And then there was one.
The Bruins will play their final game without Charlie McAvoy when they host the Flyers in a Saturday matinee at TD Garden.
Boston’s best defenseman will return from his six-game suspension Tuesday, when the Bruins kick off their California swing late night with the Sharks in San Jose.
The Bruins already have one spare defenseman — Jonathan Aspirot has sat the last two games. McAvoy’s return means another will have to take a seat.
“It will be [a tough decision]. I mean, it’s a good problem because you have a guy like Charlie back, but I know how it feels and there’s a lot of Ds right now waiting for opportunity,” coach Marco Sturm said following Friday’s high-tempo morning practice at Warrior Ice Arena. “Even a guy like Aspy, it was not even fair to get him to sit out because he played actually pretty good, but we have too many right now. So that’s going to be the challenge moving forward.”
It remains to be seen who will partner with McAvoy, who has skated with all three likely candidates: Aspirot, Mason Lohrei, and rookie Frederic Brunet.
Lohrei has had a strong start to the season. He’s played every game, pairing with Aspirot or Brunet, and scored his first goal in Thursday’s 6-1 win over the Mammoth.
He’s playing a lot of minutes (a little less than 20 per game) and with a lot of confidence. The 6-foot-5-inch Lohrei is up to 224 pounds after putting on muscle in the offseason.
A lefthanded shot, Lohrei has experience playing both sides. He said his tutorials with assistant coach Matt McIlvane have helped.
“I think just trying to play my game and play with confidence every night,” said Lohrei, asked to assess his performance. “I’ve felt pretty good so far. There are always things to clean up and things to improve upon, but I’m working [on] that with Matt, and every day just trying to get better. So, try and be even better tomorrow.”
McIlvane is new to the staff this season and has been working with the defensemen and the penalty kill.
“He’s been awesome. He’s just really great to work with, such a great mind and a great communicator. And then he’s an Ohio State guy, so kind of good connection there,” Lohrei said of his fellow Buckeye. “It’s only been, I don’t know, two weeks now, but looking forward to the rest of the year.”
Sturm has been pleased with what he’s seen from Lohrei in the early going.
“We definitely noticed that he put in the work over the summer, so that was good. I thought he had a really strong start, I would say the first three games or so. He played a lot of minutes during that stretch, maybe even too much, but it was good for him. Those are the times we always talk about having Charlie out. So, you’ve got to spread it out. And Mason was one of them who had more minutes than usual,” said Sturm. “I think he can clean up [some things] the last few games. He can clean up a few breakouts; I think a few turnovers. But other than that, I thought he came in ready to go.”
Jim McBride can be reached at james.mcbride@globe.com. Follow him @globejimmcbride.