- Mason Langenbrunner is retiring at 23 without ever playing a pro game
- The Bruins had until Aug. 15 to sign the 2020 fifth-round pick to his entry-level deal
- Read below for what the Harvard captain is doing next and where his father landed
Mason Langenbrunner is walking away from hockey before it ever really started.
The Bruins prospect is retiring at 23 without playing a single professional game, Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe reported Saturday. Boston had until Aug. 15 to sign the defenseman to his entry-level contract after he wrapped up his senior season at Harvard this spring. He won’t be signing with the Bruins, or anyone else.
Langenbrunner spent his final year as the 140th captain in Harvard program history:
He came to Boston as a fifth-round pick in 2020 out of Eden Prairie High School in Minnesota. Born two days before that year’s draft cutoff, he still had another year of high school ahead of him before jumping to junior hockey with the USHL’s Fargo Force in 2021-22.
One season in Fargo, then off to Cambridge. The 6-foot-3 righty held a spot in Harvard’s lineup for four years and cleared 30 games every season, but he never rose above a depth role on the blue line. He wrapped his college career with 9 goals and 17 assists across 130 games.
Watch him hit the 100-game milestone with the Crimson back in the fall:
Instead of chasing a pro deal, Langenbrunner is putting his business degree to work. Dupont reported that he is already a partner in a pair of start-up companies.
The last name should ring a bell for Bruins fans. Mason is the son of Jamie Langenbrunner, the two-time Stanley Cup champion who spent 11 years in Boston’s front office. Jamie left the Bruins in May and joined the Predators as a special assistant to GM Chris MacFarland.
Mason was one of three college prospects Boston needed to sign by the Aug. 15 deadline. Forward Oskar Jellvik already signed with Sweden’s Rogle BK, and the Bruins are still working on a deal with goaltender Philip Svedeback.
