In the latest edition of Boston Bruins News & Rumors, the Black and Gold are dealing with injuries going into the All-Star Break and Jake DeBrusk discusses his future in Boston. As Boston heads into the All-Star Break on top of the Atlantic Division, two players and a coach head to Toronto for the weekend, and a Bruins Stanley Cup champion is inducted into an opponent’s Hall of Fame.
Bruins Lose Three Players to Injury
Before the final game for the Bruins All-Star Break, head coach Jim Montgomery announced that Boston would be down three players against the Philadelphia Flyers at the Wells Fargo Center. Jake DeBrusk, Matthew Poitras, and Derek Forbort were ruled out with injuries.
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DeBrusk had been one of the Bruins’ better forwards, with three goals and five points in his last five games, including a shorthanded goal against the Winnipeg Jets on Jan. 22. Poitras has been held pointless in his last five games, but the concerning injury is to Forbort who recently returned to the lineup after suffering a lower-body injury in December against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Patrick Brown was called up from the Providence Bruins in the American Hockey League (AHL) for the Flyers’ game and centered the fourth line between Oskar Steen and Jakub Lauko. In Forbort’s place, Kevin Shattenkirk slotted on the third pair with Parker Wortherspoon. If there was a time in the schedule for injuries to pop up, right before the 10-day break in the schedule is certainly a good time.
DeBrusk Has Unfinished Business in Boston
DeBrusk discussed his upcoming pending free agency after this season and in an interview with Jimmy Murphy from Boston Hockey Now, he discussed his future wearing the Black and Gold and his desire to win a Stanley Cup for the franchise that drafted him.
“Yeah, of course,” said DeBrusk. “That’s what I’ve been consistent with since – I think the first time I was asked was in the summer – but yeah. This is all I know, and I grew up here and have obviously evolved and grown in different ways. It’s one of those things where I want to win here. We were one game away in ’19, and I want to win a Cup here in Boston. So that’s my complete focus.”
The 14th pick of the 2015 Entry Draft is in the final year of a two-year, $8 million contract he signed right before the trade deadline in 2022 that carries an average annual value (AAV) of $4 million. What a new contract with the Bruins would look like remains to be seen as general manager (GM) Don Sweeney will have a lot of potential cap space this upcoming offseason.
Montgomery, Pastrnak, Swayman Heading to Toronto
Following the victory in Philadelphia, the Bruins went their separate ways for their All-Star Break, but three members of the team will be heading to Toronto for the festivities that begin Friday night (Feb. 2) with the skills competition, the All-Star game itself on Saturday (Feb. 3).
David Pastrnak will be heading to his fourth All-Star Game and he will be joined by goaltender Jeremy Swayman for his first trip. Montgomery will also be going for the second consecutive season as a coach. Before the game against the Flyers, the Bruins’ second-year head coach spoke about going to the All-Star Game as a coach.
“I go there, I’m a fan,” Montgomery said. “It’s an incredible experience.”
Former Bruin Mark Recchi Honored Before Flyers Game
Mark Recchi ended his career with the Bruins after spending 10 of his 22 years in the NHL with the Flyers and the 2011 Stanley Cup champion in Boston was inducted into the Flyers Hall of Fame on Jan. 27. In the 2011 postseason, he had five goals and nine assists in 25 games for the Black and Gold, including three goals and four assists in the series against the Vancouver Canucks in the Stanley Cup Final.
Bruins Post All-Star Break Homestand
Following their break, the Bruins will return home for a seven-game homestand and five of the seven games will be against Western Conference teams. The Calgary Flames, Canucks, Seattle Kraken, Los Angeles Kings, and Dallas Stars will come to the TD Garden. Also coming in are the Washington Capitals and Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Bruins won seven of their final eight games to enter the All-Star Break with a lot of momentum and some players looked like they could use the break with the injuries beginning to pile up again, it comes at the perfect time.