Bruins Made Big Mistake Not Re-Signing Former Star

The Boston Bruins had several roster departures this past off-season, with players like Matt Grzelcyk, James van Riemsdyk, Pat Maroon, Danton Heinen, and Derek Forbort all finding new homes. However, their biggest loss of the summer was Jake DeBrusk, and he is continuing to show that the Bruins made a mistake not bringing him back. 

The Bruins have had immense trouble finding a proper top-six winger replacement for DeBrusk. They opted to use internal players to try to replace him rather than signing a winger in free agency. Players like Morgan Geekie and Justin Brazeau are currently in top-six roles with the Bruins. However, neither player is matching up to DeBrusk's offense, as the 2015 first-round pick is dominating with the Vancouver Canucks. 

In 23 games this season with the Canucks, DeBrusk has 10 goals, 19 points, and a plus-7 rating. DeBrusk's 10 goals are more than any other Bruins player has right now, while David Pastrnak is the only Bruin who has more points than him.

DeBrusk only seems to be getting better as this season rolls on, too. Over his last six games, he has seven goals to go along with nine points. This includes the game-winning goal he scored against the Bruins on Nov. 26. In addition, he had a hat trick and one assist in his last matchup against the Detroit Red Wings on Dec. 1. 

With the Bruins' goal differential at minus-16 this season, it certainly stings to see DeBrusk put up such great numbers in Vancouver. The Bruins will now need to find a real replacement for him, or letting him go will only continue to look like a big mistake from the Original Six club.