More points, right?
At first glance, if there was one area where Morgan Frost could help the Calgary Flames out more this year than he did last season, it would be by getting back to the level of production he was putting up a few years ago with the Philadelphia Flyers.
And Frost isn’t saying he doesn’t want to contribute more points. He scored twice in Sunday’s intrasquad game against the Edmonton Oilers, so the extremely returns suggest it could be in the cards, too.
It’s just that when he looked back this summer on the 32 games he played with the Flames after being acquired from Philly, there was a lot more he wanted to improve on than adding to the three goals and nine assists he managed.
“Stats is one thing (and) I want to put up more points, obviously,” Frost explained to Postmedia over the weekend. “At the same time, I just want to be put in more positions to be a little more trusted out there on the defensive side of the puck, versus maybe just being a power-play guy and counted on for offence.”
The thing about that is the Flames really could use Frost contributing more on the offensive end. This is a team that scored only 220 goals last season, the fourth-worst total among NHL teams. When Frost and Joel Farabee were acquired in the trade that sent Jakob Pelletier and Andrei Kuzmenko the other way, the expectation was that they’d be able to be offensive drivers.
It didn’t happen. The Flames fell agonizingly short of the playoffs by way of a tie-breaker, and now they’ve brought back largely the same group with the hope that their young players can be a little bit better and get them over the hump.
Frost is one of those players who they’re most counting on to improve.
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At 26 years old and with a new two-year, US$8.75-million contract signed this summer, he should be entering his prime and putting up numbers that are at least similar to the 46 points he managed in 2022-23.
“I want Morgan to use his skill set that he’s got, but I want him to end at the net,” said Flames head coach Ryan Huska. “Sometimes, Morgan wants to make it look a little prettier than he has to and he overpasses or overhandles it at times.
“He’s got a really good mind for the game, so I’d just like to see him head to the net more and think a little more selfishly and aggressively when he’s going to the net because if he doesn’t score, somebody else is going to. Maybe a little less trying to make that extra move and just take it right to the net and good things will happen for him.”
Centre Morgan Frost was photographed during practice with the Calgary Flames at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Friday, Sept. 19, 2025.
As you’d imagine, Huska is also fully on board with Frost improving the other parts of his game. Speaking Sunday, the Flames head coach said he wanted Frost to be more of a two-way centre in the mould of teammate Mikael Backlund.
That means improving on faceoffs, even though at 50.5% he had the best winning percentage of any of the Flames’ regular centres last year. It means improving on the defensive end of the ice and even stepping out on the penalty kill.
That is not something Frost was relied on to do last season. He didn’t play a single second of shorthanded hockey after joining the Flames and it never felt like he was next man up, either, despite his proficiency on faceoffs — an important skill when you’re down a man and deep in your own zone.
He’s intent, though, on earning Huska’s trust on the defensive end, whether that’s shorthanded or playing five-on-five.
“It doesn’t just happen overnight, you’ve got to earn the trust,” Frost said. “I’m sure I’ll be thrown in some situations at certain times and then it’s up to you to perform and be able to play against the other teams’ top lines. There’s obviously a lot of well-equipped defensive forwards on this team, but you want to keep growing your game so I want to play against the best players and be on the ice as much as I can, so just work at it.”