In the past 10 games, Morgan Frost (at 5v5) has both the best xGF/60 and xGA/60. I know there's more that goes into it than this, but Frost has been pretty good over the last 10 games. He's one of the reasons why Tippett and Michkov have been able to play in the offensive zone more.
This is what I'm talking about when I say Torts doesn't value Frost's game. When asked a question about a different player, he took a direct shot at Frost. When asked a question directly about Frost last season, he answered it by talking positively about another player (Cates). He called Frost a toilet seat. He clearly does not like Frost's style of play.
Edit -- In this post I quoted, allude in this post Frost isn't playing well, but at 9:30 this morning you said he's having an excellent stretch. What are we even doing here?
Watching that line, Tippett is the one who drives the line in terms of offensive zone entries, Michkov is the playmaker, Frost at times looks like a third wheel, at times plays aggressively, attacking the net. He is the defensive conscious for that line.
When I watch other "finesse" centers, Frost just isn't as talented either handling the puck or as a playmaker. It's not that he's bad, he's just a cut below them (not McDavid or McKinnon, everyone is a cut below, but the next tier, the 1C/2C types). His speed doesn't translate to the ice as well as it should. He fumbles a lot of pucks. As close to Poehling as to Robert Thomas or Aho.
Centers the last ten games since the lines were put together:
Frost xGF 69.90%, HDCF 66.46%
Cates xGF 66.15%, HDCF 67.97%
Poehling xGF 54.92%, HDCF 57.40%
Couts xGF 49.95%, HDCF 50.65%
Briere has some tough decisions, I think Couts' days as a center are numbered.
Do you just plug Jett in next year, keep Frost, or trade for center(s)?
Even if you draft a couple more, they're 2-3 years away.