Justin Brazeau Continues To Improve and Will Elevate the Wild

When the Minnesota Wild acquired 27-year-old Justin Brazeau from the Boston Bruins on Thursday night, they got a little better. While it might not be the blockbuster some have hoped for, it should help the team this year.

Brazeau should fit in well on a team looking to improve because all the 6-foot-6, 227-pound forward has done throughout his career is continuously improve.

In his first draft year, Brazeau was a big, slow, unrefined forward on a bad North Bay Battalion team that finished near the bottom of the OHL standings. While the Battalion hadn’t improved much two years later, Brazeau certainly had. The right-shot wing had developed some serious game. The Battalion named him team captain, and he finished second in the league in scoring, behind future Dallas Stars sniper Jason Robertson.

While it’s normal for overaged players to dominate at the junior level, nothing about Brazeau was normal. More often than not, when players reach the threshold of professional hockey, heavyweight forwards tend to settle in as bottom-of-the-lineup players meant to set the tone with physical play. Any scoring they provide is considered a bonus.

But Brazeau had capitalized on soft hands and a long reach to develop into an all-around force with legitimate scoring touch. However, skating was the biggest element lacking in his game. 

Still, the Toronto Maple Leafs saw his production and potential and inked him to an AHL contract. He ended up spending his first professional season in the ECHL with the Newfoundland Growlers, where he finished second on the team in scoring in his age-22 season.   

Brazeau became a full-time AHL player in the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season. However, he struggled with the AHL’s pace, and Toronto didn’t re-sign him, making him a free agent. The Providence Bruins swooped in and signed the hulking winger, and that’s when his professional career began to take off.

Although he started the season with the ECHL’s Maine Mariners, Brazeau went on an absolute tear in the first 18 games. The Providence Bruins called him up, and he never looked back. Brazeau tore up the AHL that season and received multiple contract offers from other AHL teams but chose to stay in the Bruins organization.

Brazeau continued to be a dominant force in the AHL over the next two seasons, putting up big scoring numbers while also dominating physically. Although Brazeau isn’t a fighter, he learned to use his size in professional hockey to become a menace with the puck and on the forecheck. 

Even though speed will never be his strength, he learned to move efficiently around the ice and take good angles to get to spots at the right time. That, combined with the slick hands he had developed in juniors, allowed him to pile up the points and score slick goals in tight.

Last season, the Boston Bruins called Brazeau up to the NHL in early April, and that’s where he’s been ever since.

Fans around the league received their introduction to Brazeau when he returned from injury and entered Boston’s lineup for Game 5 of their series against Toronto. He instantly made an impact with his physical play and capped off an excellent series by putting in a dominant shift that led to an assist on Hampus Lindholm’s game-tying goal in Game 7.

Then, he put his signature on the playoffs with a wonderful goal in Game 1 of the 2nd round against the Florida Panthers. He picked up a puck in the neutral zone and thundered down the ice on a breakaway, beating Sergei Bobrovsky with a slick move to tuck home a goal.

Boston lost in six games to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Panthers. Still, Brazeau’s performance down the stretch and in the playoffs earned him a full-time NHL gig for this season. He’s responded with a solid 10 goals and 10 assists in 57 games, playing in the bottom six and getting time net-front on the power play.

That’s the role he’ll likely play in Minnesota. Search YouTube for Brazeau’s goals in juniors, the minor leagues, and the NHL. You’ll notice that many of them come from right in front of the net. He often corrals a loose puck, makes a slick move, and uses his long reach to deposit the puck in the net around an outstretched goalie.

It’s the type of player the Wild haven’t had in a while, maybe ever. Suppose Brazeau can continue to perform at the level he has and demonstrate the ability to improve continuously as an NHL player. After all, he’s a 27-year-old player in the middle of his prime. Then, he can be a valuable piece that can be a force come playoff time, where physical play ramps up. 

Given the Wild’s historical struggles against heavy teams in the playoffs, Brazeau will be a welcome addition that should provide a physical presence every night.

So, while this might not be the big splashy move that many fans had hoped for, it makes the team better, which counts for something. And for what it’s worth, getting better is all Justin Brazeau knows how to do.