Scott Morrow’s time with the New York Rangers has been a rollercoaster ride this season, but there’s one aspect about his character that you can’t take away.
When the Rangers acquired Morrow from the Carolina Hurricanes as part of the sign-and-trade deal involving K’Andre Miller, they were getting a player who was highly successful in the NCAA and American Hockey League level, largely due to his ability to create offense as a defenseman, but he had yet to etch his mark in the NHL.
Despite failing to make the Rangers’ roster out of training camp, Morrow was called up a couple of times, and once Adam Fox landed on long-term injured reserve with an upper-body injury, Morrow got the opportunity to step into the lineup and play a prominent role.
When asked about what he wanted to see from Morrow shortly after Fox’s injury, Sullivan gave a blunt answer, a sign that he was simply expecting more out of the young defenseman.
“Assertive play,” Sullivan said about what he wants to see from Morrow. “Making decisions with conviction and not being in between. Eliminating hesitation from his game.”
Since Sullivan’s request for Morrow to play with more assertiveness, he’s been in the lineup for nine games, which has come with its highs and lows.
Even though the 23-year-old defenseman has specialized in the power play at practically every level of hockey, Sullivan decided to utilize a five-forward power-play unit upon Fox’s absence.
At first, Sullivan didn’t fully trust Morrow to quarterback the first power-play unit.
“We don't think that's the strength of their games to this point,” Sullivan said of why Schneider or Morrow are not playing on the first power-play unit. “We're trying to put a power play together that we think gives us the best opportunity to have success. Obviously, Foxy, I think, is an elite power-play defenseman, with how he distributes the puck up there, the way he sees the game. He's got really good instincts. We don't necessarily think that that's the strength of some of the guys you just mentioned.”
Sullivan did emphasize that Morrow was the most equipped defenseman outside of Fox to play on the man advantage.
“We’ve made a decision to go with five forwards at this point, but we know that if we were to use a defensemen, he would be the guy because of the instincts that he has,” Sullivan said.
With the five-forward unit failing to produce offense, Sullivan recently added Morrow to that first power-play unit.
In this role, Morrow has gone through a steep learning curve, committing some costly turnovers in the process, showing that there’s still room for him to grow.
From an overall standpoint, Morrow has been prone to making some defensive mistakes. Specifically on Saturday afternoon in the Rangers’ game against the Philadelphia Flyers, Morrow committed two costly turnovers, the first one coming on the power play, which led to a shorthanded goal, and the next one taking place in overtime, nearly leading to the game-winning goal.
Through the mistakes, Morrow has continued to play an assertive game per request from Sullivan, earning his coach’s admiration.
“What I'll say is, he's an incredible kid, and his ability to shrug off some of the plays and continue to perform out there, I think, speaks volumes for the character of what he's about,” Sullivan said. “He's a young player. He's going to make some mistakes, and let's be honest, we're putting him in some really high-profile positions, whether it be on the power play and overtime, things of that nature. He's playing a significant role here with this group right now, especially with Foxy being out, and so I think he's done a great job with just playing through the ups and the downs.
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“I think that's what you get when you deal with young players, especially defensemen. I said this to you guys all the time, I think it's the hardest position to play, but I admire his resilience because that would affect a lot of young players the wrong way. When you watch Scotty play, if he makes a mistake, he shrugs it off, he learns from it. We couldn't be more proud of him for his ability to respond to those situations.”
Sullivan has continued to roll with Morrow on the first power-play unit and give him heavy minutes despite some of his defensive blunders, not trying to punish Morrow for mistakes as he continues to develop.
On Tuesday night in the Rangers’ 7-3 win over the Washington Capitals, Morrow played arguably his best game of the season.
He led all Rangers defenseman with a 2.50 Game Score, an analytical stat used to quantify a player's single-game impact, blending goals, assists, shots, penalties, faceoffs, and 5v5 goal/Corsi differentials (shot attempts) into one number, with higher scores indicating better overall performance in that specific game.
Morrow clearly has the talent to transform into an impactful NHL defenseman. Now it’s about fully adapting to the speed of the NHL game and providing more of a reliable presence for the Rangers, something that should come with time.