The Boston Bruins will have to make a trade this summer in order to acquire more skill and speed; the thin free agency pool is not going to cut it.
They will have to say goodbye to some current roster players in order to make moves work. One of those players may be Mason Lohrei.
Lohrei, 25, is the youngest NHL defenseman on the Bruins roster. He has three seasons of NHL experience under his belt, and this season, he flipped his league-worst minus-43 rating into a plus-17.
He also scored a career-high seven goals, with two of them coming on the power play.
“You look year over year in terms of where [Lohrei] was defensively last year in our lineup versus what he was able to accomplish this year, while, albeit, still doing some of the things offensively that we all really like,” Don Sweeney said about Lohrei.
“Mason’s got a lot of upside, and we’re excited about [him].”
Lohrei was subjected to trade rumors during the 2025-26 regular season, specifically in January when the Bruins explored a trade for then-Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson. The trade fell through after Andersson rejected an extension, but it demonstrated the willingness to move Lohrei if the right target emerged.
After the trade rumors, Lohrei exploded for a two-goal night, then the lefty found a home on the right side of Hampus Lindholm. In the postseason press conference, Sweeney directly referenced that stretch of games and said that “he was a pretty damn good player for us.”
“I think that Mason being able to go over and play on the right side of Hampus [Lindholm] in that situation showed a lot of what he’s capable of doing,” said Sweeney. “There’s still variance. He’s still a young player at the position in [terms of] the amount of experience he’s had.”
However, he still watched the last three playoff games from the press box. Lohrei told reporters that it was a “behind closed doors decision,” while Don Sweeney said that he “lost his confidence” during the playoffs.
Despite the playoff scratch, Lohrei is still a valuable trade asset. His ceiling is still high, and he showed both offensive upside and improvement in his defensive game this season.
He is currently playing with Team USA at the IIHF World Championships, playing top-pair minutes with Detroit’s Justin Faulk. He is one of two returners to the USA lineup after winning gold last year.
After last year’s World Championships, Lohrei signed a two-year extension with a $3.2 million cap hit. He will be a restricted free agent when his contract expires, giving an acquiring team slightly more protection.
The Bruins are looking to add skill and speed, and they need help on the right side.
They have a player in-house that they have already dangled in a trade to address that need, and they may have to do it again this summer.