At the Masters, golfers want to have a minus sign and the biggest number possible next to their name. In the NHL, that’s the last place any player wants to be.
Mason Lohrei, unfortunately, wakes up on Friday morning at the bottom of the NHL’s plus/minus leaderboard. After posting a minus-4 in Thursday’s 5-2 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks, the Boston Bruins’ second-year defenseman is now a league-worst minus-43 on the season.
Now, before we go any further, here is my required disclaimer: Plus/minus is a flawed stat, because it can get skewed by things like empty-net goals and shorthanded goals, which can hurt or help certain players depending on what kind of role they’re used in.
Lohrei’s defensive metrics don’t look good even as you dig deeper, though. He is minus-21 at 5-on-5, which is fifth-worst among all NHL defensemen. He has been on the ice for 3.52 goals against per 60 minutes at 5-on-5, which is tied for the worst mark among defensemen. According to The Athletic’s Dom Luszczyszyn, Lohrei’s projected defensive rating of minus-6.0 entering Thursday was a league-worst.
What’s most discouraging is that Lohrei has sunk even deeper down the stretch. In 23 games since the return from the 4 Nations Face-Off on Feb. 22, Lohrei has been on the ice for 32 goals against at 5-on-5, 10 more than any other Bruin. He is a league-worst minus-19 at 5-on-5 during that time, with an expected goals share of 41.5%.
At a time when the Bruins are just hoping to see some young players build some positive momentum heading into the offseason, Lohrei is doing anything but.
His offensive skill is obvious. There have absolutely been positives to take from this season as well, including the fact that Lohrei leads Boston’s defensemen in points (33) and ranks third on the team in assists (28). He has had some stretches of good two-way play as well. But it’s clear that Lohrei still has a ways to go to become a reliable NHL defender capable of handling top-four minutes.
“You watch Mason, there's a lot of things this year in his development that have gone in the right direction, I think. There's also things that he has to continue to work on, obviously,” interim head coach Joe Sacco said Thursday night. “I mean, being thrown into a situation where he's playing more minutes right now as a young defenseman, playing against top players consistently on a night-in and night-out basis, it's not easy.
“It's a tough ask. And that's one of the things that he's going to have to keep working on, is his ability to play away from the puck, his ability to defend, to defend and make good decisions, and knowing who you're playing against at all times. Because when you're out there against offensive lines, it doesn't take much for them to make you pay. So, that's something that I think he'll continue to learn as he grows.”
Lohrei, who turned 24 in January, is struggling even when he’s not facing top players, though. The Blackhawks, for example, don’t have many of those.
On the first goal against that he was on the ice for Thursday, Lohrei couldn’t slow down Nick Foligno as Foligno picked off a Fabian Lysell pass inside the blue line and raced past Lohrei the other way. On the second, Lohrei didn’t step up to challenge Sam Rinzel on a zone entry, and then couldn’t get his stick on the puck or Ryan Donato’s stick as Donato buried a rebound.
On the third, Lohrei did slow down the zone entry, but then lost the ensuing board battle seconds before Kevin Korchinski scored. On the fourth, an empty-netter, Lohrei turned the puck over inside the offensive blue line.
The Bruins have high expectations for Lohrei. They would love for him to be the long-term partner for Charlie McAvoy – and there were some encouraging signs when those two played together this season (plus-5 in 238 5-on-5 minutes with a 50.7% expected goals share). Lohrei’s stretch run probably looks quite a bit different if McAvoy had been healthy. Lohrei will also be aided by the return of Hampus Lindholm to the left side of the blue line next season, as Lindholm will take on a lot of tougher assignments and allow the Bruins to shelter Lohrei more.
Between now and then, Lohrei will need a new contract, as he will be a restricted free agent after the season. What that deal looks like will be interesting. The guess here is that a shorter-term bridge deal might make the most sense for all parties, with Lohrei still having more to prove before a longer-term, bigger-money contract is in play.
Whatever the contract looks like, the offseason to-do list for Lohrei is clear: Get stronger in his own zone so he can win more battles and start to find the defense to match his offense.