Marlies sign Justin Brazeau to a two year AHL deal

Nothing like a good AHL signing to get you going in the morning.

Well, as far as AHL signings go this probably is a good one, as there were a number of NHL teams interested in Justin Brazeau, but as Darren Dreger reported this morning, he’s signed a two year deal with the Marlies…

That’s pretty solid compensation by AHL standards, and gives him an opportunity to see if he can turn it into a NHL gig. And considering that TSN was reporting interest from Vegas, Nashville, Boston, Columbus, and St. Louis, the Leafs either won out as the hometown favourites, or were the only ones willing to compensate this much on an AHL contract. I’m leaning towards the hometown favourite decision.

As for what the Leafs (sorry, Marlies) are getting, they are getting a 21 year old, 6’6, 225 lb right shooting RW. One who had some success in the past season after a slow start to his OHL career.

So being a 6’6, 225lb 21 year old playing against 16 and 17 year olds has it’s advantage. It certainly grants him easy access to the high danger areas of the offensive zone, which he’s been more than willing to take advantage of this year.

Now, we can point that the fact that Brazeau is older and bigger than most of his competition and that would be a fair thing to do. We could just as equally point to the fact that Brazeau has taken giant leaps every season he’s played and there is literally no downside to taking a look at what he can do against adult pro hockey players while he’s on an AHL contract.

Okay, he looks like he knows how to use his size to his advantage, and has some hands too. If he can develop that at the pro level he might get a look from the Leafs someday, but for now, he looks like he has the opportunity to be an interesting project for the Marlies/Growlers over the next two seasons.