DeBrusk Sets the Record Straight on the Canucks

There’s a funny thing about hockey rumours. Sometimes a player says something, everybody latches onto it, and soon the original comment disappears completely. All that’s left is the version of the story that everybody remembers.

That seems to be what happened with Jake DeBrusk and the Vancouver Canucks’ rebuild. And, to be fair, DeBrusk helped create the story himself. Back in March, with the Canucks having a miserable season and the trade deadline approaching, he said a rebuild “is not something I would be OK with or accepting. My game doesn’t fit that.”

DeBrusk wants to help the Canucks become a better team.

DeBrusk had signed a seven-year, $38.5-million contract with Vancouver because he wanted to help the Canucks win. Now the team was falling apart, veterans were being traded, and a rebuild was coming. So it wasn't exactly difficult to connect the dots. And people did.

Pretty soon, the accepted wisdom around DeBrusk was that he wouldn't be happy being part of a rebuild. Then came the trade rumours. Would Vancouver move him? Would DeBrusk want out? Did his contract make him a logical trade candidate?

There was only one problem with that version of the story. DeBrusk says he tried to correct it the next day.

According to his conversation with Sportsnet's Ian McIntyre, DeBrusk said he still believed in the group and that he would sign his Vancouver contract again if he had the opportunity. He now admits that the original comment came during an emotional stretch in the middle of a brutal season and says he wishes he'd thought about it more before answering.

DeBrusk says he’s never asked for a trade.

In fact, DeBrusk is now saying exactly the opposite. He's still excited about being a Canuck. He believes he can help the team win, and he's actually looking forward to helping some of Vancouver's younger players through the rebuild.

That's a pretty important piece of information that somehow got left sitting on the side of the road. And there's a lesson in this for all of us who follow hockey. A rumour doesn't always start with somebody making something up. Sometimes it starts with a real quote. Then somebody interprets it. Somebody else repeats the interpretation. Another person writes about that interpretation. And pretty soon the interpretation becomes the fact.

DeBrusk was part of the original quote. He helped add gasoline to the fire. But he also tried to take some of it back the very next day. The funny part is that nobody seemed to notice. DeBrusk is now trying to set the record straight. He knows he has to play better. But that doesn't mean he's asking out of Vancouver.

For DeBrusk, the rumour isn't quite the story. Sometimes the story is how the rumour got started in the first place.