The Bruins announced Monday morning that they had signed defenseman Mason Lohrei to a two-year contract extension with a $3.2 million price charge, marking the completion of one of their in-house summer responsibilities.
After playing his first full season in the NHL with Boston in 2024–25, Lohrei, then a restricted free agent, was due for a pay increase.
The Ohio State product had his share of growing pains this past season after showing a lot of potential during the 2023–24 season (13 points over 41 games, 16:57 average ice time).
With five goals and 33 points overall over his 77 games, Lohrei lived up to the hype as a powerful offensive threat from the blue line, averaging 19:32 minutes of ice time per game.
Poor reads and positioning in the D-zone occasionally caused Lohrei’s defensive game to lose, but the forward-turned-defenseman also had his problems on the other end of the ice.
In 2024–25, he finished with the lowest minus-43 rating in the league, a statistic that speaks volumes about Lohrei’s individual shortcomings as well as Boston’s generally weak defensive system.
Few blueliners with his 6-foot-5 stature have the playmaking instincts that Lohrei displays on the ice, making him an intriguing lineup regular for the Bruins.
It is therefore not surprising that the Bruins and Lohrei decided to sign a two-year contract that is more of a bridging agreement.
This deal allows the Bruins more time to develop Lohrei and determine whether he is indeed a core player who will eventually fetch a higher contract.
Lohrei has the potential to be a top-four mainstay who might eventually become Charlie McAvoy’s regular defensive partner if Marco Sturm and the Boston coaching staff can improve some of his defensive game’s shortcomings.
Lohrei might be more valuable to the Bruins if he becomes a potent power-play weapon on a redesigned man-advantage in the upcoming years, even if he ends up becoming more of a sheltered third-pairing asset.
Going forward, Lohrei’s $3.2 million cap hit is an increase above the $925,000 he was able to secure last year.
However, if he makes significant progress over the next two years, he also positions himself for a sizable payday in 2027, when the NHL wage ceiling is expected to keep rising.
Now that free agency officially starts on July 1, the Bruins can try to close agreements with some of their own RFAs.
Among Boston’s remaining RFAs are Johnny Beecher, Jakub Lauko, Marat Khusnutdinov, and Morgan Geekie, who deserves a sizable increase after scoring 33 goals this past season.
Since 2023, Conor Ryan has worked as a staff writer for Boston.com, covering the Boston Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox.
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