Alexander Frolov

Alexander Alexandrovich Frolov (; born June 19, 1982) is a Russian retired professional ice hockey player. In an eight-year National Hockey League (NHL) career, he played with the Los Angeles Kings and the New York Rangers. After Frolov's NHL career ended, he moved to the KHL with Avangard Omsk and CSKA Moscow.

Playing career Frolov was drafted by the Los Angeles Kings in the first round, 20th overall, in the 2000 NHL entry draft. He had been playing in Russia's third-tier hockey league with Lokomotiv-2 Yaroslavl, then stayed in Russia for two more seasons, moving up to the second-tier Russian Supreme League (RSL) and first-tier Russian Super League (RSL) with Krylya Sovetov Moscow.

Signed to a three-year contract with the Kings in July 2002, Frolov made his NHL debut in 2002 for the Kings, scoring his first NHL goal, a game-winner, in his seventh game on October 25 against Mike Richter of the New York Rangers. Frolov finished his rookie season with 14 goals and 31 points. After improving to a team-high 24 goals and 48 points the following season, Frolov returned to the Russian Super League in 2004–05 due to the NHL lockout. He began the season with CSKA Moscow and finished second in team scoring to Nikolay Zherdev, despite completing the campaign with Dynamo Moscow.

Frolov became a restricted free agent before the 2005–06 season and after turning down a three-year deal, he signed a longer, five-year, $14.5 million contract in August 2005. In the first year of his new contract, he scored his first NHL hat-trick on November 13, 2005, in an 8–2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets. Later that season, Frolov was named to Russia's 2006 Winter Olympic team in Turin, where he suffered a partially separated shoulder. He missed approximately a month with the Kings when he returned, but still managed a 54-point season in 69 games.

In 2006–07, Frolov continued to improve and recorded a career-high 35 goals and 71 points, second in team point-scoring to Michael Cammalleri. He finished second in team-scoring for the second consecutive year to Anže Kopitar in 2007–08 with 67 points, despite missing 11 games due to a groin injury suffered in November.

An unrestricted free agent after the 2009–10 season, Frolov signed with the New York Rangers on July 27, 2010, on a one-year, $3 million contract. On January 8, 2011, he suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) of the right knee after forward Brad Winchester fell over Frolov's leg. The injury forced him to miss the remainder of the 2010–11 season after he underwent surgery to repair the damage. Frolov registered seven goals and nine assists for 16 points, along with eight penalty minutes, in 43 games during his only season with the Rangers.

On May 12, 2011, Frolov left the NHL and signed a three-year contract with Russian team Avangard Omsk of the KHL. On November 5, 2013, Avangard Omsk traded Frolov and Stanislav Egorshev to CSKA Moscow in exchange for Sergei Shirokov and Maxim Goncharov.

On September 15, 2014, Frolov announced his retirement from professional hockey, citing the effect of knee injuries he had sustained since 2011. However, after a season out of the game, Frolov returned on July 7, 2015, signing a one-year contract with his former club Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod of the KHL.

In July 2018, after seven seasons in the KHL, Frolov signed with South Korean club Daemyung Killer Whales from Songdo, Incheon of the Asia League Ice Hockey (ALIH).

International play

Frolov represented Russia on two occasions as a junior at the 2000 World Junior U18 Championships in Switzerland and 2001 World Junior Championships in the Czech Republic, where he earned a gold medal. He scored a goal in the 5–4 gold medal game victory over Canada and finished with a team-high six goals and eight points in seven games.

After completing his rookie season with the Los Angeles Kings, Frolov debuted at the senior level with Russia at the 2003 World Championships and scored five points as Russia failed to medal. He made his second World Championships appearance in 2007, tallying an international personal best 11 points in nine games. Playing as the host nation, Russia earned bronze defeating Sweden 3–1 in the bronze medal game.

Frolov also competed in the 2004 World Cup, where he managed two assists in four games. He was selected to his first Winter Olympics for the 2006 games in Turin. However, Frolov was injured early in the tournament, suffering a partially separated shoulder in a round-robin game against Kazakhstan. He missed the remainder of Russia's games as they were defeated 3–0 by Finland in the semi-final game.

Frolov was selected as a reserve by Russia for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver should an injury occur during the tournament.

Career statistics Regular season and playoffs Regular season Playoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 1999–2000 Lokomotiv–2 Yaroslavl RUS.3 2511132410————— 2000–01 Krylya Sovetov Moscow RUS.2 4420193981488164 2001–02 Krylya Sovetov–2 Moscow RUS.3 20004————— 2001–02 Krylya Sovetov Moscow RSL 421813311631012 2002–03 Los Angeles Kings NHL 7914173134————— 2003–04 Los Angeles Kings NHL 7724244824————— 2004–05 CSKA Moscow RSL 4220173710————— 2004–05 Dynamo Moscow RSL 6213262130 2005–06 Los Angeles Kings NHL 6921335440————— 2006–07 Los Angeles Kings NHL 8235367134————— 2007–08 Los Angeles Kings NHL 7123446722————— 2008–09 Los Angeles Kings NHL 7732275930————— 2009–10 Los Angeles Kings NHL 811932512661340 2010–11 New York Rangers NHL 4379168————— 2011–12 Avangard Omsk KHL 54121224162122410 2012–13 Avangard Omsk KHL 4713284110100332 2013–14 Avangard Omsk KHL 2238114————— 2013–14 CSKA Moscow KHL 29639641012 2015–16 Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod KHL 47613191483034 2016–17 Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod KHL 34711182021014 2017–18 Amur Khabarovsk KHL 4764103520000 2018–19 Daemyung Killer Whales ALH 321612281230220 NHL totals 579 175 222 397 218 6 1 3 4 0 KHL totals 280 53 79 132 105 47 7 5 12 22

International Year Team Event Result GP G A Pts PIM 2000 Russia WJC18 6 5 1 6 10 2002 Russia WJC 7 6 2 8 4 2003 Russia WC 5th 7 3 2 5 6 2004 Russia WCH 5th 4 0 2 2 2 2006 Russia OG 4th 6 0 1 1 0 2007 Russia WC 9 5 6 11 0 2009 Russia WC 7 3 1 4 2 2010 Russia WC 8 0 1 1 2 Junior totals 13 11 3 14 14 Senior totals 41 11 13 24 12