BIG SETBACK: Boston Bruins Star Refuses contract extension, Says he wants to leave.

free agent forward hoping to return

 — Jake DeBrusk can still see a path back to re-signing with Boston, but he acknowledged he realized that Sunday might have been his last day at Warrior Arena as a member of the Bruins.

DeBrusk is the most high-profile of the Bruins’ unrestricted free agents. The 27-year-old is coming off of his seventh season in the NHL. Boston’s first-round pick in 2015 had 19 goals and 21 assists and missed just two games despite a broken hand. He had 266 career points in 465 career regular season games.

He led the Bruins with 11 points in the playoffs (five goals, 11 assists). He has 27 goals and 20 assists in 86 career playoff games.

DeBrusk has consistently said he’s hoping to re-sign with Boston which will have cap space available to spend on its roster and reiterated that hope on Sunday.

“I see a path here. I have lots of still have hope,” he said. “If you told me at the beginning of the year, I’d be here without a contract, I probably wouldn’t believe you. At the same time I’ve always loved my time here. There’s a lot of great memories even from my rookie season to now.”

DeBrusk spoke to the media before his exit interview with Boston management. He said he had expected that a contract would have been done already.

“I haven’t actually talked to management today yet so I don’t have any new updates on that side of things, but I think I have a pretty good understanding of what the market is,” he said. “But I understand kind of the range.

The cap going up and everything like that, it obviously will be different.” DeBrusk was trying not to get emotional yet but admitted the reality has hit him.

“Lots of good memories and lots of good things that hit you on the emotional side of things,” he said. “I think that that’s something that creeps into your mind and that sucks. Not a good feeling to think about. I still have hope that it’ll all work out. That’s what I want to do obviously.”

Boston fits into his overall priority in free agency which he said was being someplace where he can contribute to success.

“To win. That’s something that I want,” he said. “That’s the biggest thing. That’s all I want to do now is to win a Stanley Cup. That’s, that’s the priority.”