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Can Justin Brazeau Find His Form Again?
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- Can Justin Brazeau Find His Form Again?
There was a whole lot that went right for the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2025-26, including a good second half that secured their first playoff berth in four years.
For most, the second half saw individual surges, too, whether in terms of production or, simply, overall growth. But, unfortunately, that wasn't the case for everyone.
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One of the players who largely struggled in the back half of the season is big winger Justin Brazeau .
Brazeau, 28, signed a two-year deal with the Penguins last summer after his first full NHL season split between the Boston Bruins and Minnesota Wild . He got off to a raging start in 2025-26, registering 12 of his 17 goals and 20 of his 34 points before Jan. 1 - and, at one point early on in the season, he was the league's leading goal-scorer. His production tailed off pretty significantly in the second half, which resulted in some healthy scratches that extended into the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
And given the way everything panned out on the forward front for general manager and president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas this summer, things aren't about to get any easier for Brazeau.
In addition to giving youngster Ville Koivunen an eight-year, $32 million extension, Dubas and the Penguins also added forwards Nicholas Robertson , Hendrix Lapierre , and Andrei Kuzmenko this offseason, which adds some talent to an already-crowded crop of forwards. That's not to mention the fact that prospects such as Rutger McGroarty , Tristan Broz, Tanner Howe, Avery Hayes , and Bill Zonnon will all be making pretty big pushes, too.
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It will be an uphill climb for Brazeau to be able to crack the lineup on a regular basis, and perhaps even a battle for him to avoid the waiver wire at the conclusion of camp. So, can he replicate what he did in the first half last season, or was his start a career anomaly that he probably won't repeat?
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For starters, much of his production last season came on a line with center Evgeni Malkin and winger Anthony Mantha , and that line found a lot of success with every player being at least 6-foot-5 and using that size to overwhelm opponents. But with Mantha leaving in free agency and Malkin's days as a center likely over, that line cannot be replicated.
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Maybe Brazeau was a product of his line's overall effectiveness, maybe he wasn't. But the one encouraging thing about him is that he has a nice set of hands and is good around the net-front. The 6-foot-6, 232-pound right winger is a master at redirecting pucks, stickhandling in tight spaces, and creating havoc at the net front.
Theoretically, if he could be paired with linemates who excel at puck distribution and getting pucks to the net, he should be able to gain some traction. He is a good enough forehecker that he can be an effective complementary piece on a line with a playmaking center and a primary scoring winger.
The issue is that, when Brazeau is not showing up on the scoresheet, he offers little else. He's not a particularly standout defensive player, he doesn't have the footspeed to drive the middle of the ice effectively, and he doesn't create all that much on his own. He has the ability and awareness to make some nifty plays, but much of that can be accredited to his long reach and stickhandling.
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Basically, Brazeau is a top-nine player, and top-nine minutes are going to be very hard to come by this season. He needs to have a standout camp in order to best the likes of Kuzmenko, Robertson, Koivunen, and Elmer Soderblom , and he needs to maintain consistency throughout the season if he is to hold down an earned lineup spot.
The more forward depth the Penguins, have, the better, and Brazeau finding his form again would be a major development for them. Regardless, this season may be make-it-or-break-it for the late-blooming undrafted forward, as training camp could end up determining his fate for the 2026-27 season and beyond.
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