I strongly recommend the B-Chain as well. The portages have challenges but are not excessively difficult. The dam from Pickerel to Bisk is a cool spot for a stop and there are some neat waterfalls (not huge). I do recommend being exceedingly careful in the rapids that flow into Fern Lake as the youth group I led this summer damaged a canoe pretty well there.

For reference sake, we did Stanton down to Fern and camped on Fern the first night. We then backtracked and made it through a good stretch of the Pickerel Narrows for night two. We made it to the Nym Lake put-in by about 2pm on day 3. Wind was not much of a factor and the youth group I was leading was older (15-years old) however their canoeing skills were not exceptional.

I don't think you want to take on the portage to Olifaunt so I'd probably backtrack. If you do want that challenge, you could head up through Deux Rivieres. This would mean a few challenging portages as well as dealing with water levels.

If you want to base camp and take things slowly, head down to the B-chain into Fern than backtrack. There are some good sites on Pickerel, too. Skip camping on the Pickerel Narrows if possible. Feel free to send a message and I'd be happy to pass along more specific info.

Now if you could get down to Russell, he'd probably really enjoy that, but that would be pushing things.