The Bruins’ 2020 NHL draft wasn’t exactly the most exciting. They didn’t have a first-round pick and they only had two picks in the first four rounds and four overall.
On top of that, the first pick they did make was widely considered one of the biggest reaches of the draft, as they selected defenseman Mason Lohrei in the second round (58th overall). Lohrei was either unranked or ranked outside the top 100 in nearly every major pre-draft ranking.
Both Lohrei and the Bruins’ second pick, third-rounder Trevor Kuntar, were eligible to be drafted in 2019 but were completely passed over, adding to the notion that maybe their upside wasn’t super high.
The 2020-21 season is still young for both Lohrei and Kuntar, but so far the Bruins have to be pretty happy with what they’re seeing, as both are off to strong starts on winning teams.
Lohrei is in his second full season with the Green Bay Gamblers of the United States Hockey League, and he currently leads the USHL in scoring by a defenseman with five goals and nine assists in nine games.
The Gamblers, for whom Lohrei is an alternate captain, have the third-best record in the league at 6-2-0-1 (the USHL counts overtime losses and shootout losses separately). Impressively, Lohrei has scored the game-winning goal in four of those six wins. He also has a goal and four assists on the power play.
Lohrei has had just one game without a point so far, and has had four with multiple points.
Now, it should be noted that Lohrei is basically playing a level below where you’d expect a 19-year-old second-round pick to be. Normally that kind of player would already be in college, but Lohrei isn’t heading to Ohio State until next season.
Still, the 6-foot-4 puck-moving defenseman is off to an impressive start, and the fact that his production is up from an already solid 2019-20 season (when he tied for the league lead in the assist) is encouraging.
Kuntar, a freshman forward at Boston College, is also off to a strong start. The Eagles are currently ranked No. 2 in the country with a 5-1-0 record (behind only 8-0-0 Minnesota), and Kuntar is tied for the team lead in goals with four. He also has one assist.
Kuntar scored his first collegiate goal on Dec. 4 in a 3-0 win over Providence, then scored two more the next night in a 9-0 win over the Friars. He also scored BC’s lone goal in a 3-1 loss to UConn this past Saturday.
Kuntar is part of a highly touted Eagles freshman class that also includes Avalanche fourth-round pick Colby Ambrosio and Wild sixth-round pick Nikita Nesterenko up front and Lightning fourth-round pick Eamon Powell on defense.
BC is one of the few Hockey East teams that has actually been able to play something resembling a normal schedule so far due to COVID-related postponements and cancellations. Two teams -- Boston University and Vermont -- haven’t even started their seasons yet, and a few others have only played one or two games.
The Eagles are now off until after the holidays, which is good news since four of their best players are out in Edmonton for the World Junior Championship. Alex Newhook has been with Team Canada in their bubble all season, while Matt Boldy, Drew Helleson and Spencer Knight are all now with Team USA.
It’s obviously early, and there’s still plenty of developing for Lohrei and Kuntar to do before we start talking about them as future contributors for the Bruins, but their impressive starts should ease fans’ minds a little and provide some reason for optimism.