The Boston Bruins have made their decision on top defense prospect Mason Lohrei, and the 22-year-old will start the season in Providence.
The Bruins announced Monday afternoon that they have assigned Lohrei to the AHL along with forward Patrick Brown, who was waived on Sunday and did not get claimed.
General manager Don Sweeney had a lot of praise for Lohrei on Monday at Boston's media day. He said he had "a pretty good idea" what the team would do on defense at that point, but acknowledged that Lohrei had "made the decision difficult" with his strong training camp and preseason play.
"Mason has made our decisions really difficult. He's played well," Sweeney said. "We've put him in similar situations with [Matt] Poitras, playing them up and down the lineup and in situations that, on the back end, you're going to get hit and you're going to get exposed, if anything. He's logged a lot of minutes. We continue to work on his habits without the puck.
"I think everybody starts to see the talent and the vision that he has, the creativity, the confidence to be able to execute offensively, whether that's from his own goal line or the offensive blue line. The biggest adjustment to the National Hockey League is really defending against the top players and any players in the National Hockey League, because they lean on you and they press you. Mason's going to have to continue to go through that. There'll be some growing pains associated with it."
With Lohrei now sent to Providence, the Bruins' defense pairings for opening night on Wednesday are expected to look like this:
Matt Grzelcyk - Charlie McAvoy
Hampus Lindholm - Brandon Carlo
Derek Forbort - Kevin Shattenkirk
Ian Mitchell
Lohrei would certainly appear to be the next man up in the event of injury or poor play. He could also continue to force their hand if he dominates in Providence.
For now, though, there's no real harm in having him start the season in Providence, where he'll play big minutes and play in all situations. Let's not forget that Lohrei has only played eight AHL games to this point, only turning pro after his sophomore season at Ohio State ended last spring.
The Bruins also have one of the NHL's best defenses on paper already, so there wasn't as much of an obvious need or opening as there was up front, where fellow youngsters Matt Poitras and Johnny Beecher both won opening night center jobs.
In other Bruins transaction news, they did lose one player on waivers, as the Calgary Flames claimed A.J. Greer on Monday. Greer got waived on Sunday and always seemed to be fighting an uphill battle this preseason, with the return of Milan Lucic creating some duplication in skill sets. Ironically, Greer now lands with the team that let Lucic walk over the summer and was probably looking to replace some of the toughness Lucic brought.
Sending down Lohrei opens up the roster spot and cap space needed to sign Danton Heinen, who certainly appears to be a lock to be the Bruins' 13th forward. As of Monday afternoon, Heinen remains on a professional tryout and will need to be signed to an NHL contract. He is still with the team and was on the ice for Monday's practice.
