Bruins Defenseman Continues Climbing Trade Boards

Tuesday, August 18, 2026
Mason Lohrei's name has been circulating in trade rumors for months, and a fresh salary cap breakdown suggests the Boston Bruins may have real reason to finally move him.

Per Pro Hockey Rumors' team-by-team cap series, Lohrei's situation stands out among Boston's expiring contracts. He's set to become a restricted free agent with arbitration rights next summer, and his role has shrunk to more of a fifth or sixth defenseman, at times finding himself a healthy scratch. 

"The numbers suggest he could get a raise past $4MM per year but for the role he has, it's a price tag they likely can't afford to pay," the outlet noted. "That could make him a viable trade candidate in the coming months."

Rollercoaster Two Seasons

Lohrei's Boston tenure has had some dramatic swings. He finished the 2024-25 season with a league-worst minus-43 rating that forced the coaching staff to limit his shifts, then completely reversed course last season, flipping that mark into a plus-17 while scoring a career-high seven goals.

GM Don Sweeney has publicly praised the turnaround. "You look year over year in terms of where he 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," Sweeney said. "Mason's got a lot of upside, and we're excited about him."

Despite that praise, Lohrei watched the final three games of Boston's first-round playoff loss to the Buffalo Sabres from the press box.

His Name Keeps Coming Up

Lohrei's name first circulated last season when the Bruins were engaged in trade discussions for then-Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson, an interest that stalled after Andersson rejected an extension. 

Sportsnet's Nick Kypreos wrote on his trade board this June that Boston was "looking into moving the 25-year-old," and ESPN's Greg Wyshynski included him in his "Change in scenery needed" section of a recent trade board, noting the Andersson connection specifically.

At 6-foot-4 and highly mobile for his size, Lohrei still carries a lot of appeal around the league. He's controllable, signed at a bargain $3.2 million cap hit through this season, and offers a rare blend of size and transition skill that teams covet on the left side.

Not everyone believes a trade is close. The Athletic's Fluto Shinzawa said in June that he doesn't see the Bruins trading Lohrei "just for the sake of it," and noted that if Boston does move him, he'd likely need to be packaged with other players given his trade value has cooled somewhat since his rookie-year hype.

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