The Boston Bruins have found themselves near the bottom of NHL prospect pools as the season approaches in two months. Recent call-ups Mason Lohrei, Matt Poitras, and John Beecher are now most likely on the NHL roster, leaving the pool of young players a little thin yet again. As the 2024-25 season nears, here are players’ destinations within the Boston Bruins organization from the 2020 NHL Draft.
2020 Draft
Mason Lohrei – The offensively gifted defenseman played 41 games with Boston and compiled four goals and nine assists. The former Ohio State standout totaled a goal and three assists in an impressive postseason. This season, look for Lohrei to start in Boston and never look back.
Trevor Kuntar – The gritty forward who is built like a fire hydrant is an aggressive forechecker and projects to be a bottom-six winger who is hard to play against at the next level. The former Boston College forward registered ten goals and ten assists in 70 games with the Providence Bruins and has a chance to steal some time in Boston at some point during the 2024-25 season. However, the odds favor Kuntar beginning the year in Providence again.
Mason Langenbrunner – A 21-year-old defenseman heading into his junior year at Harvard University. After 63 games, Langenbrunner has one goal and five assists. A fifth-round pick whose father, Jamie, played in the NHL and is now Assistant General Manager-Player Personnel for the Bruins, Langenbrunner is a 6-foot-3, 195-pound blue liner who will need to have a big year at Harvard to climb the prospect charts.
Riley Duran – Duran has been a pleasant surprise for Boston out of Providence College and has progressed to be a legitimate pro prospect from the sixth round. Duran has good hockey instincts and is willing to get to the front of the net with good finish and size. Duran will begin the season with the Providence Bruins but could be a sleeper fill-in with the big club at some point in 2024-25.
This draft class has some potential with Lohrei at the forefront. The Bruins are banking on the left-shot defender to have a big sophomore season. Kuntar and Duran are two bottom-six candidates that could make this draft a real win for General Manager Don Sweeney which is necessary considering the 2018 and 2019 drafts have only produced Beecher to this point.
