December 2, 2021 by Ryan Lotsberg

Elliotte Friedman reported that Boston Bruins’ forward Jake DeBrusk requested a trade on Monday. 

The 25-year-old winger has struggled recently. He’s only been able to muster 20 points in his last 58 games going back to 2020-21, which is disappointing production after scoring 43 and 42 points in his first two NHL seasons.

The DeBrusk to Edmonton rumours will be rampant until he gets his trade because the Oilers need more support scoring, and because of his father’s ties to the Oilers organization. Louie DeBrusk is a former Oiler, and has been an analyst for Oilers games on Sportsnet since 2008.

DeBrusk coming to the Oilers is a romantic idea, but is it feasible and would it make sense for Ken Holland and the Oilers?

Any team would love to add a player like DeBrusk. He’s young, skilled, fast, and tough. He plays left wing, but the Oilers are pretty well stocked at left wing already. Zach Hyman and Warren Foegele can both play right wing, so there’s an option for a player to move over to the right side whether Dave Tippett would want to play DeBrusk in the top-six or the bottom-six.

However, that would impact things at right wing. Foegele, Jesse Puljujarvi, Kailer Yamamoto, or Zack Kassian would have to play on the fourth line. That’s a good problem to have because it means that the team has depth, but that’s not an ideal spot for developing players like Puljujarvi or Yamamoto to be, and it’s not ideal to pay Foegele or Kassian what they make to play on the fourth line.

As good of a player as DeBrusk is, there’s some risk involved with acquiring him. Holland and the Oilers don’t have to look far back to recall another example of a player with the same risks.

Holland traded for then twenty five year old impending RFA left winger Andreas Athanasiou in February 2020. Athanasiou was a year removed from a thirty goal season, but he was struggling in Detroit. He also struggled in Edmonton. He didn’t live up to the expectations, and the Oilers felt that he wasn’t worth the value of his qualifying offer, so they said Athana-see you later to Andreas. The Oilers gave up two second round picks to watch Athanasiou sign a cheaper deal with the LA Kings.

DeBrusk is a pending RFA left winger who is also not matching his previous level of success. His cap hit is $3,675,000, and his qualifying offer is $4.41 million. Which DeBrusk would the Oilers be getting? The one that scored 43 points in 70 games in his rookie season, or the one that only has 20 points in his last 56 games? There’s no way to know before making the deal. That’s the risk.

Is the potential of DeBrusk producing in the top six enticing enough to make Holland risk losing more assets for a player that could disappoint and end up leaving for nothing because of a high qualifying offer? Does DeBrusk have a higher ceiling than Yamamoto? Can DeBrusk produce more than Kassian can right now? Those are all questions that would need to be pondered before trading for DeBrusk.

The Yamamoto versus DeBrusk question is debatable, but we can dive into some numbers to answer the DeBrusk vs Kassian question. DeBrusk has six points in seventeen games (0.35 points-per-game) this season, and Kassian has nine points in sixteen games (0.56 points-per-game). We have to remember that Kassian just had a three point night playing with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. DeBrusk hasn’t had such a luxury in Boston. Kassian had six points in fifteen games (0.4 points per game) prior to last game. That’s still better than DeBrusk, albeit by a slim margin.

We also need to consider the salary cap component of a potential DeBrusk trade. The Oilers’ cap situation is a mess right now because of all of their injuries, however both CapFriendly and PuckPedia say that the Oilers have $1,075,000 in cap space to use. DeBrusk’s cap hit is $3,675,000, so the Oilers would need to trade someone off the roster with a value of at least $2.6 million in order to make the numbers work.

Don’t expect the Bruins to take a combination of guys like Kyle Turris, Derek Ryan, or Brendan Perlini in exchange for their former first rounder. The Bruins are going to want a more useful roster player in return.

Zack Kassian is the most logical player to go the other way. The Oilers would only be taking on $467,500 in extra cap space, and it would allow the Oilers to not have to play a useful winger on the fourth line. The Oilers also can’t afford to give up a defenceman right now, so it would have to be a forward.

Boston would be getting an upgrade over Carson Kuhlman and Curtis Lazar at right wing in their bottom six, and he could moonlight in their top six if the need should arise. He also plays a physical style, which is important to the Bruins franchise. Kassian would give the Bruins a veteran winger that would help them win now, and the fact that Kassian has cost certainty for the next two seasons is valuable in this flat cap environment.

It makes sense for the Bruins, but does it make sense for the Oilers? Given the facts that DeBrusk isn’t producing more than Kassian, Yamamoto is heating up, and DeBrusk’s cap hit and qualifying offers are as high as they are, I wouldn’t do it. He’s not significantly better than any winger in the Oilers’ top nine group right now.

There’s no guarantee that DeBrusk will ever get back to his early levels of production, and there’s no guarantee that he would mesh with McDavid or Draisaitl. I don’t think the potential benefit outweighs the risks in this situation. I wish DeBrusk well, but I wouldn’t pursue a trade for him at this time.