Thread: Rangers agree to terms with Former King Alexander Frolov(All Frolov talk here)

Originally Posted by jt

Ok then. My overall perspective is that the semi-free market of free agency in sports means EVERY free agent gets their market value. We can all say it's not commensurate with their abilities, achievements, and potential (both too high and too low, depending on the player), but every single one gets exactly what they're worth.

Frolov got his market value for going to NYC (a great city with a huge Russian community) to play on the first line with Gaborik on a one year deal. The bolded part includes various factors why Frolov would take less to go to that situation. I hope you realize that it would take an appreciably larger number for someone like Buffalo or Columbus to procure his services, and there's no way he'd be going there on a one-year deal, if at all.

Originally Posted by Goallum

Frolov got his market value for going to NYC (a great city with a huge Russian community) to play on the first line with Gaborik on a one year deal. The bolded part includes various factors why Frolov would take less to go to that situation. I hope you realize that it would take an appreciably larger number for someone like Buffalo or Columbus to procure his services, and there's no way he'd be going there on a one-year deal, if at all.

You're probably right, but even the KHL (allegedly) only offered him $20M for 4 yrs. Are Frolov, his agent, and a bunch of LGKers the only people in the entire world who know how super-awesome he is?

I have plenty of doubt he'll play alot with Gaborik. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Tortorella bench him. Like I said, compared to Terry Murray, Tortorella is Attila the Hun and won't give Frolov half the leeway Murray did.

The bottom line in all this to me is that Frolov for Ponikarovsky is a pretty lateral move. It's not exactly equal - but it's pretty damn close. At the end of the day, it's a big ol shoulder shrug from me...but that's also because I'm married the laundry not the guy in it.

jt, Murray's proclamation of Frolov and Handzus being their shutdown forwards came long before the move to acquire Smyth. there were no visions of sugarlums.

like your research done on Stanley Cups and the under 21, i did extensive research about this whole Frolov and the big boss battle and came up with DICK, save for a small handful of slights about specific plays.

what i DID find was that this whole "three coaches have..." myth exists primarily with a handful of Kings fans on the internet and have in part been fueled by the bellows that is Jim Fox.


this includes conversations i've had with Dean Lombardi personally, a couple of people among the Kings organization, a couple of people within the league, and others.

and it's unfortunate that this site gets pruned every once in a while.

Per Bleacher Report --- New York Rangers: Be Happy With Alexander Frolov in New York

In the end, there was no one better out there or in the system that has the potential to change the team like Frolov does. For $3 million, Frolov is a steal for a season.

On the other side of the country someone is happy.

Originally Posted by jt

You're probably right, but even the KHL (allegedly) only offered him $20M for 4 yrs. Are Frolov, his agent, and a bunch of LGKers the only people in the entire world who know how super-awesome he is?

Only?

Originally Posted by jt

I have plenty of doubt he'll play alot with Gaborik. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Tortorella bench him. Like I said, compared to Terry Murray, Tortorella is Attila the Hun and won't give Frolov half the leeway Murray did.

Initially I wasn't so sure myself, but then I looked at the Rangers' roster. Oh, he'll play on the first line. And I don't think it has anything to do with Tortorella being this egomaniacal, hot-headed hard-ass, and TeMu being a kind grandfatherly sweetheart. They have a clean sheet to build whatever they're going to build, and everyone has all incentives to make the best of it. If Tortorella is smart (which I think he is, much more so than TeMu) he will realize what he has in Frolov and will put him in a position to succeed and thus to help the team as much as he capable of. If Frolov is smart (which I also think is the case) he will be a good soldier, bear down, and kick some major ass this season (as I expect him to do), to set himself nicely for UFA next year.

Originally Posted by gescom

jt, Murray's proclamation of Frolov and Handzus being their shutdown forwards came long before the move to acquire Smyth. there were no visions of sugarlums.

Are those more tasty than sugarplums?

I'm not going to try to get into Murray's head but there was talk throughout the season of Frolov being a top 6 forward and of the Handzus and Stoll lines not really being "2nd" and "3rd" lines because when you looked at ice time, the Handzus line often got more ice time than the Stoll line.

What I'm really getting at is that they worked and worked and worked to get Frolov to be a 1st/2nd line player and it didn't work because he just never worked hard enough consistently enough to earn that job. At some point they gave up. Was it at 8:43pm on November 21st? HellifIknow. But having worked with lots of people over many many years, I've seen plenty of types and some people just don't have what it takes to excel. Frolov has loads and loads of talent, he just doesn't have the head and/or heart for it. Maybe it'll kick in this year, who knows, it looks like Antropov may finally be "getting it".

like your research done on Stanley Cups and the under 21, i did extensive research about this whole Frolov and the big boss battle and came up with DICK, save for a small handful of slights about specific plays.

what i DID find was that this whole "three coaches have..." myth exists primarily with a handful of Kings fans on the internet and have in part been fueled by the bellows that is Jim Fox.

I agree that three coaches and two gms didn't skewer the guy. But surely you concede that Murray, Crawford, and Murray were all sorely disappointed in him. You remember the story about Lombardi having a done deal involving Frolov and Crawford talking him out of it - and then after half a season Crawford had his reality check that he couldn't get through to Frolov.

this includes conversations i've had with Dean Lombardi personally, a couple of people among the Kings organization, a couple of people within the league, and others.

As have I. It'll be awfully interesting to see where this all goes but I'm over Frolov - he's been replaced by Ponikarovsky and I'm ok with that.

and it's unfortunate that this site gets pruned every once in a while.

I've lamented that for 10 years...wouldn't it be GREAT to go back and read some of that old cra, er, great writing from back then?

HockeyBuzz survey - for what it's worth, the majority feel the Rangers made a good decision.

Will Frolov and Broadway Work?

* Yes
56%
* No
43%

Created on Jul 27, 2010

Total Votes: 1,741

Originally Posted by Goallum

Only?

Yep, considering that they offered Kovalchuk $14M per seasons for like a thousand years, $5M per isn't much. KHL teams pay good NHL players almost twice what they're worth in the NHL..

Initially I wasn't so sure myself, but then I looked at the Rangers' roster. Oh, he'll play on the first line. And I don't think it has anything to do with Tortorella being this egomaniacal, hot-headed hard-ass, and TeMu being a kind grandfatherly sweetheart. They have a clean sheet to build whatever they're going to build, and everyone has all incentives to make the best of it.

Just because it looks good on paper doesn't mean it makes any sense whatsoever on the ice. You're a smart guy so you know there are thousands of line combos that sounded great but flopped on the ice for lots of reasons.

If Tortorella is smart (which I think he is, much more so than TeMu) he will realize what he has in Frolov and will put him in a position to succeed and thus to help the team as much as he capable of. If Frolov is smart (which I also think is the case) he will be a good soldier, bear down, and kick some major ass this season (as I expect him to do), to set himself nicely for UFA next year

Sure, EVERY smart coach puts players in the best position to succeed. Although they may decide that a player isn't able to succeed beyond a certain point and lower the expectations.

Time will tell if Frolov can play well enough consistently enough long enough to do what you think he can. I'm not the optimist about him that you are.

I'm too lazy to read through the whole thread, but I want to know why we didn't trade Frolov (at the deadline or draft) if he was going to hit free agency. I'm not looking to get in a debate or anything, just curious on what everyone else thinks. Was it because they wanted to see what he could do in the playoffs? ...and if so, do you think he would've been re-signed had he done better?