Lohrei's Progress Creates Interesting Scenario For Boston Bruins

The 22-year-old defenseman prospect has looked strong early in NHL camp for a B's team always looking to get bigger on the back end

BRIGHTON, MA – Based on the NHL contracts handed out this summer and the qualified bodies that are in training camp on tryouts, there isn’t going to be a ton of room for up-and-coming prospects with this Boston Bruins group.

That being said, the B’s youngster with the most clear-cut chance to crack this NHL roster out of training camp is 22-year-old defenseman Mason Lohrei, who has looked the most NHL-ready in last summer’s development camp and the Prospect Showcase in Buffalo earlier this month.

Sure, Matthew Poitras has flashed early and is more of a player of need as a playmaking top-6 center-in-the-making, but the 19-year-old is going to be very hard-pressed to maintain his performance level as things get deeper into camp.

Lohrei also looked very good in his NHL preseason debut in Buffalo earlier this week when he led the team with roughly 25 minutes of ice time (not quite the 29:01 of ice time that the Buffalo off-ice crew had him for after the game) and often matched up against Buffalo’s best players while he was out there.