For better or worse, Bruins winger Jake DeBrusk will always tell you what he’s thinking.

But speaking with reporters for perhaps the last time at this past Sunday’s break-up day ahead of a potential summertime jump into unrestricted free agency, DeBrusk had a lot of thoughts that seemed tough to summarize when it came to an almost decade-long run with the Bruins.

It’s been good, it’s been bad, and something DeBrusk didn’t seem ready to accept as potentially being over.

“I think that’s something that creeps in your mind,” DeBrusk said of Sunday maybe being his last day inside the B’s facility at Warrior Ice Arena. “You know, it sucks. It’s not a good feeling to think about.

“I hate it, to be honest. It sucks. But in saying that, I think that I still have hope that it’ll all work out. And that’s what I want, obviously. But, yeah, if this is my last time in the building, I think I’ll probably decompress that more when I guess that’s finalized on their side. But it’s hard, I guess, when you don’t have a deal up to this point to not think like that.”

For all of the noise that’s often surrounded his name, the 27-year-old DeBrusk has made it clear that Boston is where he wants to be. He’s openly talked about his desire to sign an extension with the Bruins, he’s embraced the expectations that come with being a Bruin, and he admitted that the summertime version of himself would be shocked to find out that he didn’t hammer out an extension with the B’s.

“Yeah, but I understand business is business,” DeBrusk told me when I asked if he was surprised at the lack of talk on an extension between his camp and Bruins general manager Don Sweeney. “You know, I’ve been here for a while. I’ve seen lots of deals get done with guys and things, so I kind of understand, I guess, what their side is and how they usually operate. So it wasn’t necessarily like [I was] completely surprised, but I thought it’d be done.

“I thought that things would all work out earlier, I guess.”

DeBrusk’s tenor and disappointment is not too dissimilar from the feelings that Torey Krug went through in his final contract year with the Bruins. Krug made it clear again and again that he wanted to remain with the Bruins, but the sides didn’t make much of anything that resembled progress when it came to their in-season talks, and Krug ultimately left Boston without an offer from the Bruins.

But if this is indeed a budding repeat of what the B’s did with Krug in 2020, DeBrusk doesn’t see it.

Or doesn’t want to see it, at the very least.

“Yeah, I see a path [to re-signing] here,” DeBrusk offered. “I mean, I think I’ve seen it all year. I want to still have hope. I’ve always loved my time here. There’s a lot of great memories, even from my rookie season to now my seventh year in the playoffs. So lots of good memories and lots of good things that hit you on the emotional side of things.”

Speaking on Sunday, DeBrusk did not have an update on where he stood with management. He also made it clear that he was ready to ‘get away’ with the wounds of a playoff exit still fresh and a stressful year that was limited by a broken hand still weighing on his mind.

DeBrusk has a rough idea of his market value, though he didn’t throw a specific number out there and was quick to say that he’s “not a know-it-all.” Relatively recent contract extensions signed by Brandon Hagel in Tampa Bay and Owen Tippett in Philly could give you an idea as to what DeBrusk could earn on his next deal.

It’s also entirely possible that despite a rather tame regular season by his normal standards, DeBrusk may have driven his price up with a postseason that saw him lead the Bruins in both goals (five) and points (11) in 13 games played.

But what’s truly telling here is that despite all the BS, DeBrusk wants to remain a Bruin.

DeBrusk will always be mentioned as part of that botched 2015 first-round for Sweeney. He’s always hated his inclusion in that group, though he would never outright say it, and you understood why he felt that way. DeBrusk, taken with the No. 14 overall pick, is clearly not a bust, and was drafted in his proper slot, with the 12th-most goals and 18th-most points among members of the 2015 NHL Draft class.

He also went through his own set of ups and downs in Boston, headlined by a trade request in 2021 due to issues with then coach Bruce Cassidy, and has ended (maybe?) it on a high, with three strong postseasons after his playoff game cratered due to a 2019 concussion and shattered confidence in 2021.

That’s a skill that DeBrusk thinks sticks out about himself and namely his time with the Bruins.

“I think probably just how I play in the playoffs,” DeBrusk said of what he’s most proud of when it comes to his Bruins tenure. “I think that there’s been some good years, bad years in the playoffs, but I think the one thing I was proud of is I felt like I scored some timely goals for the team.

“I think that’s something that I’ve done since I’ve been younger. I think that there’s some big moments, and I think it’s just how I played in the playoffs. I felt that I gained a lot of confidence. I think I played almost 80 or 90-something [playoff] games, so I had a lot of trial and error in there. But that’s when the chips are down, and I think that I have a pretty good understanding what it takes.”

Now comes seeing if a timely contract follows.

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