VANCOUVER − Justin Brazeau traveled from Raleigh to Denver where he had a two-hour layover before meeting up with the Wild on Friday afternoon in western Canada.
“Ate a little bit,” he said. “Threw my suitcase down and came to the rink.”
Brazeau’s journey also took him from a non-playoff team to one very much in contention, the winger part of a Boston exodus that reinforced the Wild’s push with the size and strength they’d been lacking.
“A bit of a crazy day,” Brazeau said after he made his team debut in the 3-1 loss to the Canucks. “Obviously, a lot of emotions. Kind of haven’t really gone through anything like this before, and obviously a little bit of a longer day with the travel from Raleigh.
“But the guys are great, welcoming me in when I got here and making me feel really comfortable, so it was good.”
The Wild added Brazeau, 27, Thursday night from the Bruins for forwards Jakub Lauko and Marat Khusnutdinov and a 2026 sixth-round draft pick that was originally acquired from Boston.
He “had a feeling something might be coming,” and he wasn’t the only one on the move. With the Bruins behind the playoff pace in the Eastern Conference, they dealt captain Brad Marchand to Florida, former Wild forward Charlie Coyle to Colorado and defenseman Brandon Carlo to Toronto.
“Obviously, good friends that I got to know last year a bit,” Brazeau said. “So, just one of those days where if you don’t you don’t perform at the beginning of the year, something like this happens.”
