Sept. 7: Philadelphia has officially announced a two-year contract for Frost. The deal is indeed a $4.2MM package that carries an AAV of $2.1MM.
The Philadelphia Flyers are expected to sign their last remaining restricted free agent, Morgan Frost, to a two-year contract, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. Flyers president of hockey operations Keith Jones said last weekend the two sides were working toward a resolution. The deal, which carries a $2.1MM AAV, breaks down as follows, per CapFriendly:
2023-24: $1.45MM base salary, $350K signing bonus
2024-25: $2.4MM base salary (this amount also represents his qualifying offer in 2025)
The deal will keep Frost in Philadelphia through the 2024-25 season, at which point he will be in his last season of RFA eligibility. He’ll also have arbitration rights that time around, something he didn’t have on his side this summer.
Frost, 24, is coming off a breakout 2022-23 season, which saw him post 46 points in 81 games, finishing fourth on the Flyers in scoring. He finally arrived as a full-time top-nine NHL center after a rocky development path since turning pro in 2019. The team’s 27th overall pick in 2017, Frost missed nearly all of the 2020-21 campaign due to a shoulder injury but has rebounded nicely since then. Last season was also his first healthy campaign spent exclusively in the NHL, avoiding any minor-league assignments.
It was a particularly strong end to the season for Frost, who had eight goals and nine assists in the final 20 games of the campaign. He also managed to keep his head above water defensively – his 47.9% Corsi For at even strength was fifth among full-time Flyers forwards last season, and he did so while receiving some heavy minutes, averaging a career-high 16:21 per game. However, Frost struggled in the faceoff dot, posting a 45.8% win rate.
In the unlikely scenario that Frost stagnates in his development, $2MM is still well below market value for what he brought last season. Flyers general manager Daniel Brière doled out a slightly richer deal to budding shutdown center Noah Cates earlier in the summer, signing him for two years at a $2.65MM cap hit. Using the 24-year-old Cates as a direct comparable, it’s clear why Frost held out this long into the summer in hopes of landing a more prosperous bridge deal. This deal could also set the table for Ottawa Senators center Shane Pinto, who remains without a contract for this season and posted similar production to Frost in 2022-23 (20 goals, 35 assists in 82 games).
Pinto had 20 goals and 15 assists. Not 35 assists
I still dont get why GM’s are under paying for bridge contract and right after that they’re over paying for long term contract…they should pay properly for the bridge and properly for the long term contract.
Pay properly? What does that vague term even mean? Please cite one recent example of how this should have played out.