Jake DeBrusk addresses his 'haters', vows to prove them wrong.

DeBrusk appears determined to use the hate as motivation.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 2 years ago
Jake DeBrusk addresses his 'haters', vows to prove them wrong.
Eric Canha/CSM/Zuma

Life has sucked for a lot of people over the course of the last year and a half or so and the reality is that, despite the fact that they've still been able to go to work on most days to provide for their families, professional athletes have been no exception. It has no doubt been especially hard for the young, single men in the National Hockey League who have been put into what effectively amounts to forced isolation outside of hockey since the pandemic struck and, following a second round exit for the Boston Bruins in this year's Stanley Cup Playoffs, Bruins forward Jake DeBrusk touched on exactly that during his exit interview.

"Isolation is kind of the cute word everyone likes to use.... it was difficult," said DeBrusk. "I wasn't able to see my family and it was kind of one of those things where it was just hockey all the time and obviously it wasn't that great of a year."

DeBrusk saw a drastic dip in his offensive output for the second straight season so when he says he didn't have a great year he means it. After putting up 27 goals and 15 assists for 42 points in just 68 games two seasons ago, DeBrusk was limited to just 5 goals and 9 assists for 14 points over 41 games this season and was often the target of criticism from fans and pundits on social media. DeBrusk also addressed how the hate, and the haters, impacted his mindset and if anything it sounds like he intends to use that criticism to fuel a return to form come the 2021 - 2022 National Hockey League regular season.

"I need to revamp some stuff obviously," admitted DeBrusk. "There were a lot of factors that went into this year, some things that I can control and couldn't control. I dealt with a lot of negativity as well. It's one of those things that you just have to learn... I'm a big boy and I can handle that. I became a bit of an easy target and my haters had a lot to say this year, but it's one of those things where like I said I just gotta revamp some things."

Fans in Boston are no doubt hoping that DeBrusk can find his game again especially with rumors suggesting that the Bruins were hesitant to trade him this season, afraid he would bounce back and regain his game somewhere else. Those trade rumors have no gone away however so it remains to be seen if DeBrusk's chance to prove himself will come as a member of the Bruins or perhaps with another team next season.

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