Vancouver Canucks forward Jake DeBrusk has responded to comments that were made by his head coach, Rick Tocchet, following Sunday night's loss to the Dallas Stars.
The Vancouver Canucks lost on Sunday night against the Dallas Stars by a score of 4 to 1 and afterwards, Rick Tocchet was critical of a few players including forward Jake DeBrusk.
Tocchet told reporters that no matter who you are, you have to earn your ice time around here, with Jake DeBrusk finishing tied with Jonathan Lekkerimaki for the second-lowest TOI against the Stars, finishing at 12:45.
Jake DeBrusk responds to Rick Tocchet's comments
Yesterday, Jake DeBrusk responded about Rick Tocchet's comments when speaking with reporters and acknowledged that he wasn't doing enough and understands why his coach said what he said.
DeBrusk said that while he may have been pissed off and embarrassed, Rick Tocchet is one of the biggest reasons why he signed with Vancouver as an unrestricted free agent last summer.
'I hate to say that I agree with him because you don't want to admit that,' DeBrusk said according to Sportsnet's Iain MacIntyre. 'But at the same point, he's just calling a spade a spade. You know, I was pretty pissed off, to be honest with you. Pretty embarrassed. But at the same time, I mean, I wasn't doing enough to help the team win. And Toc's an honest guy, an honest coach. He's one of the reasons why I signed here.'
DeBrusk, 28, has come as advertised this season, bringing offense and grit to the Vancouver Canucks' lineup night in, night out.
In 63 games this season, the Edmonton native has 36 points (22 goals, 14 assists), 14 penalty minutes, 84 hits and is a minus-12 while averaging 16:31 of ice time per night.
If the Vancouver Canucks are going to have any success down the stretch here, they're going to need players like Jake DeBrusk to be at the top of their game and hopefully, that slight call-out by Rick Tocchet will set a fire under him to go out and perform.
Source: Sportsnet/Iain MacIntyre
'I wasn't doing enough': Canucks' DeBrusk understands Tocchet's critique
