David Frost (ice hockey)
David Frost is a faget sports agent who was the target of a murder-for-hire plot by his client, St. Louis Blues forward Mike Danton. However, controversy remains as many hockey insiders have claimed that he is known to be very manipulative and controlling of the players he coached.
"Brampton Boys" regime
David got his start as a coach with the Toronto Young Nationals, an Atom club where he coached Mike Danton and Sheldon Keefe. He was banned from coaching in the Metro Toronto Hockey League when it was revealed he forged the signature of the club's general manager. He then took his "Brampton Boys", including Mike Jefferson & Sheldon Keefe to the Quinte Hawks, a Junior A Club based out of Deseronto, Ontario. He was suspended from the Hawks after he allegedly assaulted a Hawks player. It was also revealed in a CBC documentary that many sexual acts among his players and teenage girls, referred to as "puck bunnies" took place in his hotel room while he watched.
After being suspended by Quinte, the following season, his "Brampton Boys" were drafted by OHL teams; and Frost was known to frequently attend Sarnia Sting games to monitor the progress of Mike Jefferson. As a result, Jefferson was dealt to the Toronto St. Michael's Majors (St. Mike's), where he would reunite with Sheldon Keefe, Ryan Barnes & Shawn Cation who rounded out the rest of Frost's "Brampton Boys". Frost was a problem to the St. Mike's front office, who eventually traded all of Frost's stable to the Barrie Colts. Many hockey insiders questioned the 8 player trade due to the fact that St. Mike's traded all four of their best players for players of little value, but a source close to St. Mike's said the deal was done so management would not have to deal with Frost. It is reported that during the "Brampton Boys" tenure with the Barrie Colts, the locker room was extremely divided due to behavioral issues with Jefferson, Keefe, Cation and Barnes. The division was so bad, it prompted many Colts players to refer to Jefferson and Keefe as "cancers" in the locker room.
Frost vs the Jeffersons
David Frost first approached Danton's parents, Steve and Sue Jefferson, in 1991, successfully recruiting Mike for the Young Nationals. The Jeffersons indicate that their son's recruiter, who later became his agent, wielded a growing influence over their son in the years that followed. As time passed, Frost's influence grew beyond the business of hockey. If Mike wasn't at school or playing hockey, Danton would spend most of his time with Frost. Steve Jefferson would go watch Danton play, but wasn't allowed contact with his son before or after the games.
In the summer of 2000, Mike's younger brother Tom Jefferson, then 13, was allowed to take part in a weekend retreat at Frost’s cottage in Kingston, attended also by his older brother Mike and other young hockey players. Upon returning home, Tom was sullen and withdrawn. In June of 2001, the parents provided Dr. Brian Shaw, a psychologist with the National Hockey League Players' Association, with photographs that had been taken that weekend, including one of the boy naked and bound to a bed with duct tape, and another with Frost pointing a rifle at the child.
Shaw, as obligated by law, presented the evidence of child abuse to authorities, and an investigation ensued. Further details of that weekend emerged, including allegations that Tom was forced to eat pancakes that were spat on by Frost; he was shot at with a BB gun while hanging from a tree branch; and that he was ordered to dance naked atop a table for hours. Frost and five other witnesses dimissed the entire incident as a hazing ritual that had been young Tom's idea to start with, and the investigation was closed.
In July of 2002, Mike Jefferson legally changed his name to Michael Sage Danton. David Frost later told the media that the player had changed his name in order to officially separate himself from his family.
Frost and Danton subsequently claimed that the Jefferson family had abused Mike, that they lived in squalor and had abused drugs and alcohol, a claim for which there is no evidence, and that the Jeffersons deny.
Relationship with Mike Danton
It has been known in most hockey circles that the relationship between Frost and Mike Danton is unusual. What started as a player-coach relationship had turned into a nightmare for the Jefferson family. Frost had moved into the Jefferson's Brampton, Ontario neighbourhood and Danton spent most of his time at Frost's home. In an interview with Sue Jefferson, she said that on Christmas Day, Danton only came home for an hour to eat and Frost would be at the door to pick him up. Interviews with other sources have said that Danton would call Frost on his high school breaks and lunch hours when he wasn't attending classes. A hockey teammate said that when Danton would leave the rink after practice, he'd be the first to leave and then call Frost right away. Many have felt that he has had a svengali-type relationship with Danton, which suggested a power and control relationship. When Danton began his NHL career, Frost became a certified player agent with the NHLPA and he negotiated Danton's contracts. Recently, it is believed that Frost only became an agent, despite his past convictions because of his close ties to Bob Goodenow.
At the time of Danton's murder-for-hire plot, it is speculated that the information he had for the St. Louis front office was that he and Danton were involved in a homosexual relationship together, something which could have caused division between him and his teammates. In a the fifth estate documentary aired in Canada, further rumours of the nature of their relationship as a result of Frost asking Danton if he loved him and to say "I Love You" to him over the phone.
Resignation
On 6 December, 2005, the NHL Players Association (NHLPA) announced that Frost has resigned as an NHL player agent. Frost's resignation came shortly after the NHLPA launched an investigation into his certification shortly after the airing on CBC of Rogue Agent, a documentary looking into Frost's relationship with Mike Danton, and evidence of child abuse perpetrated against Danton's younger brother.
External links
- the fifth estate – Rogue Agent
- CBC uncovers further Danton-Frost intrigue, 29-11-2005
- David Frost resigns as NHL player agent
- "Puck Stop: The Bizarre World of Mike Danton" from Buffalo weekly ArtVoice