On a team that struggles to generate offence, Jake DeBrusk leads the Vancouver Canucks with 19 goals so far this season. Let’s be honest, it’s a modest total in the grand scheme of the National Hockey League where Leon Draisaitl already has 40 this season. But everything is relative, and DeBrusk’s production rate through the team’s first 55 games puts him on pace for a career-high with 28 and gives him a legitimate shot at 30 if he can get on one of those runs he’s been known to go on.
It’s all in the ballpark of what was expected for the 28-year-old when he signed with the Canucks as their prized free agent acquisition last summer. Goal scorers in this league get paid and DeBrusk was able to cash in with a seven-year deal worth $38.5M on July 1st.
Still, as DeBrusk and his teammates prepare to hit the stretch run of their season on Saturday in Vegas, the Edmonton native took a moment to reflect on his first season so far in Vancouver. And despite holding the team lead in goals – one ahead of Brock Boeser – DeBrusk was only lukewarm on his production to this point.
“I mean, it’s gone somewhat okay, I think,” he said in the hallway outside the Canucks’ locker room at Rogers Arena. “There was a time in the first 10 games of the year I didn’t know if I was going to score 10 all year. But I’m here to win. In terms of myself looking at production, I’m actually not necessarily happy with it really. I’ve had some stretches that haven’t been the best and needed to find ways to generate more plays in general in the offensive zone.”
In 25 fewer games, DeBrusk has matched his goal total from last season in Boston. But that was never the target. Twice in his career, the affable winger has scored 27 goals in a season and on one other occasion reached the 25 goal mark.
Brought in to add speed and scoring to the Canucks forward ranks, DeBrusk has, for the most part, done what was expected of him. A notoriously streaky scorer, he went his first nine games without scoring, but then netted goals in three straight games before going another six without finding the mark. However, starting with a pair of goals in a November 23rd game in Ottawa, DeBrusk caught fire with 11 goals in his next 10 games including a hattrick in Detroit on December 1st. True to form, though, he went 11 games in January without cashing in.
“I’ve played with some pretty good players and I feel like there is more room there to grow,” he said. “It’s a hard league to be content in no matter what your stats are. I said at the beginning of the year, I don’t care what I have as long as we win, that’s why I’m here. In terms of pacing and all that, I don’t really look into that. As a streaky player you just try to keep the hot streaks alive and obviously I’m going to need a couple here with 27 games to go.”
DeBrusk takes his hot and cold goal scoring in stride trying not to get too high when the going is good and working hard to avoid getting down on himself when pucks aren’t bouncing his way.
“I usually see one 50-goal tweet a year,” he said with a laugh of some of the outrageous projections that come with the hot streaks. “You take it to heart, though. You want to be a consistent player obviously. I don’t necessarily think my game drops off that much, I think it’s just more so in terms of production. It is the hardest thing to do in this league is to score goals, but that’s what you get measured by. I think I can generate more – especially five on five. That’s usually where I’ve had most of my success as a pro is five on five, but this year it seems to be more leaning toward the power play, so hopefully that comes around in this last little stretch.”
Of his 19 goals so far, DeBrusk leads the team with eight goals on the power play. He’s also been far more productive on the road than at home with 13 of his goals – including his first 11 as a Canuck – coming away from home.
Now into the home stretch, DeBrusk knows there is work to do to help the Canucks maintain their spot above the playoff bar in the competitive Western Conference.
If he can get the 11 he needs to reach the 30-goal mark for the first time, it will go a long way to helping his hockey club reach its goal of qualifying for the postseason for the second straight season.
DeBrusk made the playoffs in each of his seven seasons in Boston and reached the Stanley Cup Final in the spring of 2019. He’s done some of his best work in the NHL in the post-season and wants the opportunity to prove that again in his first year in Vancouver.
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