The Carolina Hurricanes' 2024-25 season came to a close earlier this week as the team lost in five games to the Florida Panthers in the Eastern Conference Final.
On Friday, select players met with the media in Raleigh for their end-of-season interviews.
Scott Morrow
On how difficult it was getting thrown right into the series with Florida: It was really hard, fast hockey. I mean, they're three time finalists in a row for a reason. Really good team and it was a fast, physical series. I don't know how I'd quantify how hard it was, but it was certainly a lot of fun and I'm glad I got that opportunity.
On what he learned from experiencing playoff hockey at that level: Just how simple their team played is why they had success. All their defensemen were big and could skate and our defensemen who played well that I could look up to against that and against their forecheck. Moving their feet and played physical and I think those are the two biggest things I need to work on. Being a little more physical and getting a little faster.
On what he wants to focus on in the offseason: Just first and foremost, working on my skating and then trying to get a little bit stronger so I can be more physical, especially in the defensive zone. I mean, I still feel like, physically, I have a lot of room to grow and in terms of my body, I'm still a young kid. I think there's definitely more I can add as far as just off the ice and in the weight room So that will be a lot of my focus.
On what were his biggest lessons from his first professional season: First of all, it was long. Twice as many games as I've ever played in college. I got called up at the right time where you're kind of hitting that late year and that gave me a lot of energy getting to come here. That was obviously very exciting, but just finding a way to maintain peak condition throughout such a long season where you're playing so many games, I think is definitely a challenge for everybody. It's something that I've never really had to deal with on this level. You're playing every other day and you have to find time to maintain what you've built all offseason and in the weight room. So that's something that I think is definitely a challenge, especially when I'm not just trying to maintain, but get stronger and quicker and all that because I still have room to grow. So that was probably the lesson that stands out the most. And then just how pro hockey and college hockey are such different styles. So just adapting. Every single game in college is very structured and physical and here, there's so many skilled players that you're defending and you have to read and react more than I thought I did in college. So jut working on that and learning how to do that was something I felt grew over the course of the season.
Recent NHL Run Putting Hurricanes Rookie Blueliner Scott Morrow's Talent, Growth On Display
<a href="http://thn.com/carolina" target="_blank">Carolina Hurricanes</a> rookie defenseman Scott Morrow got his first taste of NHL action last season — playing the final two games of the regular season — but it hasn't been till recently where he's actually gotten to feel like a real NHL player.
2024-25 Exit Interviews
Jordan Staal
Sebastian Aho
Jaccob Slavin
Jordan Martinook
Jalen Chatfield
Sean Walker
Jesperi Kotkaniemi
Frederik Andersen
Seth Jarvis
Andrei Svechnikov
Alexander Nikishin
Logan Stankoven
Eric Robinson
Dmitry Orlov
Brent Burns
Rod Brind'Amour and Eric Tulsky
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