What could Morgan Frost's next contract with the Calgary Flames look like?
One of the bigger storylines facing the Calgary Flames entering the 2026-27 season is what they will do with Morgan Frost.
The 27-year-old is coming off a career-best 22-goal season and is set to serve as the Flames’ No. 1 centreman in 2026-27. He’s also a pending unrestricted free agent.
On a true Stanley Cup contender, Frost is more of a third-line option. Unfortunately, the Flames don’t have anywhere close to the same depth down the middle as the NHL’s top teams. Management will soon need to decide whether it believes some of the organization’s centre prospects can develop into NHL-calibre players in the coming years. If so, trading Frost may be the right option.
That would come with plenty of risk, however, as moving Frost would further weaken an already thin group of centres. If the Flames instead decide to keep him around, what could a contract extension look like?
In a 2025-26 season that didn’t see much scoring from the Flames, Frost still managed to produce 43 points. That ranked second among all Flames skaters, trailing only Matt Coronato’s 45 points.
That solid, if unspectacular, season has AFP Analytics projecting a Frost extension at four years and roughly $25.17 million. The deal would carry an annual average value of $6.29 million.
That may seem like a lot of money, but contract values have risen significantly thanks to the rapidly increasing salary cap. This coming season, teams will have $104 million at their disposal.
While $6.29 million may initially sound like an overpayment, it could become a fairly standard rate for a centre of Frost’s calibre in the coming years. That’s something management will need to think long and hard about before deciding whether to commit to him long term.
If the Flames trade Frost, the other centres on their roster would include Mikael Backlund and Ryan Strome. Martin Pospisil, Connor Zary, and even Yegor Sharangovich have also spent time down the middle, but all are better suited to playing on the wing.
Trading Frost would indicate that the Flames believe Cole Reschny is ready for NHL action in 2027-28. They also have Cullen Potter, Jack Hextall, and Theo Stockselius in the pipeline. If management believes those prospects can become NHL players, trading Frost may ultimately be the best option.
Unfortunately, there’s no guarantee any of those prospects will pan out, which makes trading away the team’s current top centreman a risky proposition. If management instead decides to take the extension route, fans should prepare for Frost to earn roughly $6 million per season.
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