Dennis Bonvie
Registered User
And Brazeau is tied with Pasta for most goals on the power play.
Almost halfway through the season and Lohrei & Brazeau still watching the first PP unit stink it up.
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Player Discussion Mason Lohrei
- Thread starter Gee Wally
- Start date
And Brazeau is tied with Pasta for most goals on the power play.
Almost halfway through the season and Lohrei & Brazeau still watching the first PP unit stink it up.
TCB
Registered User
Bad service where your at?
BruinDust
Registered User
Both should be PP 1 fixtures. Lohrei at the top of the umbrella, Brazeau in the bumper. Brazeau can cover so much ground with his reach from a fairly stationary position.
Sacco spying on this thread? Not that the PP looked worth a shit yesterday, but I saw Lohrei out and Braz out with Unit 1 I thought- the personnel were changed up anyway. One area that it *seemed* to be better was entries.
And at least one of the PP, the first one I saw Lohrei played well. He made a nice play to keep a clearing attempt in, got a shot in on net that braz deflected that was the best chance they had on the PP.
TCB
Registered User
I hope he was watching USA/Canada last night, and heard Granato say how important it is to have shots from the point on the pp to open up passing lanes.
DKH
Worst Poster/Awful Takes
Love him. I believe he played football at Culver Military Academy- he is used to contact id like to see him dial it up He doesn’t have to be Zadarov or even Carlo (yeh I forgot he’s soft in some universes) but kind of watch Lindholm who plays physical when has to but is not wasting energy on going out for hits.
I would love to see the full D and team healthy I think they would be that good.
Lohrei is coming along though nicely
I would love to see the full D and team healthy I think they would be that good.
Lohrei is coming along though nicely
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Mason, Mason, what to do with him? His advance stats for the season so far rank him last or second-last amongst the Bruins defenders in all the key areas, despite him getting more O zone starts than anyone else. The Tampa game showed both his clear offensive talent but also, once again, his defensive fragility.
He is still young and inexperienced. He's learning on the job. That has to be allowed for. And I just said in another thread that on balance I'd like the Bruins to persevere with him. There is clear upside there. But on the flipside it is also possible that he just never really gets it together defensively - he can be clumsy and error-prone and his IQ for playing D is clearly still only so-so at best.
So what are we thinking at this point? Keep at all costs, trade, or the middle ground of listen to offers but only move if it's advantageous to the team as a whole?
He is still young and inexperienced. He's learning on the job. That has to be allowed for. And I just said in another thread that on balance I'd like the Bruins to persevere with him. There is clear upside there. But on the flipside it is also possible that he just never really gets it together defensively - he can be clumsy and error-prone and his IQ for playing D is clearly still only so-so at best.
So what are we thinking at this point? Keep at all costs, trade, or the middle ground of listen to offers but only move if it's advantageous to the team as a whole?
BruinDust
Registered User
He was rushed to the NHL a bit. That being said, they don't beat Toronto in the playoffs last year without him being inserted into the line-up in Game 3. His skating and ability to skate the puck out of the zone was an asset. Still is.
He's a work in progress defensively. But he's the best offensive D-man on this team, and you can allot one of six D line-up spots to one D-man who can bring the offense but may have some issues defensively.
Then factor in this team's offensive woes, can they even afford to not have him around? What offensive D-man are they bringing in to replace him? I don't see how the league's worst offensive team can afford to jettison it's best offensive D-man.
BruinDust
Registered User
'
Is that minus 14 completely on him?
Even last night, sure he backed off too much, but that was a stoppable shot from Eyssimont.
KWbruin
Registered User
I say move him to left wing for a few games!
And I'm only half joking.
He is and I agree you can. And definitely the Bruins need someone who can really drive offense from the back end. Is Lohrei the right guy for that job though? His production is ok on a low-scoring team, but against that he's a -16 and I think it's safe to say that's no accident. Even with the Bruins' struggles the next-worst defender in that regard is only -4. That's a problem.
You can see the offensive talent and I think he's only going to get better in that area as his confidence and experience grow. But even if you produce like Cale Makar your actual defending still needs to at least be up to NHL standard. Right now it's pretty arguable that Lohrei's isn't.
Which raises the question of will it get there? And even if it will, is he the right fit for the Bruins or would someone else be better? But then, at what cost? What they certainly can't do is just lose his skillset and not replace it, as they essentially did with DeBrusk. That would be lunacy.
There's no rush. I consider this season a lost cause so there's no need to come up with some short-term decision on Mason's future or go chasing after an immediate upgrade. But management do need to work out whether they back him to round out his game in both ends, or whether they'd prefer another option in his place. And I think even with his flaws he would have some trade value, which could be useful.
I tend to prefer keeping home-grown talent where possible. It usually fosters good team culture and morale, gives greater control over development and list management, is cheaper, and is good for a team's reputation around the league and amongst the players. I think that means even more on a team like the Bruins who have had slim pickings of late in terms of developing and retaining quality prospects. But I'm not wedded to it. If the best thing for the team overall is to move him or anyone else, then you do it. Just not too hastily.
I get where you're coming from, and obviously he has good offensive instincts and you can tell he started hockey life as a forward. But I don't think he ever would have made it in that role as his skating probably isn't good enough. That's the most obvious issue I think in terms of picturing him as a forward in the big league.
BruinDust
Registered User
I think part of the issue is even if he isn't the right fit, with all of the issues up front, who replaces him? Guys who can run power-plays, generate offense, and defend adequately are hard to find. If it was their only real issue I'd say tackle it, but the problems up front are much more profound.
Unless it's in a deal to bring back an elite level player I'm keeping Mason for now.
quietbruinfan
Salt and light
I am not a fan. With all due respect to his coaches, I do not think he was taught defensive fundamentals for any position. After a while you can't just learn that. He is getting dangerously close to stagnation.
What you see is what he is, they need to cash in on him now while he has some value. Some GM may look at his once in a while offensive clear and be fooled.
Mine as well put Pasta on D, that how bad this kid is back there
Aren't you glad no one wrote you off at 23/24 years old?
BruinDust
Registered User
He's just in his 2nd year as a professional, around 100 pro games under his belt. Really he's ahead of where many thought he would be. In all honesty I figured he'd do the full 4 years in the NCAA before turning pro.
The fact he's got 17 pts. now in 39 games playing with arguably the most offensively inept group of forwards in the NHL just makes it all that much more impressive. And he's not playing on the No.1 PP unit. What would his numbers be like on a team that had a strong group of forwards?
He's the anti-Gryz IMO. Because he's big and tall, people are going to expect him to really lean on opponents physically and when he doesn't, they'll peg him as garbage defensively.
Great analogy ... shakes head
His size has little to do with him be a bad Dman, I don't care how old he is, he is absolute garbage back there. Stop acting like he's Paul Coffey offensively, he needs to be able to at least look like an AHL defender out there.
And yes, he's soft as shit as well. Im done with big soft Dman that get pushed allover the place by guys half their size. Losing hockey!
BruinDust
Registered User
I wouldn't want 4-5 D-men like him but teams can afford to ice one defender whose main contribution is the offensive side of the game. Maybe all he turns into is a #6 D-man who can post 50 points and run your No.1 PP. There is room for different skill-sets on the back-end. Bruins don't win a cup without adding a "soft offensive" D-man in Tomas Kaberle, who was basically their No. 5-6 guy on that run.
Losing hockey is not being able to score any goals. Never spending any time in the opponent's offensive zone. As we've seen recently.
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whatsbruin
Registered User
Haven't been following the year too much, but based on the current record and perceived talent or lack there of on the team, stick with him, let him grow and learn. I'll state it here probably else where, but this year is shaping up to one where Sweeney will trade the B's #1 for a mediocre player that he hopes gets them into the playoffs. That would be very bad move.
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