Justin Brazeau was born on February 2, 1998, in New Liskeard, Ontario, and played with the New Liskeard Cubs Midget AAA team for three seasons. Overall, Brazeau played 70 games and scored 31 goals with 65 assists and contributed seven goals and 11 assists in 14 playoff games. Brazeau would move on to the Ontario Hockey League for four seasons from 2015 to 2019 with the North Bay Battalion and improve yearly. The big forward dominated in his last season with the Battalion, as he registered 61 goals and 52 assists in 113 games as the captain. Brazeau won the Leo Lalonde Trophy as the OHL’s Overage Player of the Year and was a first-team all-star.
In all, Brazeau played 268 games in the OHL and scored 128 goals with 110 assists. However, the 6-foot-5, 220-pound wing would go undrafted with questions about how his skating ability would translate to the NHL. On April 4, 2019, Brazeau signed an AHL contract with the Toronto Marlies but would only play one game for the Marlies, instead joining the Newfoundland Growlers of the ECHL, where he was a standout, scoring 27 goals and collecting 28 assists in 57 games.
Brazeau Signs with the Boston Bruins Organization
Brazeau played 21 games with the Marlies during the 2020-21 season and scored four goals with a minus-10 rating. Brazeau signed an AHL contract with the Providence Bruins in 2021. In his first season in the Boston Bruins organization, Brazeau once again started in the ECHL, being assigned to the Maine Mariners to start the 2021-22 season. However, after finding success with the Mariners, he was called up to Providence after only 18 games, where he would spend the rest of the season and continue his success, scoring 15 goals for 31 points. Those solid numbers earned Brazeau another one-year deal with Providence.
Brazeau Signs a Two-Year, Two-Way Contract with the Boston Bruins
During his third season with the Providence Bruins, Brazeau signed a two-year, two-way contract with the Boston Bruins on February 19, 2024. He made his NHL debut against the Dallas Stars on that same night, scored his first NHL goal, and was a plus-2 in 11 minutes of ice time. Brazeau would score five goals with two assists in 19 games before he had to exit a game against the Nashville Predators on April 2. Brazeau was sidelined with a shoulder injury and missed the rest of the regular season.
Brazeau would not return to the ice for the Bruins until Game 5 of the first round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Brazeau recorded his first NHL playoff point with an assist on Hampus Lindholm’s game-tying goal in Game 7 of the first round. Brazeau will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2024-25 season.
Season 4. Episode 21. LIVE! On Break – Bruins Benders Podcast
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