He’s 23. His time is now. He has played 111 games now in the NHL. There are no more excuses for the 27th overall pick in 2017; the same draft that the Flyers selected Nolan Patrick and the Florida Panthers selected Owen Tippett. Now is the time for Morgan Frost to shine. Lately, he’s been doing it.
Going into the holiday break, he has a four-game point streak going including three goals and an assist. He has played 34 games this year and has already set a career-high with seven goals and is just two points from tying his career high in points from last season at 16 points.
At the beginning of this year during training camp, Coach John Tortorella said he was “going to play the kids“. The Flyers had a lot of young guys like Cam York, Wade Allison, Egor Zamula, Noah Cates, and Frost that the team wanted to see what they had. These guys have been up and down between Philly and Allentown. They’ve been roster fill-ins when people got hurt or played because the season was over for the Flyers, although they still had games to play. They wanted to see what they had with these young players to see if they really are the future.
Morgan Frost is finally showing his strengths on the Flyers
So far, Frost looks like he is willing to take on this challenge. He opened the season with two goals against the New Jersey Devils. Soon after, he went on an 11-game pointless streak. He then picked up some points sporadically. Then, on Dec. 11 in an overtime loss in Phoenix, Frost went off with a goal and three assists.
Since then, he’s been centering the first line with Owen Tippett and James van Riemsdyk. Likewise, JVR and Owen Tippett have also seen a rise in their scoring stats lately. And while Frost will never be a Sean Couturier, he can be something different. He can be Morgan Frost.
In the past, he’s had to deal with shoulder and ankle injuries. This has hindered his development. There has been a lot of pressure on the kid; something that isn’t always fun to deal with in a sports-obsessed town like Philadelphia.
But with patience being shown, Frost is starting to take off. If this isn’t some sort of blip or anomaly, he could really become a major part of this offense for years to come. This is what the Flyers need right now. A core group of vets surrounded by young, rising stars. And Frost, along with players like Tippett and York, can be the focal point of this younger core of players.
If Frost can keep this going, this team will certainly get better. Despite recent losses, the Flyers have been scoring more. In their last seven games, the Flyers are 2-5 but have scored only two goals in two of them (a win over the Devils and a loss to Colorado). They are finding their scoring sticks again and Frost is a big part of that.