Penguins Provide an Initial Return Timeline For Breakout Forward Justin Brazeau After Suffering Injury

There is more unfortunate injury news for the Pittsburgh Penguins, who already don't have Rickard Rakell and Caleb Jones.

They announced that forward Justin Brazeau is now considered day to day with an upper-body injury and that he wasn't able to play today against the Winnipeg Jets on the road.

Philip Tomasino took his place in the lineup against the Jets.

The injury is bad news for the Penguins, as Brazeau was having a breakout year with 12 points (6G, 6A) already in just 12 games and is on pace to easily break past his previous career-bests of 11 goals and 11 assists set last year split between the Minnesota Wild and Boston Bruins.

Brazeau was never drafted into the NHL while playing in the Ontario Hockey League for the North Bay Battalion, and would later sign a contract with the Toronto Marlies, the AHL affiliate of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

He only played a single game with the Marlies and spent the majority of the year with the Newfoundland Growlers of the ECHL, and was later named to the ECHL All-Rookie Team.

He later signed with the Providence Bruins, the AHL affiliate of the Boston Bruins, and eventually cracked the Bruins lineup.

Last year, he was traded to the Minnesota Wild for Marat Khusnutdinov, Jakub Lauko and a 6th round draft pick.

This summer, he signed with the Penguins for two years and an AAV (average annual value) of $1.5 million.