By Bekki Antonelli -
On March 6, the Minnesota Wild traded Marat Khusnutdinov, Jakub Lauko, and a 2026 sixth-round pick for Boston Bruins forward Justin Brazeau. All three players are young and early in their careers but have potential despite limited performance.
Often, a change of scenery is the key to unlocking better performance. Unfortunately, only the Bruins have immediately benefitted from the deal. Khunutdinov had 2 goals and 5 assists in 57 games for the Wild this season. However, he already has 2 goals for the Bruins in just 5 games, including this beauty:
While Minnesotans may have buyer's remorse seeing Khusnutdinov’s sudden success, it's a testament to how important confidence and team placement can be. Brazeau has 0 points in 6 games for the Wild, but his stats reflect a confidence problem rather than a lack of skill. If Brazeau can dangle Sergei Bobrovsky like this in one of his first NHL games, he already has a seasoned player's confidence and scoring ability. He doesn’t have a future riding pine.
Brazeau has scored 10 goals and 10 assists in his 63 games this season. However, he hasn’t scored in 18 games. He’s in his first NHL season, so 20 points in 45 games is solid, especially on a team fighting to make the playoffs.
During the first half of the season, Boston regularly gave him 20+ shifts, never dropping below 17 per game except in the first 3 games of the season. However, in mid-January, Brazeau’s production and ice time decreased.
The Bruins were on a 6-game losing streak from Dec 31, 2024, to January 9, 2025. During this period, it would have made sense for the Bruins to shift things around to break the losing streak, but Brazeau played consistently throughout it. He scored 2 goals and stayed +1 through the period, even though the Bruins allowed 24 goals against during these 6 games.
Boston broke their losing streak in a 4-3 overtime win on January 11 against the Florida Panthers, in which Brazeau had an assist. Oddly, this was the start of Brazeau’s drop in production and ice time. It’s unclear whether the coaching staff lost confidence in him and reduced his ice time or he lost it in himself and started producing less. Regardless, it becomes a vicious cycle. Less ice time means fewer opportunities and often a drop in self-confidence, which means fewer goals and assists and less ice time.
Coaches lose confidence in players or stop playing them despite their success for various reasons. However, in mid-January, Boston made no major coaching changes, no major players returned from injury, and made no headline trades.
The only notable event around that time was a brawl at the end of Boston’s January 9 game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Brazeau came away with a penalty and a game misconduct, but he served neither because it was at the end of the game. Additionally, the brawl was a result of Emil Lilleberg’s dirty cross-check against Bruins center Mark Kastelic. It was more likely to earn Brazeau a pat on the back than getting him benched and traded.
Ultimately, it’s not clear what started the downward shift for Brazeau.
Unfortunately, Minnesota has not put much faith in Brazeau either. He finally broke 10 minutes of TOI on Saturday after playing as little as 4:10 minutes in a game for the Wild. Still, this recent upward shift is a positive sign. Brazeau has been making the most of his opportunities despite minimal ice time.
Brazeau may not have any points for the Wild, but he has been effective on the ice. He has 47 high-danger shots this season, compared to the 25.8 average for forwards. He has already had at least 2 near-goals for Minnesota, which shows his readiness to jump into action. He kept high pressure on the Los Angeles Kings on Monday night, picked up a loose puck, and nearly scored:
During Minnesota’s game against the New York Rangers last Thursday, he sent a one-timer on net, which Igor Shesterkin saved.
He’s creating and capitalizing on opportunities, and the points will come if Brazeau stays consistent.
Brazeau has also been effective on PK. At 6-foot-6, 227 lbs., he has incredible reach and easily blocks passing and shooting lanes. His penalty kill defensive and offensive zone times are better than average. This season, he has spent 33% of the time in the offensive zone, compared to the 29.6% average. He has also spent 49.6% of the time in the defensive zone, compared to the 56.4% average.
He has 5 blocked shots in 6 games for the Wild, which is well above the 0.5 average per game for a power forward and 0.4 per game for a smaller forward. While in Boston, he averaged 0.45 this season, which is still strong, considering he got considerably less ice time than other forwards.
Brazeau has shown his value but has had a difficult couple of months. Still, he has maintained his strong defensive game and continues to create opportunities for the Wild. While his efforts have not yet resulted in a goal for Minnesota, he’s on track to contribute the way he did earlier this season.
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