There were only a handful of Vancouver Canucks who had performed well during the entire 2025-26 season, but no player on the team finished stronger than Jake DeBrusk down the stretch of a lost season.

Riding off a career year in which he hit a personal best 28 goals in his first season as a Canuck, DeBrusk was eager to replicate that as more of a focal point of the offence. And in typical Jake DeBrusk fashion, it was a season of streaks, and more of his production coming on the man advantage. But when looking at the season in its totality, it’s one that he and his teammates are eager to turn the page on and rebuild their stock heading into next season.

The season started more hopeful than 2024-25, as DeBrusk netted his first goal in Game 5 of the season, rather than not lighting the lamp until Game 10 of last season. His opening goal would be a bit of foreshadowing, as it was scored at the net front on the power play.

As is DeBrusk’s game, he was very streaky over the following 16 games. He scored just one goal over the first eight games, but wound up finding the back of the net in six of the latter eight matches. That hot streak coincides with him being paired with Drew O’Connor and Aatu Räty on the third line.

But once they were split up, DeBrusk’s play started to dip, and it became apparent the coaching staff was growing frustrated with something in his game. Despite a decent stretch of three points in seven games post-Quinn Hughes trade, Adam Foote decided to sit the veteran winger in the press box on December 29 against the Seattle Kraken.

To this point of the season, DeBrusk was tied for seventh in team scoring with nine goals and 17 points in 37 games, but led the team with 101 shots on goal. However, just one of his goals and eight of those points came at even strength. He was very reliant on the power play to produce. Thus, Foote made an example out of him in hopes of waking up the rest of the veterans on the team.

The scratching came as a surprise to DeBrusk, but he was self-aware that he was not playing to the standards he sets for himself:

“It’s embarrassing,” DeBrusk said before his scratching. “I mean, anytime you miss a game, it’s, yeah, it’s embarrassing. I’d be wrong if I wasn’t saying I’d be pissed off right now, but I understand. And I need a jolt too, I obviously haven’t been good enough. … I think that’s just the nature of the beast, you know, I think every time someone gets scratched it’s a shock. But I kind of understood the reasons why, and I think that in itself makes you look in the mirror, and now, as I said earlier, it’s just about playing my game when I’m back.”

And it worked. The second game after DeBrusk got back in the lineup, he found himself on the scoresheet for all three of the Canucks’ goals (1G + 2A) in a 4-3 shootout loss to the Kraken, and scored in two of the following three games.

However, the 5v5 struggles continued for DeBrusk. He wouldn’t find his second 5v5 goal until game 51 against the Pittsburgh Penguins on January 25.

Along the way, DeBrusk’s ice time continued to fluctuate. He was moved up and down the lineup, playing on the top line with 17:58 minutes of ice time, and on the fourth line with just 11:25 minutes. To this point, DeBrusk had just 14 goals and 32 points, 12 goals and 16 points coming on the power play, by game 69. But the final 13 games for DeBrusk were clearly his best.

Over those 13 games, DeBrusk scored a whopping nine goals and one assist for 10 points with 44 shots on goal. Those totals had him in a tie for second with Filip Hronek and Elias Pettersson for points, and a three-goal edge on Boeser. One of those nine goals down the stretch sent fans home happy as he buried the overtime winning goal in the final home game of the season.

DeBrusk was incredibly durable on a team that suffered through a copious amount of injuries. Marcus Pettersson, Filip Hronek, and Drew O’Connor were the only three Canucks to play all 82 games, and DeBrusk would have joined that list had he not been a healthy scratch for that one game.

The Edmonton, Alberta, native led the team in shots on goal by 48, and narrowly edged out Boeser for the team lead in goals with 23. His impressive run at the end of the season brought him over the 20-goal mark for the fourth time in the last five years. However, this may have been the most impressive, considering he did so on the second-lowest scoring team in the NHL.

You can say what you want about most of those goals coming on the power play, but his hand-eye and his ability to find the open space around the net front were nearly unmatched when looking at an around-the-league scale. DeBrusk finished in a tie for third (19) with Kirill Kaprizov for the league lead in power play markers this season.

The lack of 5v5 production was undoubtedly upsetting. However, considering DeBrusk spent most of his 5v5 minutes (454) minutes with Elias Pettersson, who lost his ability to drive play this season, could be a contributing factor to the lack of 5v5 production for a winger who relies on a prolific centre to get him the puck in scoring positions.

It may not have been the best season for DeBrusk, but it wasn’t for anybody on the Canucks. Yet, despite all the hurdles of being a healthy scratch, inconsistent deployment, and less than average centre play, DeBrusk still found a way to finish the season strong and evolve into one of the league’s elite net front power play scorers.