Leslie, no Morisson? Definitely think he's an underrated prospect. Crafty kid.
A small guy who can't score isn't going to make the NHL. Needs to get stronger, better before we even start talking about him.
Scouting the stat line.
Morrison is a really good skater, stick handler, and he has really good hands. His problem is that he tries to stick handle the puck into the net after doing a few circles around the net, and holding onto the puck for a minute.
If he tried to simplify his game, he could have a role in the NHL, likely as a middle 6 winger. He has some skills that play in the NHL, but plays too much of a junior hockey game.
... Here is what is bothering me. Paliotta came to Columbus from Chicago as part of the Saad trade. Jarmo Kekalainen ... had interest in him; a decent D, with some offensive upside. A year later, Paliotta did not get a qualifying offer (despite a decent AHL season) on that same team that could afford him and had the contracts available.
...Kekalainen, ... is not the type of GM that would just let a player go for nothing, if he thought that player had value. .. there may be more to this story that I do not know yet. Maybe not. But I want to withhold judgment until I really find out what happened.
FWIW, the internet scuttlebutt was that CBJ couldn't (wouldn't) afford his QA, which would have had to be north of $1M.
They do have some ugly contracts ( DSavard $4.25M til '21, NFoligno $5.5M til '21, ... Clarkson...)
Scouting the stat line.
Morrison is a really good skater, stick handler, and he has really good hands. His problem is that he tries to stick handle the puck into the net after doing a few circles around the net, and holding onto the puck for a minute.
If he tried to simplify his game, he could have a role in the NHL, likely as a middle 6 winger. He has some skills that play in the NHL, but plays too much of a junior hockey game.
The Juniors are massively below the NHL. In fact, massively below the AHL. How far down? St. Croix had not one, but two 100-point seasons and couldn't make it in the AHL. He got literally zero points in the AHL in his 3 pro seasons.
A 100-point Junior offense-first player is significantly more likely to play in the minors than in the NHL. The odds of making the NHL for someone who has no size, who's predominantly an offensive player who gets half of that in terms of points are extraordinarily slim. If you review all the similar players, there's maybe 1% of them who make it.
As for his game outside of stats, Morrison's game is incredibly unsuited for the NHL. This is not a Callahan situation where he didn't run up a lot of Junior points, but he was smart, hard working, very coachable. And even Callahan failed to get a contract at the age of 20, had to return to the Juniors and only after getting over 50 goals did he get an NHL contract.
Instead, Morrison plays dumb hockey that will result in nothing but concussions at the pro level. I'd bet money he'll wind up in the ECHL for most of his career.
What makes him to end up in a different stage than the St Croixs of the world? Not being a dick or anything maybe just in a grumpy mood and want to know a prospect of ours I know zip bout a bit better.I think Ronning was such a great pick by Clark/Gorton. I think he's going to go up the prospect rankings fast.
What makes him to end up in a different stage than the St Croixs of the world? Not being a dick or anything maybe just in a grumpy mood and want to know a prospect of ours I know zip bout a bit better.