Rookie camp opens on Wednesday and main camp the following Wednesday (22nd).
A few notes from Meltzer...
HockeyBuzz.com - Bill Meltzer - Quick Hits: Giroux, Rookie Camp, Frost, Flyers Daily
Here's a snippet on Frost.
3) I'll use Morgan Frost as an example of how yearly progression in Rookie and NHL camp can be used as a progress benchmark from the start of one hockey year to the next.
In the team's 2017 Rookie Camp, late first-round pick Frost showed some of his skills but really wasn't a standout. He was signed to an entry-level contact, went back to the Soo and had a 112-point season (coincidentally, the same number of points that Claude Giroux had for Gatineau in his draft-plus one year).
In 2018, Frost fared fine in Rookie Camp, including a four-point (1g, 3a) showing in the Rookies Game against the New York Islanders' rookies. In his first crack at an NHL camp a week or so later, Frost looked overwhelmed. He wasn't able to keep up with some of the drills. General manager Ron Hextall cut him less than a week into main camp. Frost returned to the Greyhounds for his draft-plus-two year, played in the World Junior Championship (four goals and eight points in five games), posted a 103 points through his first 52 games of the OHL regular season and finished with 109 points in 58 games (Giroux had 106 points in 56 games in his draft-plus-two year in the Q).
n 2019, all the talk in Flyers Rookie Camp was about the trio of Joel Farabee, Frost and Isaac Ratcliffe. When main camp rolled around, in battle drills on Day 2 or 3, Alain Vigneault matched up a line of Frost, Ratcliffe and Jakub Voracek against a line of Sean Couturier, Claude Giroux and Farabee. Farabee held his own Voracek although he certainly didn't dominate. Couturier ate Frost alive on rep after rep, as did Giroux against Ratcliffe.
The next day, Frost was matched against Mikhail Vorobyev; not nearly as accomplished of a player as Couturier but still bigger, stronger and more experienced than Frost. On this day, Frost did a lot better although Vorobyev won a little more than half of their battles. It was a confidence builder for Frost, who went on the have a pretty good preseason (despite battling a groin issue that kept him off the ice for a few days) and he lasted until one of the latter roster cuts. Ratcliffe continued to struggle against the pro guys and was cut sooner. Farabee was the final cut after the team went to Europe, and Bunnaman and Twarynski parlayed consistently strong camps into surprise opening night NHL roster spots.
Frost's rookie year in the AHL saw him make the All-Star Game and make his NHL debut (scoring goals in each of his first two games) but performing a bit inconsistently overall. It wasn't a spectacular first pro year but one with more good than bad.
Fast forward to training camp in January 2021. Frost put together a strong NHL camp. There was no Rookie Camp due to the timeline. Frost excelled in numerous drills and held his own in the scrimmages (there were no preseason games against other NHL teams). He made the NHL roster but, unfortunately, suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in his second game.
He has now rehabbed the shoulder. The expectation is that he should be a top performer in Rookie Camp, match or exceed his January showing come NHL camp and challenge for an NHL roster spot. He may very well be assigned to the Phantoms to start the season -- the numbers game works against him after the offseason signing of Derick Brassard, plus it's been a long time since his last bonafide games due to the pandemic and the shoulder injury. However, Frost has the ability to change that plan either in camp or once the season begins.
