Wild nab Justin Brazeau from Bruins in trade

Marat Khusnutdinov and Jakub Lauko sent to Boston in exchange for the big forward.

By Jess Myers, Pioneer Press – March 6, 2025

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Time is the true measuring stick by which any trade is judged. But you’d need several measuring sticks to take in the full size of the Minnesota Wild’s latest acquisition.

Figuring that adding size can never hurt a team with designs on a playoff run, Wild general manager Bill Guerin worked a player-for-players trade on Thursday evening, grabbing extra-large forward Justin Brazeau from Boston, while sending Jakub Lauko and Marat Khusnutdinov to the Bruins.

Brazeau, 27, is 57 games into his first full NHL season, and has 10 goals and 10 assists for Boston. But perhaps the most impressive numbers on his bio page are his listed height of 6-foot-6, before he puts on skates.

It is the second trade made by Guerin in advance of Friday’s 2 p.m. CST trade deadline, after he got Gustav Nyquist from Nashville a few days earlier in exchange for a second-round draft pick.

Originally from Ontario, Brazeau came up through the Canadian major junior hockey ranks and was undrafted. As his body and his game grew, he became a sought-after free agent, and signed American Hockey League contracts with Toronto and then with Providence. He made his NHL debut with the Bruins 13 months ago, and played 11 minutes with two shots on goal last Sunday in Boston’s 1-0 loss in St. Paul.

Lauko—who came to Minnesota from Boston last summer—dealt with injuries for much of his lone season in Minnesota, playing in 38 games with three goals and three assists. Khusnutdinov, who was signed out of the Kontinental Hockey League in Russia last season, was a bottom-six forward for the Wild for much of this season, before being sent down to Iowa earlier in the week, mostly for salary cap reasons. He recorded two goals and five assists in 57 games this season.

Also included in the trade was a sixth-round draft pick in 2026 that the Wild will send back to Boston, after they had originally acquired the pick from the Bruins. Brazeau will wear No. 15 with Minnesota.

PHOTO: Boston Bruins’ Justin Brazeau skates off the ice after New York Rangers’ Jonathan Quick (not seen) caught the puck during the second period of an NHL hockey game Thursday, January 2, 2025, in New York. | AP Photo/Pamela Smith