Jake DeBrusk is coming off a down season, which is good enough to be a reason for hockey people to sniff around and find the potential of the Boston Bruins trading the young left winger away from Beantown. Of course, there’s also the fact that he’s got one more season on his current contract before it expires. 

The Athletic’s Fluto Shinzawa recently asked about his thoughts on the level of interest the Bruins have in parting ways with DeBrusk via trade this offseason and responded to that inquiry by dropping the names of two teams that seems to have an eye for DeBrusk.

I have heard Edmonton remains interested in DeBrusk. Calgary to a lesser degree. Combine that with the cluster of left-shot forwards and the shortness of cap space, and trading DeBrusk remains a possibility. A No. 2 center would be the ideal return. But they are not in a great spot to trade picks. It would have to be someone of DeBrusk’s profile: an underperforming player with potential to play better elsewhere.

DeBrusk is set to earn $3.675 million in the 2021-22 NHL season, an amount that may be seen as too pricey for someone who scored just five goals and recorded nine assists in 41 games last season for the Bruins. He also only had three points (2 goals, 1 assist) in 10 games in the playoffs. Then again, at just 24, the potential is high on DeBrusk to rebound, especially on a contract year.