Justin Brazeau

Last Season

Seventeen goals and 17 assists in 64 games — 34 points, plus-five, at 12:39 a night with 14 penalty minutes.

The Finesse Game

The shot chart is one of the two most extreme in this edition. Sixty-nine per cent of his unblocked attempts came from inside twenty feet, with a median of sixteen and only six per cent from beyond forty.

Only Zach Hyman, at 74 per cent, works from closer as a share of attempts. Seventeen goals from 156 tries is what happens when a six-foot-six man decides the only place worth standing is the crease.

Seventeen assists is more than the role usually returns.

The Physical Game

Six foot six and 232, and immovable in front of a goaltender. Fourteen penalty minutes in 64 games is remarkably low for a player his size, and it is the criticism: he occupies space rather than imposing on it.

The skating is poor and it is why a man scoring at this rate gets twelve minutes.

The Intangibles

Fifty-three point five per cent of the expected goals, 80th percentile, with the goals 55 for and 23 against across 748 minutes — the second-most lopsided margin on the club.

Undrafted out of the Ontario league, 159 NHL games, 63 points.

He is 28, and on the evidence of that shot chart he is one of the more playoff-shaped forwards in this book. A checking series takes away open ice; it does not take away the front of the net.