Vitali Prokhorov

Vitali Vladimirovich Prokhorov ; born December 25, 1966, in Moscow, Soviet Union) is a retired professional hockey player who played briefly with the St. Louis Blues in the NHL. He played left wing and shot left-handed.

Career Prokhorov began his playing career in his native USSR. He played for Spartak Moscow for 9 seasons from 1983 until 1992. He also played for the USSR in the 1991 Canada Cup and for Russia in the 1992 Winter Olympics and the 1992 Ice Hockey World Championship. Following the breakup of the Soviet Union many Russian players attempted to come to North America to play in the NHL. Prokhorov was no exception, and he was drafted by the St. Louis Blues in the 3rd round, 64th overall in the 1992 NHL entry draft. He along with Vitali Karamnov and Igor Korolev created a "Moscow Express Line" that was expected to bring a big scoring punch to the Blues.

For the 1992–1993 season however things did not go well for Prokhorov. After a slow start, Prokhorov suffered a shoulder injury that limited him to only 26 games the whole year. He did have a bright spot during the season however when he scored a hat trick against the Philadelphia Flyers on October 31, 1992. After starting the 1993–1994 season with the Peoria Rivermen Prokhorov played 55 games with the Blues, scoring 25 points. The following season Prokhorov played 20 games with the Rivermen and only 2 games with the Blues before being released.

Following his stint in the NHL Prokhorov played the 1995–1996 season in Sweden and 4 more seasons in Russia before retiring from hockey in 2001.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs Regular season Playoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 1983–84 Spartak Moscow USSR 5 0 0 0 0 — — — — — 1984–85 Spartak Moscow USSR 31 1 1 2 10 — — — — — 1985–86 Spartak Moscow USSR 29 3 9 12 4 — — — — — 1986–87 Spartak Moscow USSR 27 1 6 7 2 — — — — — 1987–88 Spartak Moscow USSR 19 5 0 5 4 — — — — — 1987–88 Kristall Elektrostal USSR II 16 3 3 6 4 — — — — — 1988–89 Spartak Moscow USSR 37 11 5 16 10 — — — — — 1988–89 Traktor Lipetsk USSR III 2 2 1 3 2 — — — — — 1989–90 Spartak Moscow USSR 43 13 8 21 35 — — — — — 1990–91 Spartak Moscow USSR 43 21 10 31 29 — — — — — 1991–92 Spartak Moscow CIS 32 12 16 28 54 6 1 3 4 14 1992–93 St. Louis Blues NHL 26 4 1 5 15 — — — — — 1993–94 St. Louis Blues NHL 55 15 10 25 20 4 0 0 0 0 1993–94 Peoria Rivermen IHL 19 13 10 23 16 — — — — — 1994–95 Spartak Moscow IHL 8 1 4 5 8 — — — — — 1994–95 St. Louis Blues NHL 2 0 0 0 0 — — — — — 1994–95 Peoria Rivermen IHL 20 6 3 9 6 9 4 7 11 6 1995–96 Färjestads BK SEL 37 7 11 18 61 8 2 0 2 31 1996–97 Standart Mendeleyevo RUS IV 11 12 — — — — — — — — 1997–98 Spartak Moscow RSL 46 21 14 35 92 4 2 1 3 12 1998–99 HC Davos NDA 3 0 1 1 2 — — — — — 1998–99 CSKA Moscow RSL 12 5 5 10 22 — — — — — 1998–99 Ak Bars Kazan RSL 16 2 4 6 8 9 2 1 3 29 1999–2000 Metallurg Magnitogorsk RSL 20 8 11 19 8 12 5 4 9 2 2000–01 Lada Togliatti RSL 14 2 4 6 8 — — — — — 2000–01 Vityaz Podolsk RSL 24 5 9 14 52 — — — — — 2001–02 Khimik Voskresensk RUS II 32 10 8 18 30 — — — — — USSR/CIS totals 266 67 55 122 148 6 1 3 4 14 NHL totals 83 19 11 30 35 4 0 0 0 0 RSL totals 132 43 47 90 190 28 9 6 15 43

International Year Team Event Result GP G A Pts PIM 1991 Soviet Union CC 5th 5 1 2 3 4 1992 Unified Team OG 8 2 4 6 6 1992 Russia WC 5th 6 0 3 3 4 1998 Russia WC 5th 6 0 1 1 0 Senior totals 25 3 10 13 14