After stinking up the joint against the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Boston Bruins are searching for answers. Even their official Twitter feed admits as much.
As much as the answers must come from within, perhaps a fresh face from the AHL might help? The team recalled forward Alexander Khokhlachev this morning, according to various sources including TVA’s Renaud Lavoie.
The 21-year-old seemed to land in quite a few trade rumors over the years, including seemingly being involved in the Jarome Iginla swap that didn’t happen.
He’s certainly been making a case for a look with the big club, at least if his numbers with the AHL’s Providence Bruins are any indication. The 40th pick of the 2011 NHL Draft has five goals and 11 points in 12 AHL games so far this season. He was productive in 2013-14 as well, scoring 57 points in 65 regular season games and 14 points in 12 AHL playoff games.
As far as who he might replace in the Bruins lineup considering the quick turnaround against Montreal tonight after that throttling via Toronto on Wednesday, CSNNE.com’s Joe Haggerty is disturbed by the array of choices:
Hearing @renlavoietva reporting B's called up Alex Khokhlachev. Never a good sign when there are 3-4 Bruin candidates that could be benched
— Joe Haggerty (@HackswithHaggs) November 13, 2014
It’s easy to see why the Bruins are frustrated with last night’s poor performance, yet they brought a five-game winning streak into Wednesday’s meltdown. They can prove that loss to the Maple Leafs was a mere hiccup by beating the hated Habs, and perhaps Khokhlachev could even contribute to that cause.
Here’s one guess regarding how he might fit in:
I'd guess that Khokhlachev plays with Griffith and Lucic, which puts Kelly back with Soderberg and Eriksson.
— Amalie Benjamin (@AmalieBenjamin) November 13, 2014