The Boston Bruins announced that winger Jake DeBrusk will not return to the team’s season opener against the Washington Capitals due to an upper-body injury.
DeBrusk suffered the injury late in the second period when Capitals defenseman Erik Gustafsson cross-checked DeBrusk and appeared to hurt something in his arm or wrist. The severity of the injury is unclear at the moment, but with the game now concluded, we’ll likely see more details from Bruins coach Jim Montgomery in the postgame press conference.
The Bruins started their season strong with a 5-2 win over the Caps, although DeBrusk didn’t contribute to the offense in the game. In 8:30 of ice time, he had three shots, 0.13 expected goals, two hits and a blocked shot. His line with Patrice Bergeron and Taylor Hall found themselves on the negative side of the even strength possession metrics, as the shot attempts were 7-10 and expected goals were just 0.22-0.21 with them on the ice.
DeBrusk was looking to turn a new leaf with the Bruins. After a couple years of trade requests, he rescinded it when the Bruins fired Bruce Cassidy. He performed well in spite of the trade request, as he was one of the beneficiaries of the Bruins splitting up the Perfection Line of Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak, with 25 goals, 17 assists and 42 points in 77 games alongside Bergeron and Marchand.
The injury is another blow to the Bruins top six, one they didn’t need as the season begins. They already find themselves without Marchand to start the season, as he’ll miss the first couple months of the season after offseason surgery to his hip. They did add a bit more depth in the offseason with the return of David Krejci, who played in the Czech Republic last season.
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