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In the least surprising news of the offseason, to date anyhow, the Boston Bruins will lose prospect
Alex Khokhlachev to the KHL’s SKA St. Petersburg next month, according to a
Russian report.
This was a long time coming for both Khokhlachev and the Bruins. Khokhlachev’s final season in Boston began with an honest take that he was pretty much sick of playing in Providence in the American Hockey League. He wanted a legitimate chance at making the B’s roster, and wanted to prove that he could contribute at the NHL level before more players passed him on the organizational depth chart.
“I’m 22. If they don’t give me the chance to play, why am I here? I will not play in Providence all my life,” Khokhlachev said back then. “They told me to wait for my chance and I’m still waiting for that.
“I played in two games and the third game I played two minutes. I don’t think that’s really a chance. I played fourth line. It doesn’t really matter what line I play, but I don’t think it’s really a chance to be played two games.”
That part didn’t really change for Khokhlachev in 2015-16, either.
After he failed to make the big team out of camp, Khokhlachev returned to the American Hockey League, where he continued to light up the opposition, but did come up to Boston for a cameo on the B’s top line with
David Krejci and
Loui Eriksson in early November. In two games with over 14 minutes of time on ice alongside two of the game’s hottest skaters at that time, Khokhlachev looked limited at best in such a role, and put just three shots on net.
From there, it was back to the fourth-line minutes, as Khokhlachev skated in another three games for the Big B’s, including Boston’s no-show in the 2016 Winter Classic at Gillette Stadium on New Year’s Day, and totaled just 21:57 of time on ice over that stretch (or, in other words, 7:19 per game).
Banished back to the minors after the Winter Classic with zero points in five NHL games, the 5-foot-10 forward finished the year with 23 goals and 68 points in 60 games for the P-Bruins. Such has been the story of Khokhlachev’s North American pro career to date, too, as he’s stacked up an insane 61 goals and 171 points in 197 AHL games and zero goals and zero points in nine NHL games.
Minutes allocated have been the issue with Khokhlachev’s NHL appearances, of course, but it’s the role in which he’d have to thrive if he were to make a significant impact in Boston. He was never going to bump
Patrice Bergeron or
David Krejci out of a spot in the top six as a center, and he’s never looked totally comfortable as a winger, so the fit seemed difficult from the start. He also did not show much of anything when it mattered after talking such a big game in training camp, which I think definitely bugged a front office and coaching staff in particular, that wanted him to push harder.
Straight-up, did Khokhlachev do enough to earn a permanent residence on Boston’s roster? No. Personally speaking, I just never saw that jump in his play. You have to do something, anything, with the minutes you’re given, even as a skill guy, and it just never looked that Khokhlachev welcomed that challenge. He had moments where you saw strong passes and a speedy skating game, but his confidence seemed shot when it didn’t immediately work for him with a tangible end result.
At the same time, it’s impossible for me to say that there wasn’t room for a longer look when you consistently rolled out disastrous, borderline unplayable bottom-six combos that always found minutes for players such as
Joonas Kemppainen,
Zac Rinaldo, and
Max Talbot.
In essence, this divorce could be seen with the naked eye from Boston to Providence.
This is not Khokhlachev’s first departure back to Russia from North America, either, as Khokhlachev recorded two goals and seven points in 26 games for Moscow Spartak in 2012-13. It is, however, his first since becoming pro (Khokhlachev’s first jump to Russia came back when he was a Windsor Spitfire).
The Bruins will retain Khokhlachev’s rights, whom they drafted with the 40th overall pick in 2011, though, despite the move, so he becomes a potential throw-in trade chip (like Carl Soderberg for St. Louis). Or maybe there’s a reunion in Boston somewhere down the line, if a change in regime occurs.
Khokhlachev is the third Bruin to jump to the KHL already this offseason, as Talbot has signed with Lokomotiv while Kemppainen will skate for Sibiu Novosibirsk next year.
Ty Anderson has been covering the National Hockey League for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, has been a member of the Pro Hockey Writers Association's Boston Chapter since 2013, and can be contacted on Twitter, or emailed at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com.
Boston Bruins Blogger •Bruins Feature Columnist • 
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