Morgan Frost had an exit interview sit down with John Tortorella at the end of last season. By that point, it was well known publicly that Tortorella wasn’t particularly fond of Frost’s game.

That said, Frost had a solid finish to his season. As bad as it was for the franchise and as tumultuous as the relationship seemed between Frost and Tortorella, he actually put up some decent numbers.

It was one of those situations where even on a bad team, somebody has to score points, but there was definite improvement in Frost’s overall game from early in the season to the end.

But was the growth enough? Had Frost shown enough to be a part of the Flyers rebuild, and not just that, earn himself a spot in the core for seasons to come?

The Flyers still weren’t sure. They used his name all offseason as a potential trade asset. Teams were interested, but not at the value GM Danny Briere thought was fair for a 24-year-old, former first round pick.

As training camp opened, there was some serious smoke about Frost heading to Ottawa, but then the smoke dissipated after the Flyers’ target, Ottawa forward Shane Pinto, was suspended for half the season for gambling violations.

Frost, who was a restricted free agent, signed his contract with the Flyers very late in the offseason as well, signing just before the start of camp to a two-year, $4.2 million deal. Dragging his feet on the contract was an annoyance to Tortorella, who wanted him skating and working with his teammates in unofficial practices sooner.

But a source said that it wasn’t Frost holding things up. Frost’s agent, Darren Ferris, felt like Frost could get more on that contract and was proving to be a tougher negotiator for Briere. Frost was the one who finally said to his agent that he was good with the two-year deal he signed because he wanted to get back in the locker room with his teammates. He wanted to play for them and quibbling over money of this nature wasn’t worth abandoning his teammates.

That could seem honorable on some levels and stupid on others – because as an athlete, you try to get what you can when you can get it, since you never know when it’s just going to suddenly stop being thrown at you. But the reality is that Frost was more concerned with the camaraderie of going through the hell of a Torts training camp with the boys than he was getting some extra green in his wallet.

Being a good teammate only gets you so far. Production is also needed – especially if you are a center with top six aspirations.

Frost played the first two games of the season, didn’t look good, and was immediately scratched for seven games. He came back, and was scratched again. Came back, scratched again.

It was beginning to look like shampoo directions.

But after the most recent scratching, Frost had enough of being yo-yoed in and out of Torts’ Chez Bow-Wow, and went to the coach’s office to air his grievances.

He may have been a couple of weeks late for Festivus, but the grievances were aired.

“I had some things that I wanted to get off my chest,” Frost said. “It was a good back and forth. I want to be in the lineup, obviously. I think I should be in the lineup. It’s kind of a wakeup call when you get pulled out like that.”

For one game, the benching worked. Frost had a goal and an assist, although neither war particular impressive, and added a couple of hits in a spirited 3-2 Flyers win over Calgary on Saturday.


His goal was a simple tap-in, and his assist came after he made a bad pass to Sean Couturier, who improvised and banked a shot off the back of Flames goalie Jakob Markstrom to register a power play goal.


“It’s funny how it works like that,” Frost said. “I throw a terrible pass to Coots and he buries it from behind the net.”

But, it was a game were Frost was noticeable – and in a positive way. And it may have just been one game, who knows, we’ll see. From a coach’s perspective, Frost having the balls to come into his office and tell him he disagrees is exactly the kind of step Torts wants from his players.

It’s part evil genius. It’s part Herb Brooks in the movie Miracle. 

But it’s absolutely intentional.

“It’s part of my job to try to bring that from him,” Tortorella said. “It’s the only way you can find a road to communicate and try to help the player. You might think benching players is fun for coaches and you are just pounding your chest. That’s not the way we feel. It’s trying to get someone’s attention. It starts the conversation.

“Frosty’s a great kid. He’s quiet and unassuming and was probably brought up to not talk to coaches. It’s different for me. I need the conversation. He took a big step. It’s going to help me try to help him. Where it all goes, I don’t know. But at least there’s a path there.”

Torts is spot on. Frost is a really respectful player who would never challenge a coach. It’s what’s gotten him to this point in his career. But now he’s at a point where he has a coach who wants to be challenged by his players as much as he challenges them. And taking the step to do that, is not always easy – especially when you haven’t ever done it before on any level.

“It’s not the easiest thing to do,” Frost said.

Where it goes, we’ll see. Frost has just 13 points this season. Some people were making a big deal over a couple hits he had in the Calgary game, but the reality is, that’s not what the Flyers are looking for.

“We’re not looking to turn Morgan Frost into someone who is banging people around,” Tortorella said. “We need offense out of him and that’s the bottom line.”

And will that offense come? Time will tell, but it’s also tough to tell how long the Flyers will keep him in a regular offensive role. He’ll play on the top power play, sure, but as bad as the Flyers power play has been this year, that’s not a place of guaranteed offense.


Does he slot as a second line center or a third line center when Noah Cates returns to the lineup in the coming week? And if he’s your second line center, can he provide more consistent offense? There are other offensive-oriented players who go through too long droughts of their own. Cam Atkinson, Tyson Foerster, Owen Tippett, Bobby Brink – you name it, any forward not on the top line who is expected to provide offense first has been inconsistent, so it’s not just Frost.

But Frost is a center. And there’s more responsibility on that position than wingers, so the spotlight is always going to be harsher. His meeting with Torts probably afforded him another two months to get it right, or else he could be a prime candidate to find a new home come the trade deadline.