Scott Morrow Returns to Camp, Still Hoping to Make Team

One of the biggest storylines from this year's Carolina Hurricanes training camp has been trying to figure out which of the rookies will emerge on top and potentially challenge for roster spots.

While a majority of the focus has been on the top three forwards of Bradly Nadeau, Felix Unger Sorum and Jackson Blake, perhaps one of the more underrated players has been standout blueliner Scott Morrow.

The 21-year-old defenseman made his NHL debut last season, playing the final two games of the regular season after leaving UMass.

But Morrow's goal isn't to just play in the NHL. It's to thrive in it.

The former college star knew he still had a ways to go and so decided to spend his summer in Raleigh working closely with the staff.

For three months, the 2021 second-round pick was concentrating on and working toward preparing himself for the upcoming season.

"I've been here for the better part of July, August and September," Morrow said. "I thought I had a really productive summer. Just coming up here in the spring, the speed is the thing that jumped out to me the most, so just trying to get faster mostly."

Training... and perhaps playing a bit of pickleball too.

"The biggest thing we did outside the rink was play some pickleball," Morrow said. "[Jaccob Slavin's] house has a nice indoor garage pickleball court. That was fun. We played outside a lot too. There's actually a lot around here. There's one a couple minutes from our house so just playing with my roommates and playing with some of the older guys was a nice way to get to know the guys."

Despite the preparation though, it hasn't been the training camp that anyone envisioned for the 21 year old.

Morrow sustained a lower-body injury in the first day of camp and had only managed to participate in one other day of practice before Tuesday.

Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour had described Morrow as simply feeling a bit "funky" and that he didn't expect it to be anything serious, however, Morrow wasn't seen back on the ice until Tuesday's practice at Invisalign Arena.

"Obviously I was a little cooped up the last week or two not being out there, so it was a lot of fun to be back out there," Morrow said. "I just tried to bring some positive energy. A bit of a bummer that camp didn't get off to the start I wanted, but hopefully I can finish it off strong."

The Canes have three pre-season games remaining and while Brind'Amour confirmed that Morrow wouldn't be playing Wednesday, he'll hopefully be an option for the last two.

"Especially for the young kids, they have to show something,' Brind'Amour said. "You can't show it in the training room so it was nice to see him get back out there."

Morrow is hoping for the chance to show off more of his game, which he feels has rounded out from his time in college.

He had always been known as more of an offensive guy (he had 94 points in 109 college games), but Morrow feels that his defensive game made great strides at UMass.

"I think my defensive game came a long way in my time in college," Morrow said. "Just getting my body ready for the pros, getting stronger off the ice and all that. But as far as on the ice, just gapping up. We play similarly tight gaps in college and here it's so important that you're where you're supposed to be defensively and tight on your guys. I think that gave me a good baseline for stepping in here."

When Morrow signed his entry-level contract with Carolina back in April, the path forward probably seemed a bit clearer for the young blueliner.

The Canes had three defensemen on expiring deals — Brett Pesce, Brady Skjei and Tony DeAngelo — and Morrow looked to be a potential option for this upcoming season.

But with the signings of Shayne Gostisbehere and Sean Walker, the opportunity is a lot slimmer season.

While his ultimate goal isn't to be in the AHL, a year or two playing top minutes with the Chicago Wolves has the potential to set Morrow up for greater success down the line than being the seventh defenseman with the Hurricanes and the young blueliner seems to understand that.

"It's always a good thing when you get to play a lot," Morrow said. "Obviously, I hope to be here but if I'm down there, then I'm going to try to make the most of my opportunity to play a lot hopefully and work on the areas of my game that the organization feels I need to work on and hopefully prove that I belong up here."

Morrow is a promising talent, one the Canes very much believe in, and personally, I don't think it will be long before he's on the ice, hearing his name called under the lights of the Lenovo Center.

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