Bruins, Alexander Khokhlachev Have Talked About NHL Return
Bruins, Alexander Khokhlachev Have Talked About NHL Return
"Khokhlachev indicated to us originally during the year that he was interested [in returning to Boston]," Sweeney said. "He did re-sign back in Russia, so I don’t know if necessarily – we had some preliminary talks and where he’d fit."
Khokhlachev's interest in a Boston return likely comes back to the fact that Bruce Cassidy is now running the bench in Boston.
The 5-foot-10 forward had a 'great relationship' with Cassidy during his time with the P-Bruins, recording 61 goals and and totaling 171 points in 197 AHL contests. Khokhlachev undoubtedly played his best North American hockey under Cassidy in his final season with the B's organization, too, with 23 goals and 68 points in 60 AHL games in 2015-16.
It was night and day compared to Khokhlachev's relationship with then-Bruins coach Claude Julien, who relegated Khokhlachev to a bottom-six role and/or limited ice time in his nine NHL appearances, which prompted Khokhlachev to criticize his development during the opening days of Boston training camp in 2015.
This was written last summer. If Claude was still coach then I would think there’s no way he’s coming back. Under his old coach, still not likely but maybe.