It would be easy and natural for Justin Brazeau to hang his head.
The 26-year-old Boston Bruins right wing is unavailable for the start of Round 1 against his old organization, the Toronto Maple Leafs. Brazeau missed the final six regular-season games after injuring his right wrist when he collided with the Nashville Predators’ Luke Schenn on April 2 — less than two months after he signed his first NHL contract.
Were he the type to feel sorry for himself, though, Brazeau would not be in the NHL.
Consider the following:
• Two hundred and fifty-three players were called before the North Bay Battalion picked Brazeau in the 13th round of the 2014 OHL Priority Selection.
• No NHL teams considered Brazeau worthy of a pick in 2016 or 2017.
• Brazeau could not earn an NHL contract after scoring an OHL-high 61 goals in 2018-19.
• The Toronto Maple Leafs said goodbye to Brazeau after a two-year AHL and ECHL apprenticeship.
• Brazeau had started picking classes at the University of Toronto when the AHL Providence Bruins sent him a last-chance lifeline.
• Brazeau started 2021-22 with the ECHL’s Maine Mariners. He had spent most of 2019-20 with the ECHL’s Newfoundland Growlers. The Growlers terminated operations on April 2.
“He’s had to go through the s–t,” said Providence Bruins coach Ryan Mougenel. “Some guys don’t go through the s–t. He’s been through it. It’s important to go through it to have longevity in the game. We have some young pros right now that have to go through it. That’s why the American League’s here. It’s important for the longevity of their career. They can go up, maybe have one game, one or two games. We want guys to have careers.
“I think he’s a great example of appreciating it, too. That’s a big part of who he is. I always say that charter flights will change you. It’s good that it’ll change you. It gives you gratitude for the game. He’s one of those guys. We’re very proud of the time he put in here. Hopefully we never see him again.”
Brazeau is skating on his own as his teammates prepare for Saturday’s Game 1 at TD Garden. General manager Don Sweeney said it was very unlikely he will be ready early in the series. Brazeau and the Bruins, however, hope he can return and prove the Leafs wrong for not bringing him back.
Brazeau does not know how to quit.
Justin Brazeau plays in his first game against his former NHL team, the Maple Leafs, on March 4. (Claus Andersen / Getty Images)
University-bound, until a summer call
Before the injury, Brazeau had five goals and two assists in 19 games. The 6-foot-5 fourth-liner was averaging 11:07 of ice time per game. Brazeau had earned a net-front spot on the No. 2 power-play unit.
“He’s earned it,” Sweeney said. “He flat-out earned the opportunity. Our scouting staff and coaches just kept acknowledging his continual growth.”
Three years earlier, Brazeau was looking for student housing.
In the summer of 2021, a 23-year-old Brazeau was planning to be a four-year kinesiology major at the University of Toronto. Brazeau had selected his first-year courses.
His pro hockey career was over. Brazeau’s two-year AHL contract with the Toronto Marlies had expired. He did not want to play in Europe. He had no worthwhile North American offers.
His OHL education package had expired. School would be on his dime.
Not only that, his playing days were paused. Because Brazeau had played two years of pro hockey, under Canadian U Sports regulations, he would have to redshirt his first university season.
Brazeau kept his on-ice dream alive. He figured if he played well for the Varsity Blues, he could score an AHL or ECHL contract.
The NHL was another matter.
The list of NHL players coming out of Canadian university hockey this year is not long. There’s the Vegas Golden Knights’ Logan Thompson, who appeared in 24 games for Brock University in 2018-19. As for the others, there’s a reason players like Jett Alexander (University of Toronto) and Matt Berlin (University of Alberta) are unfamiliar names. They were emergency backup goalies, happy to earn keepsake jerseys and the admiration of their school buddies.
It was within this context that John Walters, Brazeau’s agent, got a call from Evan Gold. The Bruins’ assistant general manager, who also serves as Providence’s GM, was offering a two-way AHL/ECHL deal. The Bruins identified promise in Brazeau’s five-point AHL season in 2020-21 that the Leafs did not.
“He sort of teased people,” said Sweeney. “He probably wasn’t as committed off the ice as he needed to be to be at the level he is now. Now he understands that.”
Brazeau is from New Liskeard, Ontario. The Leafs were his favorite team. Then-GM Kyle Dubas believed enough in Brazeau to sign him to a two-year, $260,000 AHL contract and drop him into the Leafs’ development machine, where he would learn professional habits under skating coach Barb Underhill and skills consultant Darryl Belfry.
But in his second season, Brazeau scored just four goals in 21 AHL games. There were reasons for his poor performance.
The Bruins gave Justin Brazeau a second chance he didn’t know if he’d ever get. (Eric Hartline / USA Today)
Hotel life
In 2020-21, Brazeau was one of 48 players to appear in at least one game for the Marlies. The Leafs’ AHL affiliate practically had two full rosters. In comparison, 31 players made at least one appearance for Providence that season. Brazeau had a hard time getting into game rhythm.
COVID-19 didn’t help either.
The way Brazeau remembered it, the team went into one-week isolation when one of the Marlies tested positive during the season. On the final day, several more players tested positive. The Marlies started another seven-day isolation cycle.
As the second week approached its conclusion, Colt Conrad, Brazeau’s roommate, gave him some bad news. Conrad had tested positive. Brazeau had to move out of their apartment and isolate in a hotel.
“I had to restart 14 days from there,” Brazeau said. “So I think it was 26 days I spent in isolation. And I never got it once. So I remember I came back and there was like four games left in the year. I just came back and skated twice quickly when the team wasn’t there. Played the last two. Then the season was over. It was crazy.”
At year’s end, the Leafs informed Brazeau he would not be back. Walters did not agree with the decision.
“You guys dangled a bit of a carrot with the money, which was more than everyone else,” Walters recalled telling Dubas. “You guys did an amazing job off-ice. But I don’t think you can judge a player based on a 21-game season that was interrupted for six weeks because of COVID, and he had to be in isolation three separate times. In that regard, I was more disappointed for the fact that, ‘Hey, guys, just give him another f–king year here to show what he can do at the AHL level.’”
Walters lost his argument. The Leafs wished Brazeau good luck.
So when Gold presented Brazeau with the Bruins’ AHL offer, he was excited about the opportunity. It was likely his final pro chance.
Brazeau’s university commitment, however, left him in a difficult position.
Back to the ECHL
Mougenel had early intel on Brazeau. He knows Stan Butler, Brazeau’s North Bay coach. Mougenel is also close with ex-Bruin Wayne Primeau, whose son Mason was Brazeau’s Battalion teammate. Wayne Primeau regularly pumped Brazeau’s tires when he spoke with Mougenel. When Mougenel watched the Battalion, Brazeau jumped off the screen.
“He was a man among boys,” Mougenel said. “He was so big and strong. The pace was always going to be an issue.”
Mougenel saw that firsthand.
Brazeau did not train for pro hockey in the summer of 2021. He thought he was going to school.
So when he reported to Providence camp that fall, he was not in good shape. Brazeau’s skill would do him no good if he couldn’t get to the puck.
Mougenel told Brazeau he was headed to the ECHL’s Maine Mariners to start 2022-23. Brazeau had to play his way into AHL form.
“It hurt me to do it. Because I had him in my lineup,” said Mougenel. “But he needed that.”
Brazeau had two assists in his first Maine game. He scored 10 goals and 20 points in 18 ECHL games. He got the AHL call in December.
In Providence, Brazeau scored 15 goals in 51 games, third-most on the roster. In 2022-23, Brazeau recorded 16 goals and 45 points in 67 AHL games.
Brazeau’s contract was up. Another team offered him a good AHL deal. Gold told Walters that if he re-upped with Providence for 2023-24, the organization would not hesitate to turn it into an NHL deal if Brazeau deserved it. The Bruins did not have a big man like Brazeau in their system.
“So we decided to take less money and stay in Providence this year,” Walters said. “The rest is history, man.”
Justin Brazeau had five goals and seven points in 19 games, playing a key depth role before his injury. (Brian Fluharty / USA Today)
NHL commitment
New Liskeard is a small Northern Ontario outpost. The town, split between English- and French-speaking residents, is roughly 10 minutes from Quebec. In midget hockey, Brazeau played against teams from across the border. Things got rough.
“The French beating up on the English, the English beating up on the French,” Brazeau recalled with a laugh.
New Liskeard is so remote that Brazeau was usually left with two options when going home from Providence: get behind the wheel for 13 hours, or fly to Toronto and drive for six hours. Flights in and out of North Bay, an hour and a half by car from New Liskeard, are not known as reliable.
“North Bay’s flights get canceled so much,” Brazeau said. “It’s not so bad if you’re flying into North Bay. But trusting a flight out of North Bay when you’re trying to get back here, it’s almost 50-50 whether it gets canceled or not.”
It wasn’t much of a decision for Brazeau, then, to live in Providence last summer. He spent more time, however, in Boston. Every day, Brazeau hit I-95 for workouts at Warrior Ice Arena with teammates he dreamed of joining on NHL ice.
“There’s a difference with training by yourself or younger guys who are in junior and guys like Brad Marchand,” said Brazeau. “Even though you’re working just as hard either way, no matter where you are, when you’re around those guys, you push a little bit more than you would if you’re with somebody else.”
Trimming down was a priority. As a junior, his bulk and his brain let him manhandle teenage opponents. But playing heavy compromised his foot speed. Scouts saw it.
“What was really upsetting to me,” said Walters, “was I would watch all these college free agents sign at the end of that year and get NHL contracts. I said to myself, ‘Would any of these guys have scored 61 goals in the OHL this year?’ And my argument with all the teams was, ‘OK, guys, if he were faster, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation. He would have been drafted already and in your organization. So work with him.’ I understood he wasn’t the fastest guy in the world. But he was the smartest. He knew how to use his body. He read plays. He was an elite passer. He was an elite scorer.”
By reporting to the Bruins’ practice facility daily, Brazeau trained under the supervision of Kevin Neeld and Tim Lebossiere, the Bruins’ performance coaches. He was also counseled by Julie Nicoletti, the team’s nutritionist. Brazeau estimated he currently weighs between 230 and 240 pounds. He has played as heavy as 245 and 250 pounds.
Brazeau’s future boss was watching.
“When you see and witness the transformation in someone’s body like we did with him, the dedication it takes and the financial commitment it took from him, it’s very noticeable,” said coach Jim Montgomery. “It’s like if you work anywhere. If you work in the office and you’re paid for 40 hours, if you clock in and clock out at 40 hours and you expect to get a promotion, that’s not the way it works, right? You’ve got to put in the hours to earn and grow as a person.”
In Providence, Brazeau scored 18 goals and 37 points in 49 games this season. Jesper Boqvist and Georgii Merkulov, two of Brazeau’s linemates, earned promotions. Brazeau did not.
That would change.
Jeremy Swayman and Justin Brazeau celebrate a win on March 4 over the Leafs. (John E. Sokolowski / USA Today)
Finally, a promotion
On Feb. 17, Gold called Walters. Gold asked if they could speak the next day. Walters hesitated. Feb. 18 was his son Julian’s 16th birthday.
Sure enough, Gold called Walters the next day. Three times, in fact.
It was worth the intrusion. The Bruins wanted to sign Brazeau to an NHL contract.
Walters excused himself from his son’s party. He called colleague Ian Pulver multiple times. They finally connected. Pulver suggested Walters identify comparable players to formulate Brazeau’s deal.
“I couldn’t find any,” Walters said with a laugh. “It’s hard to find comparables for a 26-year-old who hasn’t played.”
Walters and Gold talked about a one-year deal that could be revisited at the end of 2023-24. They ultimately settled on a two-year contract at $775,000 annually. Walters asked Gold if Brazeau would be in the lineup the next day against the Dallas Stars. Gold said he believed so.
Meanwhile, Providence was playing the Hartford Wolf Pack that afternoon. Mougenel, who was aware that negotiations were happening, didn’t want to tell Brazeau until the deal was done.
So after the team’s power-play meeting, Mougenel pulled Brazeau aside. He told Brazeau he would not play that day. Brazeau didn’t understand.
“Just trust me,” Mougenel told Brazeau.
The next day, Brazeau made his NHL debut against the Dallas Stars. In the second period, Boqvist pulled the puck out of the corner and looked to the net. Brazeau broke for the far post. At 1:32, Brazeau scored his first career goal.
Walters was driving to a Mississauga Steelheads game at that time. He got a call from his father, who told him Brazeau had scored.
Walters pulled over and took out his phone. He found the clip of Brazeau’s goal.
“Yep, that’s Braz,” Walters said to himself. Then he teared up.
“These are good stories,” Walters said. “These are stories I can share with families of kids I represent. When things aren’t always going great, or you’re on a stacked team and you’re a young player in the Ontario Hockey League, just look at the story of Justin Brazeau. He never gave up.”
“I can go wherever I want.”
How the Leafs acquired Justin Brazeau, a big kid from a small town with huge plans: https://t.co/ne4EzCk0YI pic.twitter.com/qrOj1vUy5X
— Scott Wheeler (@scottcwheeler) June 7, 2019
(Top photos: Winslow Townson / USA Today and Dennis Pajot / Getty Images)
