You won’t find a red and green, Justin Brazeau replica jersey for sale at any of the merchandise stands inside Grand Casino Arena. Not even on the clearance rack.

The 19 regular season games — plus six more in the playoffs — that Brazeau spent with Minnesota Wild last season put him in a rare “blink and you missed them” category in the quarter-century history of the franchise. One likes to think he will have a “Wild short-timers” reunion someday, trading stories with Chris Simon (12 games in Minnesota), Rem Pitlick (20 games in Minnesota) and Gustav Nyquist (37 games, in two different stints, in Minnesota).

It was barely noticed on July 1 when the Penguins inked Brazeau to a free-agent contract that will pay him $1.5 million this season. But they have taken notice of the 27-year-old Canadian in Pittsburgh, and not just because of his towering 6-foot-6 frame.

“It’s a massive human with great hands who’s got a really good ability to get himself either open at the net front or put himself in a position to shoot,” said first-year Penguins coach Dan Muse, following the team’s Thursday morning skate in St. Paul. “I think he’s done a good job away from the puck as well.”

Playing wing on the Wild’s fourth line, with Yakov Trenin on the other wing and Marco Rossi at center, Brazeau had a goal and an assist in the regular season last year, and chipped in with two assists in the six-game, first-round playoff loss to Vegas.

Elevated to the second line in Pittsburgh alongside two other massive humans — Evgeni Malkin and Anthony Mantha, who are both 6-foot-5 — Brazeau set the tone for a breakout season with two goals in the Penguins’ season-opening win at Madison Square Garden against the Rangers, and he has hardly slowed down since then. He returned to Minnesota with six goals and six assists in his first 11 games.

“Its obviously been a nice fresh start, getting to play with some really good players and trying to make the most of it,” said Brazeau, who came to the Wild from Boston at the early March trade deadline last season. “I just try to do what I do and fit in the best I can.”

While some have marveled at the breakout offense from an unexpected source, especially on a team with stars like Sidney Crosby, Malkin and Mantha, his former boss in Minnesota is not at all shocked.

“Braz has got good hands, he gets around the net, so it’s not necessarily surprising, because he did the same thing in Boston,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “So, good for him. He’s a good kid.”

Some have grumbled that the Wild putting Brazeau in a fourth-line checking role was not the best use of what has been revealed as a scoring threat, especially when his big body gets around the crease. Others say his early season success is emblematic of the kind of boost a player can get from a change of scenery.

When the Wild picked up forward Vinnie Hinostroza off waivers in February of last season, he had posted two assists in 13 games with Nashville. In a Wild sweater, Hinostroza put up five goals and three assists in 25 games, and played a vital bottom-six forward role while the team was a mess of injuries. He sees Brazeau benefitting from a similar change of scenery.

“He’s got a great opportunity there and he’s really taking advantage of it,” said Hinostroza, who was Brazeau’s linemate for part of their time together in Minnesota. “He’s a big body and he can move around pretty good, and he’s got good hands around the net. So, I’m definitely not surprised. I’m happy for him. He’s playing the best hockey of his life.”

Brazeau was in North Carolina with the Bruins when he found out he had been traded to Minnesota. The Wild were in British Columbia at the time, leading to a cross-continent odyssey for the player to fly from Raleigh to Denver to Vancouver, across four time zones, to join his new team. Before facing the Wild on Thursday, Brazeau joked that his arrival in Pittsburgh involved fewer miles and fewer hours.

“A little shorter flight this time, instead of Carolina to Vancouver,” he said. “It’s been a lot of fun so far.”

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In this opening month where nothing has come easy for the Minnesota Wild, an early lead Thursday slipped away, and the hole they have dug in October got just a little deeper.

Versus a better-than-expected Pittsburgh team loaded with weapons, the Wild managed just one goal and saw the Penguins take over the game in the third period. Pittsburgh’s 4-1 win was the fifth consecutive loss for a Wild team that last won on Oct. 20 against the Rangers in New York.

With the Penguins’ scorers coming at him in waves, Minnesota goalie Filip Gustavsson made 29 saves in the loss.

Kirill Kaprizov scored a rare early goal for the Wild, but their previously potent power play provided no relief as they went 0 for 4 with the man advantage and fell to 3-6-3 to close out October.

With the game tied 1-1 in the third, Pittsburgh got goals from Bryan Rust and Ben Kindel just 61 seconds apart. The Penguins are now 6-0-2 in their last eight games.

The Wild took the first lead midway through the opening period when Kaprizov fought off a check in front of the net and redirected a cross-ice pass by Marcus Johansson. It was Kaprizov’s team-leading seventh goal of the season, and extended his points streak to four games.

It also marked the first time since a 2-1 overtime loss in Philadelphia on Oct. 18 that Minnesota scored the first goal of a game.

The Penguins appeared to have tied the game, briefly, when Evgeni Malkin slipped a shot past the goalie from the low slot. But after review, officials determined that contact made by Pittsburgh forward Justin Brazeau on Gustavsson before the shot went in constituted goaltender interference, and they ruled no goal. Pittsburgh challenged the call, but after review the call was upheld, giving the Wild their first power play of the night.

Minnesota, which entered the game with the top power play in the NHL, got two man advantages in the first but failed to build on their lead.

Pittsburgh survived a surge by the Wild and tied the game for real early in the second when defenseman Ryan Shea’s long-range shot through a crowd found the back of the net.

The Wild bench went down a man a short time later when a shot by Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson hit Minnesota center Danila Yurov below the belt. Yurov crumpled to the ice immediately and had to be helped to the locker room. He returned to the game midway through the middle frame.

The Penguins, who have not qualified for the NHL playoffs since 2022, are off the a 8-2-2 start. Minnesota, which has the worst penalty-kill numbers in the league, surrendered a goal on Pittsburgh’s first power play of the game.

Gustavsson came to the bench for an extra attacker with just under three minutes to play, but Pittsburgh’s Anthony Mantha hit a shot into the empty net from beyond the far blue line.

Tristan Jarry had 27 saves for the Penguins in their lone regular season visit to Minnesota. The Wild play in Pittsburgh on Nov. 21.

Up next is the fifth game of the Wild’s current six-game homestand when they host the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday evening at 6 p.m. The Wild are 1-3-2 at home this season.

Briefly

Pittsburgh’s second shot on goal of the game was a slapper from the blue line delivered by defenseman Matt Dumba, who was playing in his fifth game for the Penguins. Dumba, 31, was the Wild’s first round pick, seventh overall, in the 2012 NHL Draft. He spent his first 10 seasons with the Wild and has skated for Arizona, Tampa Bay, Dallas and now Pittsburgh since leaving Minnesota in 2023.

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An arrest has been made after a woman was sexually assaulted in Vadnais Heights earlier this week, authorities say.

On Thursday, the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office arrested a 21-year-old White Bear Township man who is suspected of sneaking up behind the woman, dragging her to a secluded area and sexually assaulting her, according to authorities.

“In this case, tips from the community and help from the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension crime lab led to the arrest of a violent criminal suspect,” Sheriff Bob Fletcher said in a news release. “The victim provided key information to investigators that allowed us to act quickly and share accurate details with the public. The victim fought hard, knocked his glasses off, and bit his hand — and still managed to give us a detailed description of her attacker.”

The woman reported she was walking just before 8 p.m. Tuesday on the sidewalk near the intersection of Centerville Road and Pondview Drive when a man ran up from behind, forced her off the path and sexually assaulted her, according to the sheriff’s office. After the attack, the woman ran to a nearby home seeking help and was then taken to a hospital for evaluation and treatment.

The suspect was arrested Thursday in the 1500 block of Mead Road in White Bear Township.

“The arrest would not have happened without the victim’s courage, the community’s help, and the BCA’s professional processing of DNA evidence,” Fletcher added.

Following the arrest, investigators conducted a search warrant in which authorities said they obtained additional evidence. The suspect is being held in the Ramsey County jail, and formal charges are expected to be filed Friday.

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Two special elections next Tuesday to fill vacancies in the Minnesota Senate will determine the balance of power in the narrowly divided chamber, where the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party holds a one-seat majority.

In what is seen as the more competitive of the two races, Republican candidate Dwight Dorau faces state Rep. Amanda Hemmingsen-Jaeger, DFL-Woodbury, in a contest to fill the seat for Woodbury-centered District 47. It’s been vacant since former DFL Sen. Nicole Mitchell resigned this summer after her conviction on two felony burglary charges.

Elsewhere Republican Michael Holmstrom Jr. faces DFLer Louis McNutt in the special election for Senate District 29, which includes most of Wright County and parts of Meeker and Hennepin counties. The winner will fill the vacant seat of Sen. Bruce Anderson, R-Buffalo, who died unexpectedly in July at 75.

With the two vacancies, the state Senate currently has 33 DFL and 32 Republican members. If the GOP candidate wins in both of Tuesday’s special elections, the party will secure a one-seat majority in the Senate. If the DFL holds on to one seat, they’ll hold 34 seats and preserve their one-seat majority.

Last year’s election gave the state its most closely divided government ever: a House tied 67-67 between Republicans and DFLers and a Senate split 34-33 with the DFL holding the advantage. Tuesday’s special elections could tweak that delicate balance.

Woodbury Senate race

Senate District 47, which includes Woodbury and south Maplewood, has favored Democrats by double-digit margins in recent elections, though it is not as historically Democratic as the center of the Twin Cities and is seen as the more competitive of the two races.

Hemmingsen-Jaeger has a message focused on tackling rising health care and child care costs, and protecting the environment. Though she also says voters are worried about President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown and cuts to federal spending.

Amanda Hemmingsen-Jaeger (Courtesy of the candidate)

“The national is coming up more, I would say, because of the actions the federal government is taking; you can’t ignore them, and it’s affecting our daily lives,” she said. “People’s health insurance is going to go up by double-digit percentages. People are worried about ICE coming into our neighborhoods.”

Hemmingsen-Jaeger, a legislative and policy analyst at the Minnesota Department of Human Services, said her background as a state lawmaker and past work, which includes close to a decade as a forensic scientist at the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, will help her succeed in the Senate.

“I have an understanding of how the legislative process works. I know how to work across the aisle and am very values-driven, solution-focused,” she said. “I think just my approach being a little bit more thoughtful and science-based makes really makes for some good, comprehensive policy.”

Dorau, meanwhile, is hoping that voters will see what could be more than $1 billion of fraud in state government programs and significant spending growth under DFL leadership in recent years as a reason to vote for a Republican candidate.

Dwight Dorau. (Courtesy of the candidate)

“A lot of people are still kind of hung up about the overspending, the surplus disappearing,” Dorau said. “The fraud is taking money away from people who duly need it, and it’s also hurting the taxpayers who are paying it.”

Minnesota had a record $18 billion surplus in 2023, and Democrats in control of the state government grew state spending by nearly 40% to fund new programs like free school meals and paid family and medical leave. Minnesota had a $456 million surplus for the current two-year budget cycle, but officials warned earlier this year that the state could face a $6 billion shortfall in 2028-2029.

Dorau, a retired U.S. Air Force colonel who served as a navigator on KC-135 aerial refueling tanker aircraft and an ROTC instructor at Johnson High School in St. Paul, said he is running to “restore representation” following Mitchell’s criminal case and resignation.

While he said he has not heard much from voters about Mitchell’s break-in at her estranged stepmother’s home, it still deprived District 47 of adequate representation in the Senate.

While the state DFL urged Mitchell to resign after the April 2024 break-in, the Senate DFL caucus thwarted efforts to remove her from office, citing due process concerns.

Instead, Senate DFL leaders removed Mitchell from committee assignments and caucus meetings, only allowing her to take part in floor votes. Dorau said this had left Woodbury without full advocacy at the Capitol on issues like securing sales tax exemptions for water treatment projects to address 3M-linked pollution or other proposals to fund infrastructure projects.

“Our current representatives have done nothing to get that along, even though our mayor and our city councilors have been asking for it for a long time,” Dorau said. “Woodbury and Maplewood were underrepresented by our senator and her situation for 18 months.”

Hemmingsen-Jaeger and Rep. Ethan Cha, DFL-Woodbury, introduced a bill to secure the exemptions, but it did not see significant progress in the Legislature this year.

Changing district

Republicans could win Senate District 47, but it won’t be easy. What was once a more politically mixed area has shifted increasingly Democratic in recent years, according to University of Minnesota Political Science Professor Larry Jacobs.

“Voters in that district have changed. We’re seeing more college-educated folks moving in. We’re seeing people who identify as Democrats more moving in, or they’re more moderate,” he said.

In 2024, Hemmingsen-Jaeger won a second term in House District 47A, which makes up one half of the broader Senate District, with 61% of the vote.

Mitchell beat Dorau in the 2022 election with nearly 59% of the vote to Dorau’s 41%. Dorau lost the race for House District 47B in 2024 with 46% of the vote to Cha’s 54%.

Jacobs said messaging by DFLers in upcoming elections will focus on the Trump administration’s actions, while Republicans will try to make upcoming elections a referendum on the record of Gov. Tim Walz and his fellow Democrats.

District 29

District 29 historically supports Republicans and has not attracted the same levels of spending as the contest in the east metro.

“That district has been consistently Republican for a while, and Republicans are winning there by large margins. What’s happening in Woodbury is more of a recent story,” Jacobs said. “It’s evolving. Whereas, 29, it looks like a done deal, it’s just locked in.”

Spending in each of the Senate special elections shed light on the level of interest.

Between July 29 and Oct. 21, Dorau had raised around $52,500 and spent around $37,700 on his campaign, according to pre-election filings with the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board. Hemmingsen-Jaeger raised around $47,700 and had spent around $26,500.

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During that same period, District 29 candidates raised and spent roughly half the total raised and spent in District 47. Holmstrom raised $23,600 and spent $15,700. McNutt had raised about $31,700 and had spent around $18,500.

Minnesota has seen an unusually high number of special elections this year due to deaths, criminal cases and a candidate residency dispute.

Tuesday’s contests are among six that have happened so far this year. Early voting has been underway since Sept. 19 and closes Monday, Nov. 3, the day before election day.

For more information on 2025 elections — including how to vote — go to twincities.com/news/politics/elections.