Prospect Info: #40OA - Hurricanes select RHD Scott Morrow

[DaveG]

6'2 RHD from Shattuck St Mary's

Still a bit of a work in progress defensively but his size, skating, and offensive ability combination brings a pretty high upside package. Will play for UMass next season.

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[Appleyard]

Scouting Report: Scott Morrow - Smaht Scouting

Nice pick.

In depth report from Josh Tessler from Smaht Scouting.

 

[LastWordArmy]

The Shattuck St. Mary’s high school program is legendary for its hockey development. However, being an elite prep school, it is rare that prospects spend their draft year with the team. Normally a player is with the school for their 15-year-old or 16-year-old seasons and then moves on for their draft year. This season, the global pandemic created an exception as defenceman Scott Morrow choose to stay in school rather than going to a new environment. Morrow scored eight goals and 40 assists for 48 points in 30 games with the Sabres. He also joined the Fargo Force for the USHL playoffs, playing six games.

In 2019-20 Morrow scored 22 goals and 45 assists for 67 points in 46 games with Shattuck. He also appeared in two games for the Youngstown Phantoms in the USHL, picking up an assist. The Darien, Connecticut native will be headed closer to home for his college hockey career. He is committed to playing Division One hockey for the University of Massachusetts Minutemen next season. Morrow’s CHL rights are owned by the Val D’Or Foreurs who drafted him in the second round, 21st overall, of the 2018 QMJHL American Draft.

2021 NHL Draft #53: Scott Morrow Scouting Report

 

[bleedgreen]

I don’t know anything about him but I’m glad we chose D higher up the list. Our d prospect list imo is well below par.

 

[CandyCanes]

McKenzie had Morrow 37 on his list

 

[spockBokk]

Kinda seems like they actually may have drafted for need here vs bpa, but it’s a guy I wanted them to get, later in the 2nd regardless.

 

[Unsustainable]

Cool

 

[DaveG]

Kinda seems like they actually may have drafted for need here vs bpa, but it’s a guy I wanted them to get, later in the 2nd regardless.

Somewhat agreed but this is also one of those drafts where the opinions on where players should be taken are going to be all over the place. I wouldn't be shocked if we had Morrow as a possible pick at #27 and looked at things, then decided he'd be there at #40 when the Preds made that offer.

 

[Surrounded By Ahos]

Scouting Report: Scott Morrow - Smaht Scouting

Nice pick.

In depth report from Josh Tessler from Smaht Scouting.

If he's got the Appleyard seal of approval, that's good enough for me!

 

[FreshSeabass]

 

[A Star is Burns]

From the little I know this year, he was a guy I was intrigued about in the 2nd, so good stuff. UMass seems like a pretty good program now too, so that's a great place for him to be headed.

 

[Vagrant]

From the little I know this year, he was a guy I was intrigued about in the 2nd, so good stuff. UMass seems like a pretty good program now too, so that's a great place for him to be headed.

interesting that he was a north dakota commit to go play with jake sanderson but then flipped to umass. probably an issue of wanting to be closer to home once the pandemic hit. plus, the offensive creativity they allowed cale makar to hone makes them familiar with this kind of attacking style defender. if this player goes to the ushl and produces close to what he is capable, he would have probably been an option at pick 27 and perhaps earlier. there were mixed feelings about him going back to shattuck, as it's unusual for a player to play their senior season with the program if they're highly regarded. that created a lot of narratives about him being too physically mature for the level (duh) even though his previous seasons with the club at 15 and 16 were immense. scouts hate drafting from high schools about as much as they hate drafting from junior A, if not more.

i like the swing for the fence on this pick.

 

[DaveG]

interesting that he was a north dakota commit to go play with jake sanderson but then flipped to umass. probably an issue of wanting to be closer to home once the pandemic hit. plus, the offensive creativity they allowed cale makar to hone makes them familiar with this kind of attacking style defender. if this player goes to the ushl and produces close to what he is capable, he would have probably been an option at pick 27 and perhaps earlier. there were mixed feelings about him going back to shattuck, as it's unusual for a player to play their senior season with the program if they're highly regarded. that created a lot of narratives about him being too physically mature for the level (duh) even though his previous seasons with the club at 15 and 16 were immense. scouts hate drafting from high schools about as much as they hate drafting from junior A, if not more.

i like the swing for the fence on this pick.

From what I've read he re-opened his recruitment when UND said they wanted him to hold off a year and play a season in the USHL. So when he opened things back up a variety of programs came calling again and UMass was one of the best programs to make a pitch.

 

[tarheelhockey]

This has to be the smallest reaction the board has ever had to our highest pick in a draft.

 

[A Star is Burns]

This has to be the smallest reaction the board has ever had to our highest pick in a draft.

Second rounder in a year it was even harder than usual to follow things. Guess it makes sense. And we should kill him.

 

[TheReelChuckFletcher]

I love, love, love Scott Morrow. I didn't comment a lot this afternoon because I was contributing to the commentary in Scouch's draft party, but now, after the draft is over, I'll make my comments here on each player.

First, this guy was an unbelievable prep school player. So ridiculous, in fact, that he frequently looked like a man vs. a pee-wee team in games. His offensive skills are amazing, he's a great skater, and is one of the best players in the draft at "walking the line", per se. His defensive game is pretty raw, yes, but that offense is going to take him a long ways. It's a laughably good get at 40th overall; even though he wasn't my personal "top" guy at this slot (that was Raty IMO), he was among my top-5 best available list, so yes, @spockBokk , I would personally classify this as a BPA pick more than a need pick. It just so happened that the best player was the same as the biggest need, which is quite the outcome, I would say.

 

[GIN ANTONIC]

Good name, so I’m fine with this one

 

[Vagrant]

digging into this one a little more, it's easy to see what has people excited about this player. one thing that stood out to me on the tape is his arsenal against offensive zone pressure as the puck carrier. some of what he does is competition dependent and will have to be curbed somewhat as he advances levels, but the pulse he has to try these moves and remain calm and in control of his body through them is an elite and underrated skill. he handles the pressure in productive ways. against hard charging defenders, he can flip the puck against the boards to himself and sidestep the coverage and recover the puck in the zone. he can fake a shot and get a defender to put his legs together expecting to get hit and then uses that brief second of incapacitation to do what he wants to do from there. he has a great hand eye and he can turn his skates and keep puck control through pivots that others would find more difficult if they even tried it. some call that stuff creativity, but it's equal parts that and courage. there's a self belief in that style of play and a confidence that will hopefully travel with him.

there is a caveat though, and it's that he's 6'2" and the chances that his arsenal stays intact into the next level isn't a guarantee. he's not a weak skater at all, but when you think about guys who play as far up the ice as he likes to play, it's usually guys a little smaller in this day and age. he's probably going to have to adjust his style pretty considerably against division 1 talent. the question for me is does he keep this unflappable confidence and attack in similar ways at the next level, or will he become a more traditional presence as offensive defensemen go and do most of his damage on the powerplay? that will ultimately decide the top end of his projections. the skill he already has will make him dangerous on any powerplay he plays on. he's not that traditional pivot up there that effectively serves as a bumper to cross the ice. he wants to stop the puck there and make it happen. it's fun to watch because it's the initiative that you wish your more skilled guys had to roll the dice.

UMass probably goes a similar route with him as they did with Makar. year 1 will be about learning traditional defensive zone structure and less about the high risk elements of his game. once he proves he can play inside the system, his rope for playing up should be granted if everything fully checks out for him as a sophomore.

 

[Bunch of Jurcos]

Even if he's only .7 Makar, that would still be a huge win for us. Makar is just flat out ridiculously good.

 

[bleedgreen]

Very difficult to tell what will translate to the next level. He was playing against Pee Wee’s compared to him. Worth a shot but you’d expect any draft worthy prospect to rip that league up, and look good doing it. I’d expect there to be an adjustment period with him.

I think my biggest concern is that if it takes three years for him to find his stride, which wouldn’t be weird he’ll start being a concern to get signed.

He doesn’t have very much in common with Makar to watch him play. Completely different style of offense.

 

[moses malone 12]

agreed on Makar. he was insanely good at UMass and made Fox look really ordinary in comparison when watching the UMass-Harvard frozen four game. Both are top 10 d-men in the NHL already, with Makar top 5. If Morrow, as others have stated, progresses in a similar fashion to Makar at UMass, we will be very happy with this pick.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

I think my biggest concern is that if it takes three years for him to find his stride, which wouldn’t be weird he’ll start being a concern to get signed.

we can’t have it both ways. We can’t bitch about rushing guys to the NHL , then complain that if we let a guy marinate, that he might not sign.

 

[NotOpie]

we can’t have it both ways. We can’t bitch about rushing guys to the NHL , then complain that if we let a guy marinate, that he might not sign.

Yes we can and....we do.

 

[The Jerk Store]

we can’t have it both ways. We can’t bitch about rushing guys to the NHL , then complain that if we let a guy marinate, that he might not sign.

 

[Discipline Daddy]

This front office certainly swings, and they swing every time. A lot has been said about our boldness at the draft. I really believe in this technique. It's a darts approach, and it's a trying to hit bullseye every time approach. I love that we don't strive for a nice bottom 6 forward or bottom pairing D piece. We tend to try to get a top liner every time. I love it. We have no idea how this will work, because it's early and it's never really been done before. I hate a lot of what Dundon does, but I love the talent accumulation approach.

It'll be really interesting to see what we do with free agency if Dougie doesn't sign. I can see full blown panic if Dougie signs with the Devils and we don't get any big pieces on day 1. Get your popcorn ready, boys and girls.