Lessons Learned, Jake DeBrusk Ready For Second Development Camp With Bruins
By Matt Kalman, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- When you factor in regular season and playoffs, Bruins 2015 first-round pick Jake DeBrusk played a career-high number of games this season with Swift Current and Red Deer in the Western Hockey League.
So DeBrusk, whose Red Deer Rebels lost in the semifinals of the Memorial Cup last week, is looking forward to some time off. But the left-shooting forward won't wait too long to gear back up and get ready to report to Bruins development camp this summer. The 14th pick from last June's draft wants to avoid the embarrassment he and the Bruins' other first-round picks – Jakub Zboril and Zach Senyshyn – suffered at last summer's development camp when the trio failed the conditioning tests.
"I will be [ready] for the rest of my life," DeBrusk said earlier this week via phone from Red Deer. "That's the one thing that I know us three are really taking into consideration. When all that happened, it was good to have them with us so close, us three especially and other guys throughout the camp are really good at making it comfortable. You kind of go from this media stuff and it can blow up quick.
"It was just a running test, just a fitness test, but I'll tell you I'll never fail it again."
The Bruins will be expecting big things from the 6-foot, 180-pound DeBrusk, who will turn 20 on Oct. 17 and will be eligible to start his pro career with Providence of the American Hockey League this fall. Like most seasons, DeBrusk's 2015-16 campaign had some ups and downs. The biggest dip came when he missed some time earlier in the season because of his first major injury.
"I took a slap shot to one of the sensitive areas. There's no really serious way to say that I guess," DeBrusk explained. "But everything's all good health-wise, nothing bad from the injury. The only thing that really sucks is remembering how much it hurt."
DeBrusk bounced back and finished with 21 goals and 44 assists in 61 games, and he didn't miss a beat when he was traded to Red Deer in December. Although DeBrusk was a little disappointed with his scoring totals, he took the opportunity to grow as a player.
"I understood that sometimes the puck doesn't go in the net and I really worked on my defensive game," he said. "I thought this year I took huge steps to become more of a two-way player and a hard player to play against and you need to do that to make it to the next level. And sometimes when things don't go good you have to adapt, and that's what I'm doing."
The trade to Red Deer meant DeBrusk got the chance to play in the Memorial Cup because the Rebels hosted. Red Deer lost out in the semifinals to QMJHL entrant Rouyn-Noranda Huskies. DeBrusk had one goal and three assists in four games. The loss to the Huskies allowed fellow Bruins prospect, defenseman Jeremy Lauzon, to go on and face eventual-champion London in the final.
DeBrusk liked what he saw from his potential future teammate Lauzon, who also bounced back from serious injury this season.
"It's pretty serious out there. But we're pretty good friends off the ice. I talked to him after the last game there," DeBrusk said. "He's looking good. I was worried about that injury that he had. He had an injury on his neck with a skate. So I was really worried when I heard that. He looks good though. He looked tall, he looked healthy."
DeBrusk will be seeing Lauzon again soon and the Bruins will get another up-close look when the Bruins prospects descend on the Bay State in July. As soon as DeBrusk's short postseason break ends, he'll be turning the page in what the Bruins hope will be a productive career at the next level.
"I think this is me going into a new chapter. And I'm going to have to really push hard, this offseason is going to be huge," DeBrusk said. "I have to have a good offseason and I have to impress. I know every single day that I'm training it's got to be desperate. You got to want to make that jump, it's not going to be an easy jump, and just really go for it. That's all you can do in the offseason and then go from there. Just give it your best shot and try to get better every day and be a sponge."
Matt Kalman covers the Bruins for CBSBoston.com and also contributes to NHL.com and several other media outlets. Follow him on Twitter @TheBruinsBlog.
