After adding five more players to the organization on Saturday, the Bruins felt even better.
Boston's top three picks all came out of the Ontario Hockey League, with forwards Alexander Khokhlachev (Windsor) and Anthony Camara (Saginaw) joining defenseman Dougie Hamilton (Kitchener). The fact they all came from the same league was just a happy coincidence, according to Bruins assistant general manager Jim Benning, who noted each of the three provided a different set of skills that appealed to the Bruins.
"That's just kind of the way it fell today," Benning said of the OHL-heavy start to the club's draft. "You know, each guy we targeted for different reasons and the way it fell, they fell into our lap like that. So we're happy, we're happy to get all three of them."
After addressing their need to bolster the blue line for the future with Hamilton on Friday, the Bruins were able to target some help up front on Saturday. That led to the selection of Khokhlachev in the second round with the 40th overall pick.
"We call him KoKo," Benning said. "He's a skilled, skilled player. Loves to score. For a Russian player, he's really competitive. He's strong on the puck. He's an elusive skater, and from the blue line in on the offensive end, that's the strength of his game. He loves to score and create scoring chances.
"He's one of those guys that can turn on a dime so he's hard to track because he's so elusive," Benning added. "He's not tall but he's a thick kid, so he's strong and he fits our core values of work ethic, character and skill. He measures up in all those things."
Khokhlachev is from Moscow, but while many NHL teams have become wary of drafting Russian players because of the concerns about signing them with the lure of big money in their homeland KHL, Benning isn't worried about Khokhlachev's desire to play in the NHL.
"We did our homework before the draft," Benning said. "He played in Windsor last year. He's going to stay in North America, wants to be an NHL player and he's going to do everything that he can, in his power, to stay over here until he gets to play in the NHL."
Khokhlachev has no regrets about his decision to come to North America, and he noted how much his first season in the OHL has helped his development.
"I learned a lot," Khokhlachev said. "It was a great decision to come to Canada and I learned everything. [It's a] more physical game, faster, more, I don't know, everything. More practices, more games. You go to every game so hard."
The 5-foot-10, 188-pound Khokhlachev put up 34-42-76 totals in 67 games, then led all OHL rookies in playoff scoring with 9-11-20 totals in 18 games in his first season in North America. But he still sees plenty of areas to improve on, and as a 17-year-old who qualified for this year's draft by just six days, he'll have plenty of time to work on all of them.
"I need to improve everything," Khokhlachev said. "I'm the youngest guy in the draft, so if I want to play in the NHL I need to improve everything."
If Khokhlachev makes it to the NHL with Boston, he might have Camara around to look after him. Where Khokhlachev brings a wealth of speed and skill, Camara supplies toughness and grit.
"He's a typical Boston Bruin-type player," Benning said of the 81st overall pick. "He's a good skater. He plays a north-south game. He'll fight anybody. He'll take anybody on. He hits on the forecheck. When he was there in the third round, it was a good fit for his style of game to the way we play. He's not big, well not that tall, but he's thick and he's a fearless player, kind of like a Shawn Thornton-type for us."
The 6-foot, 194-pound Camara had 132 penalty minutes in 64 games and was tied for seventh in the OHL with 16 fighting majors, but he does more than just drop the gloves. He was also named the best body checker in the Western Conference by the OHL's coaches and possesses some offensive upside the Bruins expect to see tapped in the coming years after a modest 8-9-17 line this season.
"He's a good skater," Benning said. "He'll go to the net. He'll play in the tough areas of the ice. I think his numbers were eight [goals] and nine [assists] this year, but you know for us as a staff, we look to him to score 20 goals next year in the OHL. And I think his skill set is a little underrated. I think he'll be fine."
Don't expect Camara to forget what he does best, though, which should suit him well if he makes it to Boston in the future.
"It's a great honor, being an Original Six team, physical, my kind of play, everything like that," Camara said of being drafted by the Bruins. "I think [Boston's style] fits me quite well. I'm a hard-nosed, physical kind of player, so it definitely fits in quite well. [I play] a role kind of prioritizing the little things – block the shots, get the puck out, take the hits and make a play, drop the gloves, not scared of anyone."
Not anyone expect maybe his sister, who helped turn him into the scrapper he is today.
"My sister would beat on me when I was a little kid," Camara said, "got me tougher."
The Bruins got a little tougher, and a little more skilled with this weekend's draft, which also included Cornell-bound forward Brian Ferlin in the fourth round, Milton Academy defenseman Rob O'Gara in the fifth and a goalie from Oslo, Norway via Finland in Lars Volden in the sixth.
