Flyers: The Importance of Morgan Frost’s Return Next Season

It has not been an easy road for Morgan Frost and his journey into the Philadelphia Flyers lineup. Before this season began, the team had hoped for many of the younger players on the team to excel and take their place into the lineup.

Only Joel Farabee took advantage of this opportunity in this past season. Nolan Patrick has not had the start to his career that he and everyone else wanted, but the forgotten player also drafted in the first round along with Patrick was Frost and in his first couple games with the Flyers, he made quite the impression.

In Frost’s first game he scored a beautiful goal against the Florida Panthers showcasing his great hands and skills to the fans, but his next game is where he really showed how he can contribute to this team in the future. Frost’s second career game was in Raleigh, North Carolina against the Hurricanes where he posted a goal and a beautiful assist to the captain.

Some of you may be reading this thinking oh he did this in two games so he was supposed to be the next great thing. I am not saying that Frost is going to be the next Danny Briere or Claude Giroux. Frost has his own game and talent that will fit in greatly on this team and can make an instant impact on even-strength hockey and in special teams as well.

The power play and penalty kill were brutal this year for the Flyers. They had one of the worst penalty kills in the league this year and consistently let down their goalie on almost every kill. A single player will not magically fix this at all and this has a lot to do with effort and coaching but adding Frost will not make it worse than it already is. Frost’s little time on the power play looked great as well and he was able to display his great decision-making for such a young player to help out the team on the power play.

Frost has a unique skill set to his game but some of the things I love about Frost’s game is his ability to control the pace and play it to his liking. This is something the Flyers desperately lacked this past season. During Frost’s first season he displayed how he has the skill and knowledge to make the right play no matter who he is on the ice with.

Let’s focus on his offensive game and how he contributes to the team next season. Frost has a quick and fast wrist shot that can surprise goaltenders and he did this for his second career NHL goal against the Carolina Hurricanes off a faceoff win by Giroux. My favorite part of his offensive game is the way Frost is able to sneak into the open ice areas in the offensive zone and control the game from there. Frost also has great decision-making and was not afraid to shoot the puck in his first season but also set up some beautiful goals as well.

Frost’s defensive game is nothing out of this world. He is no Selke winner like Sean Couturier, but he still will put in the effort and with his quick hands he can force some good turnovers. An underrated aspect of Frost’s game is his forechecking and how he uses his quick hands to force some valuable turnovers in the offensive zone as well.

During Frost’s first season in the NHL, he was on a line with Travis Konecny and Giroux. This past season we saw new line pairings almost every other game. The line of Frost, Giroux, and Konecny had some great moments offensively and clicked really well, displaying some great chemistry. I highly doubt we will see this line play together again for a long period of time in the future. So let’s look at some possible places Frost could fit into the lineup for next season.

Personally, I always saw Farabee and Frost on a line together for some reason. With Frost coming off a surgery this past season we could see this pair finally hit the ice together on the same line in the upcoming season. Frost, I would assume, is placed at center for next season and with Farabee on the line with him as well that leaves open the right-wing position. I believe Wade Allison is the perfect fit at right winger for this line. Their differences of play all would perfectly benefit each other. Allison’s tough forechecking, effort, and play in front and near the net with Frost’s control and passing plus Farabee’s scoring and skill sounds almost too perfect for the Flyers.

It may possibly be time for the Flyers and Nolan Patrick to go different ways and the fans need to learn about the forgotten pick in the first round of the 2017 NHL Entry Draft. The Flyers may go through one of the biggest changes this offseason or they could do the thing they typically do and keep the same roster and try again. No matter which direction they go in Frost will be a huge addition that almost everyone forgot about following his season-ending surgery. I don’t believe Frost will magically cure all of the Flyers’ problems because that is impossible but his addition will add depth and hopefully some good production outside of the top line for the Flyers.