In his first season as a member of the Vancouver Canucks , Jake DeBrusk scored a career-high of 28 goals in 82 games played. This total made him the team’s goal scoring leader this season, followed closely by Brock Boeser and Pius Suter (25). While his overall effort was solid, he also faced a few cold streaks during which he produced no points. With a few months to prepare for the 2025–26 season, let’s take a look at some areas where DeBrusk succeeded and some he can improve on.
Deployment Played a Big Role in DeBrusk’s Goals
Historically speaking, this season was on the higher side of DeBrusk’s total shooting percentage, coming in second during his career. 16.47% of the shots he took ended up in the opposing team’s net, as per Natural Stat Trick . His highest rate came in the 2018–19 season, when he scored off of 17.31% of his shots. Interestingly, he had more shots this season (170) than he did in 2018–19 (156). However, his total shots from this season have dipped compared to his past three seasons with the Boston Bruins. He had 185 shots in 2021–22, 191 in 2022–23, and 183 in 2023–24.
“Statistically, yeah, I guess I had my career high in goals,” DeBrusk said during his end of season media availability on Friday. “Obviously, you want to always get more per year. So I guess that one was checked off, but the way I was scoring was pretty much always in front of the net, kind of tip-ins, rebounds. I didn’t really have much rush goals this year. I didn’t have goals that I normally score, that I have in my whole career.”
As put best by the forward himself, DeBrusk’s goal scoring abilities this season were highly dependent on his deployment. Of his 170 shots on the season, 78 of these were taken from within the slot, as per NHL Edge . His shooting percentage in this area was 28.2%. All but six of his goals on the season were scored from here. While shooting from the slot isn’t a new thing for DeBrusk, it’s important to note that he found much more success here this season than he has in the past. In 2023–24, he put 61 shots on goal from this area, but only churned out eight goals. He had 85 shots from the slot in 2022–23, but only produced a 20% shooting rate. As well, his 68 shots from this area in 2021–22 only resulted in 12 goals.
Power Play Production Was a Positive for DeBrusk
One of the reasons why DeBrusk hit a new career high was because of his time on the man-advantage. Of his 28 goals on the season, DeBrusk scored 14 of them on the power play. This number ties him with eight other players for fourth in the entire NHL. He leads his team in this particular stat, with the next highest goal count being nine from Boeser. 55 of his 170 shots tallied this season came on the man-advantage. He placed first on the team in shooting percentage (25.45%) among all players with more than 60 minutes on the power play this season.
In the same vein, DeBrusk placed third on the team in power play points (19). He led the team in high-danger chances-for on the man-advantage with 53, registering a whole 29 more than the next player. He finished fourth on the Canucks in total power play time this season with 209:07 minutes played. For reference, he ended the season with 1365:13 minutes on ice, which is another career high. Despite half of his goals coming from the power play this season, DeBrusk only spent around 15% of his time on ice on the man-advantage. As well, approximately 40% of his points came on the power play. As lethal as DeBrusk has been on the Canucks’ man-advantage, in the 2025–26 season, Vancouver will look for more even-strength consistency in his play.
DeBrusk’s Next Goal Should Be Generating More Rush Chances
One point that sticks out about what DeBrusk said is how he pointed out his own lack of rush chances. As a whole, Vancouver’s leader in rush opportunities was Teddy Blueger , who had 13. DeBrusk had six on the season, tying him with Danton Heinen , Elias Pettersson , and Tyler Myers . While this isn’t bad company to keep, last season, DeBrusk had 19 rush attempts. He had 17 in the season before that, and 10 in 2021–22. The sudden drop-off in these opportunities isn’t necessarily the sign of a struggling player — in fact, if anything, it’s a sign that he’s had to adjust his game in order to fit the team’s system.
“I don’t think my game was where it needed to be coming into the season,” he said. “[It was] different trying to get used to guys, and chemistry and certain things. I think that I could have done a better job of actually playing my game. I think that would help a lot of things.”
DeBrusk’s Goals for the 2025–26 Season Come From This Year’s Experiences
With his first year as a Canuck now in the books, DeBrusk can reflect on the season and set goals for himself in 2025–26.
“I think there’s some good things too,” DeBrusk said on Friday. “I think that this year I learned a lot. You learn lots every year in this league. You think you see it all, and then things happen. But, you know, I think there’s lots of positives to take away. I think there’s a lot more, I have a lot more room to go. So, you know, I’m going to try to keep getting more goals.”
Main Photo: Bob Frid- Imagn Images
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