The Bruins might have gotten over the hump when it comes to their mid-December COVID outbreak, but it appears as though the ongoing Omicron surge isn’t finished with Boston quite yet.
The team announced on Tuesday morning that Jake DeBrusk and three staff members were placed in COVID-19 protocol — with the third-line winger expected to miss at least Tuesday’s home matchup against the New Jersey Devils. Assistant coach Kevin Dean is among the three staff members that are also on the shelf.
It’s another frustrating setback for the Bruins, who were seeing the fruits of rolling out of a complete and healthy lineup over a four-point weekend. DeBrusk, skating on a revamped third line with Charlie Coyle and Nick Foligno — looked energized coming out of the break and was playing with plenty of bite on a north-south, bottom-six unit.
Of course, with these new COVID-19 protocols in place, DeBrusk could very well be back in the fold in a couple of days. While previous restrictions had players subject to a 10-day quarantine (unless they tested out of it), DeBrusk will be looking at a five-day isolation period.
If DeBrusk is cleared from his five-day isolation, the winger must submit a negative PCR test and get approval from a team physician before getting the green light to rejoin the main group.
Losing a guy with scoring pop in that bottom-six unit is a tough hit in the short-term (especially considering DeBrusk was starting to raise his trade stock after a couple of engaged performances), but the B’s do have a contingency plan in place on the Coyle line.
With DeBrusk out, the Bruins will turn to Oskar Steen on the third line — with the 23-year-old winger set to get rewarded with more reps after a couple of encouraging performances up in the NHL ranks.
Even though DeBrusk’s absence does open the door for Steen to slot further up in the lineup, Bruce Cassidy did note that the plan was for Steen to play in Tuesday’s game — regardless of whether or not there was a vacancy in the B’s middle-six grouping.
Steen has looked the part as an effective NHLer whenever reps have come his way, with the Swedish winger recording three assists over his four games up with Boston this season.
Even though his current projection up in the NHL level is that of an everyday bottom-six cog, Steen has showcased plenty of scoring pop throughout his career — be it over in Sweden, down in Providence (10 goals, 20 points in 16 games this year) or during his short stint up with the B’s.
Granted, it’s easy to see why Steen has been able to rack up points over the years, with the 5-foot-9 forward regularly planting himself near Grade-A ice in the offensive zone.
With two bigger bodies to work with in Coyle and Foligno tonight, Steen would be wise to continue to hover around soft areas of the ice — because the opportunity should be there to land some punches against an even more shorthanded Devils team.
"More of the same, he's been good,” Cassidy said of Steen. “Bit of a numbers game in the past, managing the roster, but now that there's a few openings with COVID, it allows him to stay in there and we discussed it anyway after the game. We thought he did a really good job the other night. So it's a decision we'll have to make. I've said it before, when you can push from underneath, it always creates competition and makes your team better.
“And Oskar has been able to do that every time he's been here, and he's come back and got a little more confidence each time. Every game, seems to have a look around the front of the net in those dirty areas. ... We'll see how he does on the third line. I don't think it matters for him a lot. He's at that age where he's just excited to play and contribute. It's a positive, you want to draft and develop and put some younger people in the lineup and push other guys. And hopefully, that's the case."