Trade Alex Frolov

My Kings roommate was talking last night about the thought of trading Frolov, but ultimately decided that if the Kings did trade him, they should try to get “another Frolov”.

It’s bizarre, but what can you do?

I’d conjecture, but I’m fairly certain there’s no way Frolov gets traded to Anaheim. Even if we had the desired “another Frolov” trade return.

I guess that Marleau – Frolov trade rumor looks even better now in the rear view mirror doesn’t it?

I’m going to miss Fro. I sincerely hope that he scores 80 points on a top line with the new club he gets traded to and is appreciated by his new fans and coaches and GM. Sucks.

I wrote this when I was mad so it’s kind of meandering and I repeat myself and the whole thing sort of collapses on itself like a dying star towards the end, but I figured I’d just publish it anyway.

I thought this was a really well written article. I read it from start to finish and enjoyed it a lot. I thought you brought up a lot of really good points. Nicely done.

Looks like Damian Lombardi, Dean’s evil twin, has taken over. For a guy that was a lawyer for a long time, Lombardi has a bad habit of letting his temper override his responsibilities.

Why make a big stink and bench Frolov? Why not just quietly trade him, if he’s such a menace? You’ve just tipped your hand to the entire league, killing his trade value.

Then again, why drive Kevin Constantine around for a few hours AFTER you’ve fired him, yelling at him?

Answer: Damian Lombardi ruins everything Dean holds dear.

But really, what does that even mean? He doesn’t make an angry face when he plays? Fro isn’t intense because he doesn’t play an intense game. He doesn’t really check people, he doesn’t really go into high traffic areas, and he doesn’t look like he’s skating intensely because he has a long stride. Neither does Joe Thornton. Neither did Adam Oates.

I love this deconstruction of the amorphous “competitiveness” and “intensity” qualities.

How dare you blaspheme hockey dogma? When a North American says a European is not intense enough and doesn’t “love the game,” you must accept it as scripture and move on. It’s the law.

He’s not intense enough.

Welcome to the world of “he has no heart, he doesn’t want it enough” blah blah blah.

Makes you want to throw something at whoever is saying it.

“And what we’ll do as a team and as a franchise is you get on board or you get a surfboard and go to Hawaii. So that’s it.”

This is the craziest statement I’ve ever heard Dean Lombardi say and I love every word of it. Russian’s don’t surf.

I wrote something very similar this summer about Patty. Shit sucks man. Nothing much else you can say.

I’ve heard this argument hundreds of time in baseball and it’s no more credible in hockey, that a player needs to show greater intensity. The oddest part to me is that head coaches should simply know better just as baseball managers should know better. Having Eckstein-ian hustle and heart means absolutely nothing, yet it’s cited all the time as a crucial ingredient for success.

So what I wonder is: are managers/coaches so dumb as to actually believe this? Or is there something else contributing? As you said, JD Drew was pretty unpopular in LA despite his very respectable numbers. But walks are boring and I have to think a visibly emotional player is more marketable. Is it too outlandish to think that benching Frolov was a way to get all the players to at least imitate the public perception of a team that plays with a lot of heart?

his is the only jersey of any current Kings player I own, though I was tempted to rush out and buy a Drew Doughty 3rd last season.

I know what everyone says when a player of his caliber is up for a free agent year and been with a team for this long without being elevated to some super-status (re-signing early, Team Captain, etc), especially when they were brought in under a different regime, and they’ve had a point. but I figured he had 2 big things working in his favor, 1) is that Frolov has always said the right things about wanting to be here and play as a King with the team at the next level and 2) 99.5% of the time, he does the right thing on the ice. he’s the kind of player, the <1% chance he does something wrong, will almost immediately do something else to make up for it. on top of all that, he’s a player we can’t really advance to the next level this season without. and on top of all of that he’s durable, in that he’s almost never injured or if he has a nagging injury manages to play with it and never say anything.

really, can you imagine the 2008-2009 Kings without Frolov? because that’s almost what we’re talking about here. whether you were one of the people who were already miserable with where we finished or not, it would have been just brutal otherwise.

as others have said (Rudy included), I’m not even sure who you trade him for… what’s the equivalent value? I don’t even think Marleau would have filled the right need if Fro’s gone. you’d need at least 2 players to try to bring what he brings, and that takes away another spot from someone else already doing a respectable job at one or the other.

in other words… yikes. but let’s just hope the “healthy scratches” are done. I know Luc had it happen to him about 3 times very late in his career, but that was even a little bit different since he was really getting up there (about 10 years older than Fro is), super streaky, and wasn’t the defensive or puck possession stalwart like Alex.

“from someone else already doing a respectable job at one or the other.” should really say,

“from someone else already doing a respectable job, in favor of a specialist.”

both had similar knocks, from a management standpoint, that they weren’t showing their potential. think about it. but really, there’s almost no similarity… the thing about Robert Lang was he just wasn’t good enough by 1995 or 1996. he went somewhere else and got better (playing on a regular line with Jagr and a few others helps). very little of chance of that happening from Frolov, because he’s already the player he’s going to be. and the 2002-2009 Kings have been all the better for it.

as others have said, where was Dustin Brown the first 8 games…. nowhere. now maybe he said something great in the room and blah blah blah, and generally you don’t do something like scratch your captain unless he’s got a bug or needs rest. and I say this not to call someone out, but merely to make a comparison.

My main problem with the “message” benching is the concurrent, unintentional message sent by promoting Ratis Ivanans, who had a horrible penalty in the same game as Frolov’s bad pass and was called out by Murray, to the third line from the fourth. I’m confused on that one.

really fascinating and hilarious observations. I myself came down on the Murray side of the argument, because I like teacher coaches (e.g. Murray, Ftorek, the previous Murray) and I have a knee-jerk violent reaction to players who think they are above the system. Especially with Murray’s quotes on the subject, I found myself re-evaluating Frolov — sort of like finding out that a previously-believed to be nice girlfriend was actually Madchen Amick in Dream Lover.

Before I say that I have come about halfway back from my agreement with Murray — due mostly to having read everything above (as I am irrationally swayed by humor) — I would just like to offer the following observation:

When I was doubting Frolov, last night, I found myself thinking, “wait, why exactly do I think Frolov is so great all the time? Yes, he puts up numbers and plays tough minutes. But if he were all nasty looking like Mike Ricci or somebody, would I give him the benefit of the doubt as I obviously have for so long?” Just as your “intensity” comment argues against condemning Frolov for looking like he doesn’t care, my anti-ugly prejudice possibly caused me to give him the benefit of the doubt because he’s, well, kind of cute and happy looking. You know, sort of how Helene Elliott is always going to bat for the cute Kings (POS, Cammalleri…Frolov?) but doesn’t give a shit about the dorky ones (Lubo). I suspect her motives.

Lilke you, I hang nearly everything good that happened last year on Frolov. I don’t know what will happen to this team if he is dealt for Sheldon Souray or F Kaberle. (obviously, it will be er okay in the end and all that bullshit.)

I do think, though, that I understand what Murray wants him to do: everything he says. I don’t think that’s unreasonable. And unfortunately none of us knows what’s really going on behind closed doors and how its affecting the team. It does seem that he’s weirdly off-putting and other-worldly. And I don’t have a problem with that, as long as (1) he performs, and (2) he doesn’t turn the other players into pod people. Although that suggests a funny SNL skit. Interview with Brown in Murray’s office. Brown stares blankly into space. Nothing coming back…

was what a shame. As a Russian, I would put rank him in top 6 of the most talented Russians playing in the league, and probably in the top 10 Russians ever to play in the NHL. I hope we see him on the 2nd line for Team Russia in the Olympics.

I agree Rudy. This is likely a racist type of issue against Russians, and it’s not uncommon in the NHL of course. Fedorov saw the same hate against him in Columbus that he gladly shared about to the Russian press as soon as he was traded to Washington. I’ve read many other Russian interviews of the similar nature.

I think Doug Wilson has the same problem, but at least he doesn’t trade or drafts Russian players and completely stays away from them..

video of the frolov mtg

http://wp.me/ptucv-DY

http://wp.me/ptucv-E5