Pay Them Now: Why the Bruins Should Lock Up Khusnutdinov and Lohrei Before July
Two key young pieces, one arbitration deadline. Pay them what they're worth now, because Swayman shows what waiting costs.
Alright, Bruins fans, let’s talk contracts. I know, I know, it’s not as fun as talking about Minten’s goals or Swayman’s saves. But trust me, this one matters, because the decisions Boston makes in the next few months are going to shape this team for years.
Here’s the question a lot of you have been asking me: should the Bruins extend Marat Khusnutdinov and Mason Lohrei now, or let both of them ride into arbitration next summer? My answer is simple. Pay them both now, pay them well, and keep both of them far away from a hearing room.
Let me explain why.
Same door, same summer
Both players are in the final year of two-year bridge deals they signed in June 2025. Khusnutdinov’s pays him $925,000 a year. Lohrei’s pays him $3.2 million a year. Both deals expire after this season, and both guys will be restricted free agents with arbitration rights for the first time.
And let’s clear something up, because I know a lot of fans remember this differently: Lohrei has never been to arbitration. He was eligible back in 2025, but Boston signed him before restricted free agency even opened, and no hearing was ever filed.
Up until now, the Bruins have held most of the cards with these two. Come next July, both of them get a seat at the table, and a neutral arbitrator gets the final word if talks stall. That changes everything.
Khusnutdinov: the kind of player every contender needs
Let’s start with Marat, because I think he’s one of the most underrated players on this roster.
Khusnutdinov is a middle-six forward, and I mean that as a big compliment. Every team that wins in the spring has a few guys like him: players who can move up and down the lineup, play with skill guys, kill plays in their own end and chip in offense without needing to be the star. Those players are gold, and they’re harder to find than you’d think.
Last season he played 77 games and put up 15 goals and 33 points. That’s legit production for a player making less than a million dollars. This year he’s been skating with Fraser Minten and JJ Peterka, and that line has been a blast to watch. Through seven games he has a goal and two assists, including his first of the season against Philadelphia and the setup on Minten’s game-sealer in San Jose. The point totals are modest so far, but watch how he plays. He makes the guys around him better.
My number for Marat: $4 to $6 million
I can already hear some of you: four to six million? For a middle-six guy? Hear me out.
The cap keeps climbing, and the cheap bridge deals of a few years ago just don’t apply anymore. Arbitration rewards production and versatility, and Khusnutdinov has both. A 15-goal, 33-point middle-six forward who can slide up the lineup when injuries hit is exactly the kind of player who gets paid in this market. Look at the Bruins’ own structure, too: Peterka, his linemate, makes $7.7 million.
So my pitch is a two- or three-year deal somewhere in that $4 to $6 million range. Pay him in the middle of it now, and Boston gets a valuable, versatile forward at a fair, predictable price. Wait, and a strong full season hands his camp a case for the top of that range, or more.
Lohrei: the harder call
Now for the tougher conversation. Lohrei is a big, mobile defenseman who can move the puck and jump into the rush. But I won’t pretend last season was smooth. He played 73 games with 7 goals and 26 points, down from the 33 points that earned him this deal, and he slid down the depth chart, sometimes all the way out of the lineup. Then in September, before camp opened, reports surfaced that other teams were calling about him.
So what did he do? He came out this season on fire. Two goals and five points through seven games, including a goal against Philadelphia and another against Utah, while playing real minutes. That’s the Lohrei we all hoped we’d see.
My number for Lohrei: $6 to $7 million
My view: a two-year bridge at $6 to $7 million a year. Yes, that’s roughly double what he makes now. But that’s where the market for a 25-year-old puck-moving defenseman is heading, and big, mobile defensemen who can drive offense are exactly what teams pay for when the cap is rising. If he carries this start through a full season, an arbitration case built on his best numbers could land in that range anyway, just with none of the goodwill. Paying it now buys certainty and keeps him from becoming a trade chip by default.
And if the Bruins aren’t willing to go there? Then the honest move is to make a decision well before July. Don’t drift into a hearing with a player other teams have already called about.
Remember Swayman
Bruins fans, we’ve lived the worst-case scenario already. In the summer of 2023, Jeremy Swayman, fresh off a Jennings Trophy season, went to an arbitration hearing. Boston filed at $2 million, his side asked for $4.8 million, and the arbitrator landed on a one-year, $3.475 million award.
The team saved a little money that year. Then it paid for it. The next fall, Swayman skipped all of training camp, the two sides traded frustrations in public, and he finally signed an eight-year, $66 million deal ($8.25 million a year) two days before the 2024-25 opener. We all remember how stressful that was. A hearing where the team argues its own player down can cost way more than it saves.
The cap says go
The league’s salary cap is set to climb again next season, and Boston has a nice chunk of money coming off the books as several veterans’ deals expire. That room isn’t unlimited. Minten’s new extension kicks in next season, and the Bruins will want flexibility to add. But there’s enough space to pay these two what they’re worth, and locking in those numbers now beats letting an arbitrator pick them later.
Bottom line
Both players have earned a raise. Boston gets to decide whether it pays them on its own terms this fall or on an arbitrator’s terms next summer. We’ve seen how the second option goes. Let’s not do that again.
Pay them now, Don. 🐻