Philadelphia Flyers forward Morgan Frost has become quite the subject of discussion as we near the one-month mark of the season. The young forward has been in and out of the Flyers lineup, much to the chagrin of some fans and analysts.
Longtime NHL analyst Al Morganti of the Audacy original podcast “South Philly Sauce” gave his thoughts on the Flyers’ handling of Frost under head coach John Tortorella.
“It’s one of the strangest things I’ve seen. I don’t know what to think here,” Morganti said (25:05 in player above). “He played OK. We’ve seen him in games and point out the things he does well.”
Frost has yet to record a point during his six games in the lineup. He's averaged over 15 minutes per game with eight shots on goal.
The 24-year-old forward has shown promise, but he’s also shown some of his flaws as well.
“I think the frustration is at this point of his career it’s still ‘What’s it going to be like tonight? Which version are we going to get?’” Morganti continued. “And they don’t want to live with the version that gives the puck up at inopportune times, doesn’t get the puck into the zone enough when he’s coming in, just pulls up or whatever.
“You can point out time and again things he does very well, but if you’re a coaching staff in a game, you say ‘Oh God, look at that. That’s going to kill us right there. That move right there.’”
Morganti believes that there are more positives than negatives to Frost’s game, but the situation makes you question what the Flyers think of him.
In my opinion, more plusses than minuses,” he said, “but you got to wonder now if they haven’t already decided he’s not a long-term piece.”
This situation is going to be something to watch for the Flyers – and other teams around the league potentially looking to trade for Frost.
“I will say he doesn’t seem to gripe much about it but I got to think it hurts,” Morganti said. “Like he’s not a star player in the league but the attention that he gets is remarkable to me and I think it’s because of Tortorella because a lot of people – rightly, wrongly – just think he doesn’t handle some players well and they look at this like a Case A.
“But I don’t think Tortorella necessarily could’ve done this without at least some sort of blessing. I think he’s hurt any trade value that Frost might’ve had by not playing him, pointing out all the negatives. We saw that with Hayes last year. I’m kind of confused on which way are you going with this guy?”
Frost is back in the lineup for Friday night’s game in Anaheim. We’ll see how long that lasts this time, though.