Morgan Frost is playing in his 6th season as a member of the Philadelphia Flyers. He will also be seeking his third post-entry-level deal in the last four years. The skill-set is undeniable but the production has been so sporadic that it makes you wonder if 2024-25 will be his last in the Orange and Black.
Other than Frost, Joel Farabee, Scott Laughton, and Rasmus Ristolainen have had their names mentioned in trade talks countless times in recent memory. The Flyers will be entering a pivotal offseason in the summer of 2025 with six picks projected in the top-50, key RFAs to sign, and decisions needing to be made on roster players.
Frost had a tough start to his Flyers’ tenure with injuries and the COVID-19 postponement relegating him to just 22 NHL games between 2019-20 and 2020-21. He started the 2021-22 season with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms because Chuck Fletcher and the rest of the front office wanted him to get his feet wet, confidence back, and playing meaningful reps before his eventual NHL recall.
Technically his rookie season, Frost managed just 5 goals and 16 points in 55 games but he did manage to have a good season off the puck with above average analytical stats, 27 takeaways to 22 giveaways, and he also won 48% of his faceoffs.
With John Tortorella at the helm in 2022-23, it was anyone’s guess as to which players would thrive or struggle in his system. Without Claude Giroux, Sean Couturier, or Cam Atkinson in the fold either due to trades or injuries, Frost had his best season to date with 46 points in 81 games. 40 of those points came in his final 54 contests after he managed just 3 goals and 6 points in his first 27.
He paced the team in points from December onward and played at the pace, skill, and production value that everyone had expected from the former first round draft choice in 2017. He had delivered 19 goals and 48 points in 65 games at the AHL-level and 79 goals and 221 points in his final 125 games in the OHL. It was bound to click, right?
2023-24 was more of the same, where he struggled at the beginning, had a terrific middle, and then a so-so finish. Frost had just 5 goals and 11 points in his first 27 games, which also included double-digit visits to the press box before ripping off 29 points in his next 35 games as the Flyers continued to battle for playoff position.
Unfortunately as the team started to slide, Frost followed suit, putting up just 1 goal in the final 9 games as the Flyers just missed out on the postseason. He finished with 13 goals and 41 points in 71 games despite seeing his ice-time drop and being a press-box visitor for a good chunk of October.
Tortorella has not been shy of how he’s felt about Frost over the years and this year hasn’t deviated from the norm either. In a contract season, perhaps his most vital at the age of 25, Frost has 1 goal and 6 points to go along with a minus-11 rating in 15:25 ATOI in 15 games. He just got the monkey off his back with a goal in last Tuesday’s loss to Carolina, but he has struggled to begin the season – again.
As has generally been the case with the once-touted prospect, Frost tends to start off slow, have a great run around December to March, and then cools off to finish the year.
After the Flyers disappointing shutout defeat on Saturday, Frost lamented on a glorious scoring opportunity but believed that his time was coming:
“I’d like to be generating more chances,” Frost said last Monday. “But it feels like for the last five or six games, I’ve had a Grade A or like an open net once in all the last five games. … I feel like sometimes it’s going to be one that goes off my leg or someone’s skate or something and then hopefully I’ll get going after that.
“I think I can do a lot more to earn that opportunity. I know that I can be a good player. You want to be in that spot, I want to be a contributor for the team. Got to get it going, I feel like I need one game, something. We’ll see.”
Jordan Hall’s final quote had to do with how Frost has been a stellar second-half player over the last 2 seasons:
“That’s all I heard about for the last two years,” Frost said with a smile. “I’d like to start a little bit better, for sure. It’s frustrating. Hopefully I can get it going very soon here versus having to wait until later in the year, where I feel like the last two years I’ve kind of picked it up. It’s something I’m concentrating on, but at the same time, you can only control so much. Put myself in better spots and work harder away from the puck to maybe earn some more opportunities.”
So, while the Flyers might not have a choice but to wait on Frost’s second-half resurgence, it makes you wonder how the decision makers are feeling, including Tortorella. While he’s not the general manager or the President of Hockey Operations, it has been stated several times that he does have some sway and say in terms of hockey moves.
The following quotes don’t really bode well for Frost, at least as of right now, but at the very least, Tortorella is giving him chances to snap out of his funk:
At the start of this season, how much is Tortorella trying to stick with Frost?
“Trying like hell,” the head coach said. “Trying like hell.”
Is the leash starting to shorten?
“It certainly is,” Tortorella said.
With the Flyers’ offense stagnating, especially at even-strength, Frost’s production is absolutely paramount if they want to turn things around. They are already rail thin at the centre position and not many players hone his skillset.
Unfortunately, it’s a conversation that keeps persisting and with a decision needing to be made by the end of the postseason, is the ticking clock nearing it’s end?
Anthony Di Marco took to Daily Faceoff last week and discussed how the Flyers want to upgrade at the centre position and it might come at the behest of Frost:
“The Flyers have been looking at options to bolster their talent down the middle since last season and continue to do so.
“The club has not been happy with Morgan Frost, whose five assists through 12 games have left many disappointed after entering the year with high expectations. With no long-term, surefire center options long term beyond 2024 first-round pick Jett Luchanko, the Flyers have their ears to the ground for options on the trade front.”
He then mentions specific names that the Flyers have either been linked to before, have had trade conversations about, or could look to scoop up:
“In terms of names, we have heard them linked to Trevor Zegras of the Anaheim Ducks for quite some time. The Ducks have the price high on Zegras, from what I can gather, and there are still questions on whether or not he is a center as opposed to a winger. Dylan Cozens of the Buffalo Sabres is someone I believe the Flyers like, but after starting the season slow following a disappointing 2023-24 campaign, there are definitely concerns. In addition to that, the Sabres don’t seem in a rush to move on from the Whitehorse native, as they’d be selling low on the player. The Minnesota Wild’s Marco Rossi was available over the summer, and after a hot start to the season, I wonder if he could be a name the Flyers have eyes on. Whether Minnesota still has an appetite to trade him is a different story.”
If the Flyers did manage to acquire a Zegras, Cozens, or Rossi, Frost would more than likely be heading the other way. Zegras and Frost was discussed ad nauseam over the offseason and with where both teams currently stand, a trade of that ilk makes sense for both sides. Buffalo has struggled for well over a decade and could look to re-tool once again if they have given up on Cozens. Rossi was someone the Flyers had been targeting for quite some time, especially during the Cutter Gauthier trade talks.
With the writing on the wall, Tortorella ended up making Frost a healthy scratch ahead of their Monday tilt against the San Jose Sharks in lieu of Matvei Michkov. It remains to be seen how long he will remain out of the lineup for, considering he doesn’t like tinkering with a winning roster. However, it seems like his coaching tactics have changed regarding Frost and he’s given him a longer leash to run with, unfortunately he just hasn’t produced at the rate that was required.
For the time being, Frost remains a Flyer and will do so for the foreseeable future unless a trade seemingly falls into their lap. He’s scheduled to become an RFA at the end of the year, which gives the club a little more leverage and leeway.
However, in saying that, look for trade rumours to continue to churn from now to the offseason, potentially picking up steam at the trade deadline – unless he turns his season around earlier than expected and forces the Flyers’ hand in handing him another extension.
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