This is the 2025-26 edition — an archived read. Read the 2026-27 report →
Justin Brazeau
Pittsburgh Penguins Right Wing
Six-foot-six and 232 pounds, undrafted, and an NHL regular for the first time at 27.
| Season | Team | GP | G | A | PTS | +/- | PIM | PP | SH | GW | S | S% | TOI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-24 | BOS | 19 | 5 | 2 | 7 | +4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 31 | 16.1 | 11:07 |
| 2024-25 | BOS/MIN | 76 | 11 | 11 | 22 | -9 | 18 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 89 | 12.4 | 11:52 |
| 2025-26 so far | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Career | — | 95 | 16 | 13 | 29 | -5 | 20 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 120 | 13.3 | 11:43 |
This Season So Far
The 2025-26 season has not started. The empty row above is his, and both it and this paragraph fill in on their own from the morning after he first plays: what he has done, what it is worth against his own last season, and the run he is on when the two disagree.
Last Season
11 goals and 11 assists in 76 games across Boston and Minnesota — 22 points at 11:52 a night, with 4 power-play goals and 3 game-winners on 89 shots.
Eleven goals from a fourth-line winger at under twelve minutes a night is a good return, and four of them on the power play says he was used in front of the net there for a reason.
The Finesse Game
89 attempts and 11 goals at a 12.4 per cent conversion. The shot is a genuine one and the release from the top of the crease is quick for a man this size.
11 assists in 76 games. There is no creation and there does not need to be; he is a net-front body who converts what deflects off him and what lands at his feet.
The Physical Game
6-6 and 232 pounds and among the largest men in the league. He cannot be moved from the front of a net, he wins pucks on the wall by leaning on people, and he forechecks by arriving late and heavily.
18 penalty minutes in 76 games is a low rate for a man that size. He is not nasty and he does not take liberties, which is either restraint or a limitation depending on the night.
The Intangibles
Undrafted, and he played four full seasons in the American League and the ECHL before an NHL game — 95 of them now, starting at 26.
He is 27 and Pittsburgh signed him in the summer. On a club whose power play is 5th in the league and has no net-front presence under 32, the fit is obvious.
The numbers underneath
On the ice
Five-on-five, 2024-25 · 805 minutes
- Expected goals
- 49.3%
- 44th pct
- Shot attempts
- 47.8%
- 31st pct
share of the chances while he was out there
share of the attempts while he was out there
Goals while he was on the ice: 28 for, 32 against. Expected: 30.1 and 31.1.
The eye and the numbers
HindsightThe numbers rank him 23 points above where the report does. It was written for a back edition, with the seasons that followed already known. Neither the agreement nor the gap says anything about the eye, and this report is excluded from the club-level comparison for the same reason. Why the numbers land there sets out the club he did it on, the minutes he played and the men he played them with.
Both bars are percentiles among the 637 skaters in this edition with a report and enough ice time. The report bar ranks the mean of the grades above — 67 on their own scale — against every other report's mean. The numbers bar ranks his share of expected goals. A gap is a disagreement about where he belongs, not two scales talking past each other.
Usual linemates
2024-25 with BOS · 662 minutes at five-on-five
Share of his five-on-five ice time spent alongside each player, measured from shift charts. Special teams are excluded: a power-play unit is not a line.
Why the numbers land there
Five-on-five, 2024-25
- The club
- MIN took 49.1% of the expected goals as a club. His own share is 49.3% — 0.2 above the club he did it on.
- The role
- 805 minutes at five-on-five — 37th percentile in ice time.
With and without
| Teammate | Together | Him apart | Mate apart |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trent Frederic | 47.7% | 50.0% | 50.7% |
| Nikita Zadorov | 56.9% | 46.3% | 47.7% |
| Brandon Carlo | 44.7% | 50.8% | 47.2% |
47.7% together, 50.0% for him apart and 50.7% for Frederic apart. Frederic was better away from him while his own share held, which is a mark against him more than for him.
Expected-goal share while both were on the ice, and for each man in the minutes he played without the other. Apart is the pair subtracted from his own totals. It does not settle who was carrying whom — apart from each other, both were still playing with somebody — but it does say whether the share travelled when the pairing broke up.
Where he shoots from
goal on goal missed
128 unblocked shots in 2024-25, 11 of them goals. His median goal came from 12 feet. 62% of his shots came from inside twenty feet, 14% from beyond forty.