Two players who have both played in the NHL and represented their countries at the Winter Olympics have signed contract extensions with Avangard Omsk, the KHL club recently announced.

Nikolai Prokhorin playing for the Los Angeles Kings in 2019. © Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

Alex Grant, a 36-year-old Canadian defenseman, and Nikolai Prokhorin, a 31-year-old Russian center, have signed extensions for one and two years, respectively.

“Alex hasn’t played much this season, but the way he worked on recovering from the injury has shown what a professional he is,” said Avangard CEO German Chistyakov. “Now that he is back in the lineup, he adds experience and skill to our defense while also contributing offensively. He is an important part of the team not only on the ice, but also in the locker room, where the younger players gain confidence being around such an experienced defenseman. We are sure that Alex will keep helping us next season, so we are glad we were able to come to a compromise and sign contract extension.”

Grant, who hails from Antigonish, N.S., played junior hockey for the QMJHL’s Saint John Sea Dogs, where he served as team captain, and briefly for the Chicoutimi Saguenéens. He was drafted in the fourth round, 118th overall, by the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2007 and played in a total of seven NHL games in his career – two with the Anaheim Ducks and five with the Arizona Coyotes – scoring two goals.

Grant has played in the KHL since 2018, starting with four seasons with Finland-based Jokerit Helsinki, followed by SKA St. Petersburg, and Kazakhstan-based Barys Astana. He started this season in Astana but was part of a purge of foreign-born players in a series of cost-cutting moves by the last-place team in October. Grant has four points in seven games since signing in Omsk.

Grant represented Canada at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, recording two points in three games.

Exodus From Astana Continues Last week, Kazakhstan-based KHL club Barys Astana <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/international/latest-news/barys-astana-terminates-contracts-of-nathan-beaulieu-will-butcher-michael-mcleod">released three of its highest-profile players – ex-NHLers Michael McLeod, Nathan Beaulieu and Will Butcher</a>. Since then, the club has released a couple more of its North Americans – Chase De Leo and Alex Grant.

Prokhorin, a native of Chelyabinsk, Russia, was picked in the fourth round, 121st overall, by the Los Angeles Kings in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft. He had an eight-game AHL stint with the Manchester Monarchs in 2012-13 before returning to Russia for another seven seasons. In 2019-20, he gave North America another try and played 43 NHL games for the Kings, recording 14 points.

Prokhorin has nearly 300 points in nearly 400 KHL regular-season games over 14 seasons for CSKA Moscow, Salavat Yulaev Ufa, SKA St. Petersburg, Metallurg Magnitogorsk, Sibir Novosibirsk and Avangard, with whom he is now on his second tour of duty.

In the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang, Prokhorin played for the Russian team, which was called the Olympic Athletes from Russia due to sanctions, and he scored two goals in six games to help the team win a gold medal.

“Nikolai Prokhorkin has been with Avangard for several years now, and he has been a great leader for the team when it needed one the most,” said Chystyakov. “The (Nail) Yakupov, Prokhorkin, (Igor) Igumnov line does really well, they score points in almost every game. Skills, puckhandling, passing, shooting – all those components allow Nikolai to be one of the leading centers in the KHL. He has a terrific nose for the net and is the type of the player we want to see on our team for seasons to come.”

Avangard currently sits sixth out of 12 teams in the KHL’s Eastern Conference. The team’s roster includes Prokhorin’s linemate Yakupov as well as other ex-NHLers Reid Boucher, Ryan Spooner and the currently-injured Michael McLeod. The team previously had Linden Vey and Ryan Merkley, but both of those players left for what the team described as family reasons.

Michael McLeod Finds New KHL Team Canadian center Michael McLeod, 26, has signed a contract to play the remainder of the current season with Avangard Omsk, the <a href="https://www.hawk.ru/news/53791/">KHL club announced</a> on Tuesday.