The Bruins’ top amateur prospect took the next big step in his career on Friday.
Defenseman Mason Lohrei eschewed two years of NCAA eligibility at Ohio State and signed an amateur tryout contract to play for the Providence Bruins. The 6-foot-4, 205-pound should get some valuable pro experience while playing for the playoff-bound P-Bruins.
A late bloomer, the 22-year-old Lohrei had an excellent career in Columbus after the B’s chose him in the second round (58th overall) in the 2020 draft when he was still a member of the USHL’s Green Bay Gamblers.
The Verona, Wisconsin native spent another season with the Gamblers before moving on to the Buckeyes, for whom he had 4-25-29 totals in 31 games his freshman season. In his sophomore season, which ended on Sunday when OSU was ousted by Quinnipiac from the NCAA tournament, he had 4-28-32 totals in 40 games after starting slowly while bouncing back from a knee injury.
It is difficult to see Lohrei — a big, offensive-minded blueliner — making any kind of impact with the big club this season. While some observers have tried to draw comparisons between Lohrei’s situation and Charlie McAvoy’s when the B’s defenseman signed out of Boston University six years ago, the B’s are in a much different spot now.
The team that McAvoy had joined was not only coming off back-to-back non-playoffs seasons, the 2016-17 B’s were beset by injuries as they headed into the playoffs against the Ottawa Senators. After McAvoy had played just four games with the Providence after leaving BU, the B’s had no choice but to throw him to the wolves — with the strong hunch that he was one of them. They were proven correct.
For Lohrei to get a chance with the big club in the Stanley Cup playoffs, an awful lot would have to go wrong for the B’s. On Thursday, they set a club record for wins with 58 and, even with Derek Forbort currently out of the lineup with a lower body injury, the B’s have depth on the back end that other team would love to have.
That’s not to say Lohrei isn’t a very intriguing prospect.
“He’s a special player,” Quinnipiac coach Rand Pecknold told reporters after his team ousted OSU last Sunday. “He’s elite. He should probably be in the NHL right now and probably will be in a day or two, is my guess.”
Maybe for another organization, that would be a slam dunk. But Lohrei will at least be wearing Providence’s Black-and-Gold to gain some valuable experience and for the B’s brass to further evaluate the big, promising D-man.