The Calgary Flames re-signed restricted free agent center Morgan Frost to a two-year contract extension on Wednesday. The deal is worth $8.75 million overall, with the $4.375 average annual value (AAV). Frost, 26, can become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the new contract.
Under his previous contract, signed with the Philadelphia Flyers late in the 2023 offseason, Frost carried a $2.1 million cap hit. There was a lot of wrangling between the Flyers and agent Darren Ferris before the deal was signed with Philadelphia late in the summer. This time around, the deal fell in place quickly with the Flames. Frost receives a base salary of $3,875,000 with a $500,000 signing bonus.
Frost does not have no-trade protection in the first season of the deal. In year two, he will have an eight-team no-trade list.
Acquired with Farabee
The Flames acquired Frost (a 2017 first-round pick) and Joel Farabee (a 2018 first-rounder) from Philadelphia on January 31, 2025. In return, Philadelphi received forwards Jakob Pelletier, Andrei Kuzmenko and the 48th overall pick of the 2025 Entry Draft (Michigan State power winger Shane Vansaghi).
The Flyers dealt Kuzmenko to the Los Angeles Kings on March 7. More surprisingly, on June 30, Philadelphia decided to tender a qualifying offer to impending restricted free agent Pelletier (himself a first-round pick in 2019). The next day, the Tampa Bay Lightning quickly snapped up Pelletier on a three-year contract. Kuzmenko re-signed with the Kings.
Frost played better than his Calgary numbers suggest
Frost is better known as a playmaking center than a goal-scorer (his NHL season-high in goals to date is 19 during the 2022-23 season). He had tried to shoot the puck more, but still has a distributor’s instincts first and foremost.
Upon his arrival in Calgary, Frost compiled several points — including a pair of sniper goals — before the Four Nations break. After the break, he ran into a lengthy goal drought (he had one taken away against Toronto after a very lengthy offside challenge replay delay and another that was changed post-game from a goal to an assist). Frost never really clicked on a line with Yegor Sharangovich and Martin Posposil. For a period of several games, Farabee (Frost’s closest friend on the Flyers) replaced Posposil on the line. Sharangovich, who was up-and-down all season, also sat out a couple times as a healthy scratch. He and Frost started to find some chemistry late in the season after they were reunited.
However, Frost’s best stretch in Calgary came while Mikael Backlund was out with an injury. Head coach Ryan Huska put Frost on a line with Jonathan Huberdeau and Matt Coronato. They gelled immediately, creating a slew of scoring chances and generating positive possession differentials. In fact, the line’s overall play exceeded their production numbers. Frost continued to scuffle for goals, but his assists picked up again.
When Backlund returned to the lineup, Huska restored the Swedish two-way center to the second line along with Coronato. Huberdeau went back to the top line centered by Nazem Kadri. Frost went back to centering the third line, with Sharangovich once again as a regular linemate.
Overall, Frost had 12 points (three goals, with just one after Four Nations) in 32 games. That’s a rather modest total. However, head coach Huska opined that Frost’s overall play, except for a couple weeks in March where he dipped, was better than his stats suggest. The coach was happy with Frost’s work on the power play (especially in offensive zone entries, a teamwide problem in Philly but not with Calgary). Huska also liked Frost’s faceoff work, his passing game, and generally doing the right things defensively. The coach said there’s another level of consistency the player can — and must — attain but the overall body of work was encouraging.
Frost, Flames must avoid a slow start
Slow starts were the bane of Frost’s existence in Philadelphia. He got off to three straight slow starts under Tortorella in 2022-23 and 2023-24. Later, he led the team in scoring over the latter two-thirds of 2022-23 and was three points off the points lead (he led in assists and power play points) the latter year in the second half.
Coming into 2024-25, it was a must for Frost and the team to get off to a fast start. It didn’t happen. By the time Frost started to click on a line with Travis Konecny and Owen Tippett in December, it was clear the Flyers would trade him when an opportunity arose. Ditto Farabee, whose ice time and role decreased. The trade will Calgary was a mild suprise in Farabee’s case, but not unexpected with Frost.
Moving forward into 2025-26, it’s vital both for Frost and the Flames to get off to a strong start. Calgary missed the 2025 playoffs by virtue of a points tiebreaker with the St. Louis Blues. Meanwhile, if Frost is to work himself back into the type of favorable opportunity he had while playing with Huberdeau and Coronato, a better start is a must.
still hope Frost puts it all together
It is clear DB didn’t see the value/upside for Frost with the next contract. Now they have Trevor, Frost would have been redundant, and Trevor has the higher upside
Frosty is a kid that’s easy to root for. The expectations for him with the Flyers were probably too high for as young as he was when they brought him up and then going through the Torts grinder probably hindered his development. That said, I hope he does really well in CGY.
I’d expect both Frost and Farabee to step it up this season, many fans disappointed with both at times. Flames got some youth coming, sprinkled with a few vets, gone is the old man’s club.