3 Potential Trade Destinations for Jake DeBrusk

Jake DeBrusk had a tough 2025-26 season. He went public late in the season and admitted that playing on a rebuilding team is not his idea of a good time. A trade has been in the offing ever since, though it's been relatively quiet on that front during the summer. 

But now that hockey season is fast approaching, a DeBrusk trade will be back on the menu for the Vancouver Canucks at some point. However, as noted by Thomas Drance of The Athletic this past week, his trade value is not at its peak. And it's all due to his anemic production at even strength. 

"The Canucks winger was cosmically snake-bitten as a finisher at five-on-five last season. In five-on-five situations, DeBrusk managed three goals on 121 shots on goal, good for a wildly anemic 2.48 shooting percentage.

"This is a player who has been a modestly above-average finisher throughout his career, and has a serious nose for cashing in greasy goals at the net front. 

"DeBrusk’s shooting percentage is going to regress favourably. And that alone will help his trade value significantly."

With that, here are 3 teams that are potential trade destinations for the Canucks forward:

Edmonton Oilers

Yes, DeBrusk has Edmonton roots. He was born there. His father, Louie DeBrusk, played there for six seasons in the '90s, and he now serves as the color analyst on Oilers broadcasts. 

But aside from that, he could be a nice fit as a winger and a netfront option for the Leon Draisaitl line, as noted by Tyson Cole, as the team looks for more scoring in the middle six. 

Ottawa Senators

The Sens have been linked to DeBrusk since early in the offseason. Per David Quadrelli, "By trading away (Brady) Tkachuk, the Senators also lost their net-front presence and in-close finisher on their first power play unit... That, of course, is a role that DeBrusk excels in, as he potted a career-high 19 power play goals last season."

Seattle Kraken

The Kraken need to add goal-scoring. Stop us if you've heard this before. They tried to land a couple of big fish over the past year in Artemi Panarin and Jason Robertson, but were turned down by both. If they set their sights a bit lower, DeBrusk could be a good target for them. The Kraken were apparently a finalist for the winger's services in free agency two years ago before he decided to sign with Vancouver. Would he still be interested? 

He still has five years remaining at a $5.5M AAV. It's pretty good value if he can continue to pop around 20 goals a year. Despite his 5 on 5 struggles, he still finished with 23 markers, and popped 28 in his first year in Vancouver. 

He does have a full no-move clause which reverts to a 15-team no-trade list next season.