DeBrusk hopes to re-sign with Bruins, eyes 30-goal mark this season
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A year away from hitting unrestricted free agency next summer, Boston Bruins winger Jake DeBrusk said Tuesday he is hoping to sign an extension to stay with the team.
DeBrusk is currently set to play out the second season of a two-year, $8 million contract signed in 2022.
"I'm hoping to stay [with the Boston Bruins]. It's the only team that I know and the team that I grew up with," DeBrusk said, per NHL.com. "Hopefully it goes in that direction, and we'll see how it goes.
"That's why I have an agent, and I told him I wanted to stay out of this one, and in time, it'll be nice when it all gets done."
The 26-year-old matched his career high with 27 goals last season and posted a career-best 50 points in 64 games with the Bruins, missing time with both upper- and lower-body injuries during the campaign. He's targeting a further breakthrough this season in a contract year.
"Last year when I got injured in the Winter Classic. I was just really starting to come into my game, so it made me a little bit angry because I thought I was going to go on kind of a heater there, which probably would have ended up being 30 or 35 [goals]," DeBrusk said. "But it's easy to say that, and everyone starts at zero and you go from there.
"If I stay healthy, I think I can score 30 this season. I've knocked on the door twice with 27 [goals], and I have 25 in there as well. I think if I stay healthy, that's obviously the goal, to finally get to that 30 mark."
DeBrusk posted four goals and six points in seven playoff games as the Bruins were stunningly eliminated in the first round by the Florida Panthers after a record-setting regular season.
In the months following their postseason exit, the Bruins lost captain Patrice Bergeron and veteran centre David Krejci to retirement, traded veteran wingers Taylor Hall and Nick Foligno, and lost trade deadline additions Tyler Bertuzzi, Garnet Hathaway and Dmitry Orlov to free agency.
The Bruins also lost defenceman Connor Clifton to the Buffalo Sabres in free agency, Tomas Nosek to the New Jersey Devils, and bought out defenceman Mike Reilly after he appeared in just 10 games with the team last season.
Boston's off-season additions were headlined by Kevin Shattenkirk, James van Riemsdyk and the return of winger Milan Lucic, who won the Stanley Cup with the Bruins in 2011.
While many are expecting the Bruins to take a step backwards this season, DeBrusk pointed out that expectations were also low for the team last fall before historic season.
"There are a lot of different expectations, especially with everything that's changed with the centre position," DeBrusk said. "Losing Bergy and Krech, those are pretty big losses.
"In saying that, I think there were a lot of people who didn't think we were going to make the playoffs last season, and so we're back in the same position."
The Bruins will open their regular season on Oct. 11 against the Chicago Blackhawks.