If Morgan Frost has a breakthrough season in 2022-23 -- something that is much needed both for the player himself and for the Flyers as a team -- he will owe a debt of gratitude to former interim head coach Mike Yeo. There is nothing that new head coach John Tortorella will demand of Frost -- or be more bluntly honest about in his critiques -- than the player did not experience with Yeo last year.
Yeo took very much a tough-love approach with Frost last season. Yeo pushed, criticized and cajoled as he saw fit but he also praised (for specific reasons) and encouraged. When the player's confidence was at its nadir, Yeo publicly said that he believed strongly in the player; perhaps even more than Frost himself did at that point. The coach also said that part of what he was asking Frost to do involved sacrificing points -- at least for a period of time -- to come out on the other side as a more complete player. Eventually, the points would start to come again.
It took until the final dozen games of the season, but eventually Frost seemed to be putting it all together including an uptick in scoring. Over the final 12 games, only Noah Cates (3.01) and Travis Konecny (2.96) exceeded Frost's 2.05 points-per-60 rate. James van Riemsdyk was fourth on the team at 2.01.
On Exit Day, Frost said that he'd developed a strong relationship with Yeo, and was grateful for the time they spent working together through the ups and downs on the ice.
"He was really great with me. I think he really helped me a lot, and he kind of knew when to challenge me and when to help bring my confidence up. I think a lot of it was just for me learning to play more of an NHL style, like using my body more. Like I said, moving my feet because sometimes I think I was kind of relying on instinct or hands before and a lot of
it is more reactive. Using my body was the big thing. I watched a lot of video with him and also the other coaches. They helped me a lot so I’m thankful for that," Frost said.
It's also worth noting that, even over the final 12 games of the season, Frost only ranked eighth among Flyers forwards in average power play time per game (2:15). For the season as a whole, he received the 11th-most average PP time (1:53) among Flyers forwards on a team that ranked dead last in the NHL in power play percentage. Considering that power play work is one of Frost's primary competencies, the relatively modest usage he received on the power play -- regardless of what else the team was trying to accomplish with him in terms of his game at 5-on-5 or the brief experiment in which he was a secondary part of the penalty kill -- was questionable.
Frost found excellent late-season chemistry with Owen Tippett and Cates over the final few weeks of the season. Whether that will carry over -- or if Tortorella and the rest of the new coaching staff -- will even reassemble the trio during training camp and the preseason remains to be seen. Yeo, however, shared some interesting thoughts late in the season about why he thought Frost clicked with Tippett and Cates.
For one thing, he felt that Frost in particular and the team's younger players in general had been a little too deferential to the veterans on the team; a little too inclined just to try to blend in and avoid egregious mistakes than to relax, make plays and ride out the highs and lows that come with the game.
"It can be a little bit intimidates for a younger player when you're playing with some older players in the sense that, if you don't pass them the puck, if you make a mistake -- even if they don't say anything to you -- you're thinking, 'Oh, man. Are they mad at me here?'" Yeo said.
"You start playing a little bit to make them happy, as opposed to just playing and not thinking about those types of things. I was starting to get a little bit of a feel like that, that they were starting to worry maybe more about what their linemates were thinking."
For his part, Frost said that he wasn't sure if he was being too concerned with what veteran team leaders thought of him during his struggles. However, he did admit that got enjoyment from playing with Tippett and Cates and believed there was legitimate chemistry.
"We're all in the same boat. We all want to help each other. We all want to have success for each other," Frost said.
Frost is now 100 percent recovered from the shoulder surgery that cost him virtually the entire 2020-21 season. The one thing that did not fully come back this past season was his shot. With the exception of two high-tip deflection goals that he scored with the Phantoms, virtually all of Frost's combined 11 goals (6 in the AHL, 5 in the NHL) were scored in close to the net. Prior the shoulder injury, Frost was able to score from various distances via a deceptive release and movement on his shots.
Heading into the 2022 offseason, fully recovering and improving upon his shot was one of Frost's main goals for preparing for next season. He's always been more of a playmaker than a goal scorer but is capable of putting more pucks in the net. He also wants to continue to add a little more muscle before camp.
"My shot is definitely something I want to work on in the summer. I want to be a little more of a threat in that area and I think I can be. Shot and then I think just moving my feet was a big thing. Like earlier in the year, there were times where I probably wasn’t moving my feet as much. Towards the end of the year, I kind of really had it drilled in my mind to move my feet through the neutral zone, even move my feet trying to close people out in the defensive zone and then the offensive zone moving my feet to try to get away from people and get towards the net," Frost said.
On July 15, the Flyers signed Frost to a one-year contract extension for $800,00. For the Flyers, it represents an inexpensive contract at a time when the club is strapped by the salary cap. For Frost, it means a chance to earn a bigger raise on his next contract.
On the Flyers' official site, I took an in-depth look at the big opportunity that lies ahead for Frost in 2022-23. It includes a statistical look at the promise shown by the trio of Frost, Cates and Tippett late last season. For more, see
Frost enters 2022-23 with something to prove.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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