Questions surrounded Mason Lohrei’s status with the Bruins throughout the summer and some of them didn’t stop once the puck dropped in September.

But through five games of the season, there is one question that’s causing less and less concern – the 25-year-old defenseman’s play. Lohrei is not only showing that he can play regularly in the NHL but that his development has continued to be on upward trajectory.

While he may have experienced a few hiccups here and there like everyone else on the team, Lohrei – aided by an added 10 pounds of muscle in the offseason – has played pretty darn well on the B’s third pairing, first with Jonathan Aspirot and currently with Frederic Brunet.

Coach Marco Sturm has liked what he’s seen from Lohrei.

“We definitely noticed that he put in the work over the summer, so that was good. I thought he had a really strong start, I’d say the first three games or so. He played a lot of minutes in that stretch, maybe even too much. But that was good for him. (With Charlie McAvoy out), Mason was one who had more minutes than usual (19:48 a game). I think the last few games, he can clean up a few breakouts, a few turnovers. But other than that, I thought he came in ready to go.”

In Thursday’s blowout win over the Utah Mammoth, Lohrei showed off his offensive prowess in the first period when he snaked through right side of the offense zone to find some space and a shooting lane before beating goalie Sebastian Cossa. He also showed some incredible hand-eye coordination to keep an airborne puck out of the back of the net in the second period, one of only two pucks that got behind Jeremy Swayman in the 6-1 win.

Lohrei seems well ahead of where he was last year at this time, when he was one of many players who had problems adjusting to the man/zone system. He eventually rebounded well enough to post an admirable bounce-back season, going from a league-worst minus-43 two years ago to a plus-17.

So far, Lohrei has had positive feelings about his performance.

“I think I’m just trying to play my game and play with confidence every night. I’ve felt pretty good so far,” said Lohrei, who also has a couple of assists and is plus-1. “There’s always things to clean up and things to improve on. But I’m working on that with (assistant coach) Matt (McIlvane) every day trying to get better and be even better (on Saturday against the Flyers).”

McIlvane, who has a history with Sturm dating back to the German national team, is in his first season with the B’s, taking over for Jay Leach (now head coach of the Hartford Wolf Pack) and running the defense.

“He’s been awesome,” said Lohrei. “Just really great to work with. Just a great mind and a great communicator. He’s an Ohio State guy (McIlvane played four years in Columbus, Lohrei two years), so there’s a good connection with him there. I’ve enjoyed working with him so far. It’s only been, what, two weeks now? But I’m looking forward to the rest of the year.”

What the rest of the year holds for him remains to be seen. The B’s started training camp with 10 waiver-eligible defenseman and, to little surprise, Lohrei made that first cut, with Henri Jokiharju and Jordan Harris getting sent to Providence after clearing waivers.

The competition hasn’t stopped, though. The B’s have seven available D now but that’s set to expand to eight next Tuesday when McAvoy is freed from his six-game suspension. Who comes out of the lineup is far from an automatic decision. Lohrei has been playing on the third pair, right side, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s the next guy in the press box with the McAvoy return.

Sturm has another game on Saturday to extract data and apply the eye test. He conceded it won’t be an easy decision.

“But it’s a good problem,” said Sturm. “You have a guy like Charlie back … and there’s a lot of D right now waiting for opportunity. Even a guy like (Aspirot). It was not fair to get him out because he played pretty good. But we have too many now. So that’s going to be the challenge moving forward. It’s almost like we have to get used to it. Some guys will be unhappy but also we need them to be ready any time there’s a call.”

There is also the trade front. With Pavel Zacha in his walk year and contract negotiations being fruitless thus far, the Bruins have been mentioned often as possible dealers, especially with the Red Wings dealing with standing trade requests from a couple of impact players in Dylan Larkin and defenseman Simon Edvinsson.

Lohrei is scheduled to be an RFA with arbitration rights after this season. With his status and the B’s surplus of D-men, Lohrei’s name has been thrown around quite a bit as well. In fact, had Rasmus Andersson wanted to sign a contract extension with the B’s last season, Lohrei might be a Calgary Flame right now.

Lohrei cannot control any of that talk. He can control is his play. He believes he’s put his best foot forward in this extended competition for a lineup spot.

“I think so,” said Lohrei. “Every day, I just show up to work and just do my best to showcase my abilities. I’ve said before but it’s a goal of mine to be in the lineup all 84 games. So nothing changes there.”