New York Rangers News: Alex Frolov Denies Comments About Sean Avery

Lost in the shuffle of the New York Islanders referendum yesterday was the comments supposedly made by former New York Ranger Alex Frolov about some of Sean Avery's antics on the ice.

In that translation Frolov supposedly alluded to Avery having called players "black monkeys," something Frolov denied in a phone interview with Jesse Spector. From his article:

"I didn't have a chance to read the article," Frolov told the Daily News by phone. "Something in the Russian newspaper about Aves. They asked me about Aves and I said he's a friend of mine and a really nice guy. What I said was that he, in the past, used to have problems where he could say something, but he's a really nice person and good friend of mine."

"I didn't say anything about Aves calling someone bad language - I was saying he's really emotional and that in the past he could say the wrong thing," Frolov told The News. "It wasn't particularly about black people. He doesn't have anything against black people. I mean, he's a nice person, and he wouldn't say something bad about black people or Asian people or any kind of people. It's some kind of misunderstanding."    

Honestly, this is a very bizzare situation. On one hand, this wouldn't be the first time that a player was misquoted in translation. On the other hand, it's difficult to see how the term "black monkeys" even got translated if it never got said. 

Join me after the jump for more. 

Frolov and Avery didn't seem to have a bad relationship during their time as teammates on the Rangers. Obviously things can be drastically different behind closed doors, but everything seemed fine on the surface. 

Frolov, who signed with Omsk of the KHL this off season, really isn't in a position to be upset with Avery or the Rangers either. When the Los Angeles Kings threw Frolov on the back burner, while they were in hot pursuit of Ilya Kovalchuk, the Rangers were there to give him an opportunity to resurrect his career. 

Frolov only played in 43 games for the Rangers, putting up a mere 16 points (seven goals) despite seeing time on the first line. Frolov's poor showing finished with a season-ending injury that completed his Rangers tenure. 

In the end, no matter what the truth is, it doesn't matter. Frolov isn't even in the NHL anymore, and Avery has heard worse things said about him in his sleep. Avery will probably keep his focus on knocking the Flyers off their game in the NHL Winter Classic, and doing everything he can to improve on a rough campaign last year. 

Thoughts on this guys?