Morgan Frost is set up to be one of the Calgary Flames’ most interesting storylines heading into 2026-27, and not just because of what he did last season. With Nazem Kadri gone to the Colorado Avalanche, Frost enters camp as the clear top center on the roster.
That kind of job would be a stretch for a Stanley Cup contender, but it gives Frost a real chance to run with the Flames’ most important minutes and show he’s earned a major payday when his contract expires after this season. He’s 27 now, right in the middle of his prime, and the opportunity is there for him to make noise.
Last year was his first full season in Calgary, and he delivered the best goal total of his career. Frost scored 22 goals and finished with 43 points, including a career-high 16 power-play points. It was the first time he got past the 20-goal mark.
His path to Calgary came during the 2024-25 season, when he arrived from the Philadelphia Flyers in a midseason trade with Joel Farabee. The Flames sent Andre Kuzmenko and Jacob Pelletier back the other way in what was essentially a problem-for-problem swap, with both sides hoping a change of scenery would unlock something. That didn’t really happen, especially for Kuzmenko, who has since been with the Los Angeles Kings and has now signed with the Pittsburgh Penguins, and Pelletier, who still hasn’t reached 25 games played in a single NHL season.
Frost’s production has settled into a familiar range. He was expected to grow into more than a half-point-per-game player when he was younger, but the numbers have hovered in the same neighborhood for four straight seasons: 43 points last year, 37 the year before, then 41 and 46 in the seasons before that.
From a usage standpoint, the Flames leaned on him heavily last season. He was their fourth-most-used forward overall and their second-most-used forward on the power play.
There isn’t a huge amount of extra ice time to squeeze out of that, but his average of 15:30 per game should climb. He’ll have a full season as Calgary’s top center unless another midseason trade changes the picture, and he should keep getting the offensive-zone starts, puck-handling duties, and entry work that come with that role.
The projection for 2026-27 comes out to 18.29 goals, 28.36 assists, 46.65 points, 19.06 power-play points, 144.09 shots, 269.31 shot attempts, 172.09 scoring chances, and 82.69 high-danger chances.
Even with that runway, the ceiling feels limited in this setup. Frost has the hands and vision to be dangerous in transition, but he’s not really an offensive chance driver. He looks more like a playmaker who does his best work next to a high-volume shooter, and he hasn’t really had that kind of partner in his career.
For Frost to push beyond where he is now, one of two things would have to happen: he’d need to become much more aggressive in creating chances for himself, or Matthew Coronato would need to have a breakout season. Coronato is likely to be Frost’s most common linemate, and if he jumped to 25-30 goals, that could lift Frost’s numbers too. But that’s a lot of if.
At this point, Frost may already be pretty close to what he is. A finish much above the 45-point range would be hard to bank on, and there’s also the possibility that another team makes the Flames an offer they can’t refuse before the season is over. If that happens, Frost could end up in a smaller role elsewhere, and this projection might never get a fair test.
In Other News...
Flames Nearly Pulled Off Star Trades That Could Still Haunt Fans
A few of the biggest what-ifs in Flames history keep circling back because the franchise has spent years coming close to headline-grabbing moves without ever fully crossing the line. The latest reminder comes from the old trade chatter around Jack Eichel, when Calgary was right in the mix during the 2021 sweepstakes and the clubs willingness to chase a true No. 1 center fit a long-running pattern of aggressive, high-stakes discussions that also included near-deals involving Matthew Tkachuk, Jarome Iginla and Miikka Kiprusoff.
What makes those rumors linger is how much they could have altered the arc of the team, especially with different eras of the roster hanging in the balance. Calgary fans have lived through enough near misses to know that some of the most painful moments in hindsight are not the trades that happened, but the ones that were close enough to imagine in full detail and yet still slipped away before the finish line. [Read more 🡒]
Flames Could Face A Tough Expansion Choice Around Dustin Wolf
A fresh mock expansion draft from The Athletic has put a spotlight on one of the trickier roster questions facing Calgary as the club continues to build around Dustin Wolf. Based on projected 2026-27 rosters, the exercise suggests the Flames would be in position to protect Wolf and the rest of their rebuilding core, but the goalie picture would not come out perfectly clean if a new team were to enter the league.
The wrinkle is the kind of depth issue contenders and rebuilders alike hope to avoid: a valuable backup or organizational insurance piece could become the odd man out in a theoretical expansion scenario. There is no official NHL expansion draft on the calendar, but the discussion is still useful for Calgary because it shows how quickly goalie depth, contract timing and long-term planning can collide when a team has one clear starter and a young core worth shielding. [Read more 🡒]