swift warning to his new followers, asking them to show respect for the one and only person who truly deserves the moniker “Big Z.”
In a July 2 Zoom call, Zadorov stated, “I’m not even close to (Chara’s level) and I want to start with, like, in my past teams, people were calling me ‘Big Z.'” “Please don’t ever refer to me as ‘Big Z’ again.”
Leave a Reply