When the Boston Bruins were eliminated in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs last spring by the Florida Panthers for the second straight season, you knew changes were coming. Some of these changes likely involved some key players in the free agency space.

One of those players was forward Jake DeBrusk, selected 14th overall in the 2015 Entry Draft, who left for the Vancouver Canucks. He signed a seven-year contract worth $38.5 million to join former teammates Danton Heinen and Derek Forbort, who also left via free agency.

DeBrusk and Vancouver will make their only appearance at the TD Garden in 2024-25 on Tuesday night and it will be a homecoming for the lefty, who until July had only Boston at home in the NHL. After being blown out in Game 6 against the Panthers last season, DeBrusk knew this would be the last time he would don the Black and Gold.

Jake DeBrusk reveals when he realized he was done in Boston

After the season-ending loss, DeBrusk said all the right things about his desire to return to the Bruins, but it was highly unlikely. However, you knew this was the last time we would see him wear the Spoked-B. He admitted this to Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald.

‘I didn’t really want to believe it, but that was probably when we lost. I knew at that moment it was over,” DeBrusk said. “I wasn’t sure, but I just thought they wouldn’t do anything different, which they actually didn’t. At that moment with the decision you move on, right? But it was tough. It’s always hard to lose, but that was one that I knew inside.

Considering how his final years in Boston went under former coaches Bruce Cassidy and Jim Montgomery, it wasn’t surprising that he eventually left. He requested a trade through his agent three years ago, but just before the 2022 trade deadline, he agreed to a two-year contract and stayed with the Black and Gold. DeBrusk’s departure in free agency wasn’t a surprise, but he knew it would happen in May and after signing his deal with Vancouver in July.