I would think so. If teams see what we see, perhaps the 4M/year extension is too pricey for such a streaky player. But, this contract should be a trade asset in the offseason.
I guess I understand being flippant but this is a pretty serious oversimplification. Since Jan 1 he's winning his matchups even without those two. His numbers with them are awesome, but they are solid without them given the deployment. The GF% is poor but given the chance data and hilariously low On-ice SV% and PDO, thats mostly bad luck. Jake is pretty much who he was before last season but people can't seem to get over their feelings about him for some reason. He's a decent player worthy of that contract, its just weird that he signed it while reiterating that he wants to be traded.
And you can’t get over any criticism of his play, which I’m not doing. I’m taking more issue with the Tweet’s characterization with “All of a sudden DeBrusk found Jesus and turned it on!” He got put on a line with Bergeron and Marchand, which may be the hockey equivalent of finding Jesus. Maybe the resurgence started a little before. But that’s a pretty large context to not breeze by. Your driving play metrics are going to look better when you’re put on one of the most elite driving play lines in hockey. He’s also looked better as of late, so there’s that.
Your first sentence is a ridiculous ad hominem. do better.
I agree. As there doesn't seem to any off-ice/lockerroom issues, there was no reason to move him if all it did was open a new hole in the lineup.
Yeah, I think it surpassed the goalie plan.
While there's undoubtedly a "playing with 37 & 63" effect, that also jibes with what many (me) criticised him for: letting the rest of his game slip if the puck wasn't going in the net. His own effort is certainly a big part of his turnaround, but when playing with 63 & 37, a talented player should score a few goals. So even if Jake's the same player with the same "issue," the "issue" has been dealt with by putting him in a position to score. That, in turn, causes him to up the rest of his game.
Of course. But I think the point (arguable as it is, I know) still stands. He doesn't have to be on the ice with them 100% of the time he's on the ice. Only that playing regularly on their line has increased his scoring, which has increased his attention to the other aspects of his game that were flagging. My guess, and it's only that, from the comfort of my desk chair, is that if he's moved to play with Nosek and Foligno, for example, not only will his scoring drop off, but he'll go back to old habits w/r/t the rest of his game. Maybe there's been a structural change, and he'd actualy be a forechecking and puck retrieving demon, even if his linemates have stone hands. At the end, none of it matters. He playing with Bergeron and Marchand AND he's playing his ass off. It is unquestionably a great and unexpected development, regardless of why it's working.
I'm not so sure that the bolded part is as obvious as one might think. I feel like through the last 8-10 years, the Bruins have frequently tried to find another lineman for 63-37, in large part of give more scoring depth to the lineup when Krecji needed a winger who could score (i.e. Pasta). But finding that third winger has often come up empty.
Yeah, I hadn’t intended to imply that the veterans were a monolith or anything, but I wasn’t particularly particular.
It's fair to speculate or guess about any of it really. The Bruins locker room has long been lauded for its cohesiveness and generally positive culture. Clearly some odd things have been at play the last 18 -24 months that are outside of what we've grown to expect over the past 15 years. Who knows what its really like in there these days or how much any of this means to any of them in one direction or another. I guess we'll see what the mood feels like in October.Yeah, I hadn’t intended to imply that the veterans were a monolith or anything, but I wasn’t particularly particular.
Shinzawa had some rumblings about how Pasta was pissed at the firing and now wouldn’t sign, Bergeron seemed really reticent about giving Cassidy an “Attaboy” on his way out the door, and Marchand does have a well-documented personal connection with Cassidy, but agreed that it‘s tough to read tea leaves and unlikely to be uniform in any event.
These guys are pros. I imagine they’ll act accordingly.
I was on the cusp of a mea culpa about this one when I got suddenly superstitious. So far, so, so wrong. And frickin delighted to be so. Thank you for lifting me off that petard I done hoisted myself on. May I continue to eat this tastiest plate of crow.
