prokhorov began his playing career in his native ussr. he played for spartak moscow for 9 seasons from 1983 until 1992. he also played for the ussr in the 1991 canada cup and for russia in the 1992 winter olympics and the 1992 ice hockey world championship. following the breakup of the soviet union many russian players attempted to come to north america to play in the nhl. prokhorov was no exception, and he was drafted by the st. louis blues in the 3rd round, 64th overall in the 1992 nhl entry draft. he along with vitali karamnov and igor korolev created a "moscow express line" that was expected to bring a big scoring punch to the blues.