The Boston Bruins have added some organizational depth on the wing.
On Sunday, the team announced they are signing forward Justin Brazeau to a two-year, two-way contract. The contract will carry through the end of the 2024-25 season, with a cap hit of $775,000.
It is the 26-year-old’s first National Hockey League contract.
Also part of the deal, Brazeau will be getting $135,000 while in the minors this season, and $165,000 next year, with $190,000 guaranteed during the 2024-25 campaign.
The Bruins now have 48 players signed to an NHL contract out of a possible 50.
For the rest of this season Brazeau is waiver-exempt. Next season, if he were to go back down to the Bruins’ American Hockey League affiliate, the Providence Bruins, he will have to clear waivers.
The move to sign Brazeau to an NHL contract, after playing the first four-plus years of his professional career on minor league deals, might give Brazeau his first call-up to the big time. There will be a roster spot open, as Boston placed Oskar Steen on waivers earlier in the day.
Brazeau broke into the pro ranks with the ECHL’s Newfoundland Growlers in 2019, after scoring 113 points in 68 games during his final season with the North Bay Battalion of the Ontario Hockey League. He made it up to the Toronto Marlies, full-time, during the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season, and moved to Providence in the summer of 2021.
The New Liskeard, Ontario native has spent most of the last three seasons with Providence, playing a handful of games with the Maine Mariners of the ECHL throughout the 2021-22 campaign. After scoring 49 points in 67 games with the Bruins last season, Brazeau is off to another solid start this year, registering 37 points through 49 games.
Most likely any announcement on Brazeau getting called up will happen after 2 p.m. ET on Monday, when it is announced whether or not Steen clears.
The Bruins (32-12-11) are scheduled to face the Dallas Stars on Monday afternoon, before the waiver deadline.
More must-reads: