ASF is one of the surface-level “analysts” on the Flyers beat. He only notices (and pontificates when he does) when “big” things happen. There’s never any takeaway about the “why” or “how” a player is playing well (or not). It’s just: this happened. He and his podcast partner despise Frost so much. A lot of the Flyers beats do. Its so very weird.
An NHL player had an uncharacteristically bad game with some big mistakes that ended up in the net? Throw him in the trash cuz he. Is. Done.
I said this the other day, but let's say he doesn't morph into a superstar in the back half of the season (a likely outcome). It's a lot of the same to an unbiased eye: growing offensive confidence, nice inconsistent production, intelligent subtleties, a sense that he's an NHL player.......but not this obvious top 6 stud. Like what are these people setting up as "getting there"?
Tage Thompson had 14 points in 38 games at age 23, after 21 points in 107 games prior. Boy, does Buffalo regret not shipping him for slop. Plenty of guys come into their own at age ~24+. Karlsson, Terry, Marchessault, Bennett, Verhaeghe, Bunting, Gourde, Hagel, Bjorkstrand, Burakovsky, Tatar, Eriksson Ek, Nichushkin. It's an endless list! Many of these players were sold low on, or just needed regular minutes. And Frost missed 1 entire year. He's an RFA; he'd be cheap to re-sign; this team is not going to be remotely competitive so ice time is readily available. Frost is the exact natural talent + statistical intrigue that a 2nd team feasts upon.
Why is Frost the only player on the team and in the league who, after 3 pro years, MUST be arbitrarily "there"? The Flyers traded the equivalent of a top 10 1st for a 27 year old defender they wanted to "develop." You wonder why this team stinks at developing and keeping young talent.
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