Nikolai Prokhorkin Returns To KHL
After just one season in the NHL, Nikolai Prokhorkin is going home. The Los Angeles Kings forward’s entry-level contract is set to expire, but he won’t be re-signing with the team. Instead, he has inked a two-year deal in the KHL with Magnitogorsk.
The 26-year old forward has had quite an interesting relationship with the Kings over the years, dating back to their selection of him in 2012. Prokhorkin quickly signed with the organization a few months after being drafted and actually came over to play eight games with the Manchester Monarchs at the start of the 2012-13 season. Unfortunately, his contract was then ruled invalid, sending him back to the KHL and starting a long breakup between the two sides.
Prokhorkin would spend the next seven years in the KHL, playing for three different organizations before coming back to the NHL this past season. He signed his new entry-level contract in May of last year and ended up playing 43 games for the Kings. With four goals and 14 points, he at least will get to say that he held his own at the highest level in North America. Whether he ever comes back is a different story.
Normally with restricted free agents that leave for other leagues, the NHL team is able to retain their rights with a qualifying offer and try to sign them again down the road. Unfortunately in this case given his age, those rights will expire before the Kings have a chance to re-sign Prokhorkin, meaning this is ultimately going to leave him an unrestricted free agent in 2022 able to sign with any NHL organization.
Nikolai Prokhorkin In Talks With KHL Metallurg
Nikolai Prokhorkin’s long-awaited debut in North America didn’t bring the results he or the Kings were hoping for. As a result, it appears that he may be heading back home. After SKA St. Petersburg announced that they’ve moved Prokhorkin’s KHL rights to Metallurg Magnitogorsk, John Hoven of Mayor’s Manor notes (Twitter link) that the winger is in talks on a two-year deal with his new KHL squad.
The 26-year-old played in 43 games with Los Angeles this season but was mired in a bottom-six role for most of the year. As a result, he wound up with just four goals and ten assists on the season while averaging 12:06 per night. That’s a significant dip offensively after being a point per game player with St. Petersburg the year before. He also picked up a pair of assists in four games with AHL Ontario, their minor league affiliate.
Prokhorkin is eligible for restricted free agency this offseason but will not have salary arbitration eligibility. A deal in Russia would take him past the NHL UFA age of 27 which means that the Kings would no longer hold his rights when that contract expires.
Today’s activity from SKA is notable as they picked up the rights to Avalanche winger Vladislav Kamenev and Predators center Yakov Trenin as part of that swap. Both players will likely be part of their teams’ expanded rosters for the postseason which could delay any talks about luring them back overseas but this will be something to keep an eye on in the weeks ahead.