The Calgary Flames are banking that Morgan Frost can help solve their scoring woes.
According to PuckPedia, the Flames have signed Frost to a two-year contract with an annual cap hit of US$4.375 million, the sort of price tag that will bring added pressure to produce. The organization has yet to confirm the new deal for the 26-year-old centre, who was a restricted free agent this summer.
While Frost has all the tools to be an offensive playmaker, he posted an underwhelming stat line after arriving in late January in a mid-season swap from the Philadelphia Flyers.
He was credited with three goals and a dozen points in his first 32 appearances in the Flaming C.
On a positive note, he was Calgary’s best regular faceoff man during that span, winning 50.5 per cent of his draws.
“There was a stretch where, it felt like every game, I was getting a handful of Grade A opportunities and just couldn’t put the puck in the net,” Frost told media on locker clean-out day at the Saddledome. “Obviously, I would have liked to have put up some better numbers, but at the same time, I feel like I did some of the smaller things to help the team win and the team went on a good run to end the year. We should be in the playoffs right now.
“I’m more proud of that than my individual stats.”
If Frost could boost those individual stats, it would certainly help with the push for an invite to the NHL’s next spring dance.
The Flames finished ninth in the Western Conference standings in 2024-25, only missing the playoffs because of a tiebreaker. They remained in the race despite being the fourth-lowest scoring team in the league.
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Flames general manager Craig Conroy didn’t sign a single forward during Tuesday’s free-agent frenzy. As he explained his approach to a quiet Canada Day, he mentioned Frost on a lengthy list of 20-somethings who will need to up their output.
“I’m going to need (Joel) Farabee, I’m going to need Frost, (Connor) Zary, Matty Coronato … Guys like that have to come in and play better for us and give us more offence, and they’re going to have to take a step,” Conroy said. “If they do, that’s going to be the difference for us. Those are the guys, with (Adam) Klapka and (Martin) Pospisil, those are the guys we need to rise and be better. But they’re going to play more, so that’s going to give them that chance.
“By committee, that’s how we’re going to have to do it.”
Could Frost, who will operate as Calgary’s second- or third-line centre and should also be a regular on the top power-play unit, contribute 50 points to that committee?
That doesn’t seem like an unrealistic aim. His current career-high is 46, a mix of 19 goals and 27 assists in 81 games with the Flyers in 2022-23.
As soon as Frost’s contract is registered, Conroy will no longer have to worry about the possibility of a salary arbitration hearing with the 6-foot, 193-pound lefty.
Zary, 23, is the biggest name remaining on Calgary’s list of restricted free agents. Conroy has already wrapped extensions with Coronato, Klapka and defenceman Kevin Bahl.