Minnesota Wild Trade for 27-Year-Old Forward Upgrade

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Justin Brazeau - Boston Bruins at Minnesota Wild
Credit: Matt Krohn-Imagn Images

The 36-22-4 Minnesota Wild tried to play coy this week, when asked about their plans for the 2025 NHL trade deadline. They told reporters that superstar Kirill Kaprizov and top center Joel Eriksson Ek are expected to return by the end of the regular season.

That was supposed to mean president of hockey operations Bill Guerin wouldn’t be alloted any additional cap space to make much of an impact before Friday’s deadline. That, of course, was after the Wild traded for familiar face, Gustav Nyquist.

Minnesota Wild trade away Khusnutdinov, Lauko to Bruins for Justin Brazeau

Now, just a few days later, Billy has found yet another way to wheel and deal, despite Minnesota’s tight cap situation. This time, he has dealt away two forwards — Marat Khusnutdinov and Jakub Lauko — to the Boston Bruins in exchange for 27-year-old Canadian winger Justin Brazeau.

Brazeau has 10 goals, 20 points and 89 hits on the season, in rather limited ice time (12:58 TOI). He’s a big body forward who will immediately provide a presence in front of the net, until Eriksson Ek returns. The trade was first broken by Kevin Weekes (ESPN, NHL Network), who got the scoop fresh out of surgery.

Player (Age)GmTOIGAPts+/-
Justin Brazeau (27.1)5712:58101020-6
Marat Khusnutdinov (22.7)5711:14257-6
Jakub Lauko (24.9)3810:03336-5

For the amount of time on ice that Justin Brazeau receives on a nightly basis, his statistics this season are really impressive. He averages 3rd line minutes, but ranks top seven on the Bruins in goals and top 10 in both assists and points. The 6’6″, 227 lb former OHL North Bay Battalion star also played 86.2 minutes on the power play for Boston this season, where he scored four of his 10 goals on the year.

Related: With Stars Expected Back, MN Wild Preparing for Underwhelming NHL Trade Deadline

Brazeau was the only skater for Boston who scored more than ten goals but averaged less than 17.5 minutes of ice time per game. Our old friend Charlie Coyle is next down that list, with 17:38 average TOI (15 goals). No doubt Justin Brazeau represents a type of NHL talent that neither Khusnutdinov nor Lauko provided at this point in their careers.

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