Justin Brazeau took a unique path to the NHL. After his junior career, he joined the Toronto Maple Leafs organization. In his three years there, he made more appearances in the ECHL than in the American Hockey League (AHL).
Having not gotten a shot at the NHL, Brazeau decided it was time to hang up the skates. He enrolled as a 22-year-old freshman kinesiology student at the University of Toronto. That is when the Bruins came calling.
They convinced the forward to give their organization a shot. Brazeau played the 2021-22 season in Providence with a brief stint with the team’s ECHL affiliate, the Maine Mariners. In 69 games across the two teams he put up an impressive 25 goals and 26 assists.
He continued to shine the following season, posting 45 points in 67 games, all of which were in the AHL. His 37 points in 49 games to start the 2023-24 season in Providence were enough: the Bruins signed him to a two-year contract and called him up to the big club. Brazeau’s unlikely journey to the NHL was complete.
Impactful Call-up Brazeau is not easy to miss when he is on the ice: he is six-foot-five and 220 pounds. He plays all of that, consistently finding himself in front of the net. At his best, he is a physical nightmare for opposing defensemen to handle, and his first NHL goal in his first NHL game came appropriately.
Jesper Boqvist won a puck battle to the right of Dallas Stars’ netminder Jake Oettinger . He looped beneath the goal line, possessing the puck. Brazeau put hi.
