When it comes to pro hockey talent and potential in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft, they don’t come much more intriguing than defenseman Scott Morrow.
From Darien, Conn., he left his native Northeast to spend the last five years at Shattuck-St. Mary’s School in Faribault, Minn. A late ’02 right-shot with high-end offensive skills, the UMass recruit has scouts divided on where he will be drafted this weekend, but is sure to have his name called at some point.
With his size, puck poise and a high ceiling for offense at even strength and the power play, Morrow has been one of the most interesting players to track this season.
“NHL talent for sure,” said a midwest-based NHL scout who has followed Morrow’s development for years. “Big, strong powerful kid. Very skilled and dynamic offensively. He’s good on the power play. The biggest thing for him is that he’s going to improve defensively and cut down on the turnovers.”
Morrow is ranked third on New England Hockey Journal’s list of top draft eligible prospects from the region. He brings good size at 6-foot-2, 192 pounds with the room on his frame to add more mass and get stronger as he physically matures. His skating and mobility has room for improvement, as he doesn’t have the pure foot speed of other top defenders in the class and can put an emphasis on his footwork to make his transitions and direction change more fluid.
When the puck is on his stick, Morrow is at his best. He keeps his head up and has the vision plus hands to make any range of passes. He can rifle passes that hit his teammates in stride, allowing them to gain the offensive zone cleanly. He also does a good job on the power play, moving well laterally along the blue line and getting his point shots through traffic to the net. While he doesn't have a blistering shot, he will be more of a scoring threat with improved power and accuracy on his drive, which he can get off quickly.
Defensively, he can gap up and use his stick effectively to negate rushes and keep opponents to the outside, but he doesn’t always apply consistency in his decisions and effort. Some of it could be related to the role he’s had at Shattuck, where Morrow has been expected to generate a lot of offense from the back end, but he sometimes tries to do too much and gets to running around in his own end. He'll be able to address that aspect of his play this season as he will matriculate at UMass and is expected to play a prominent role with the Minutemen right away.
The defensive concerns are mostly fixable. What scouts have pointed out that by not playing at a higher junior level and instead opting to remain at Shattuck an extra year, Morrow created more questions than answers going into the draft.
“It absolutely did,” the scout said when asked if not spending a full season in the USHL hurt Morrow in his team's war room discussions. “He absolutely hurt himself. His game hasn’t stepped forward and in some ways, I’d say he regressed his game a bit because I think it affected the way he processes the game. It looked like this season that he didn’t process things as quick as he used to.”
On the flip side, another NHL scout with an Eastern Conference team had a different perspective on Morrow and why he thinks his draft day wait won’t be all that long.
“Every team is looking for a player who can do the things Morrow can,” he said. “You can address some of the concerns you have with his defense by pairing him with a guy who will have his back. But, when it comes to transition and getting pucks up the ice to boost the scoring attack, there aren’t many better players in the draft than him. The vision, the instincts, the confidence...all of that adds up in a good way.”
The independent scouting service Red Line Report ranked Morrow as a solid second-rounder in their 2021 Draft Guide, a solid second-round grade. His scouting report profile cited Carolina Hurricanes veteran Jaccob Slavin as a comparable NHL defenseman to his style of play.
“His size, strength, skill and ability to generate offense are all NHL quality,” said the scout.
New England Hockey Journal draft prediction: Morrow has first-round talent, but he’ll likely go in the second or early third round because of the skating and lack of competition he faced for much of the year. One of the challenges for players is not staying in one place too long where their development can stagnate or they get perceived as not wanting to hurt their draft chances against better players. Whatever Morrow’s reasons for remaining at Shattuck, he didn’t have enough of a USHL sample size with Fargo this past spring to give NHL teams confidence. He’ll be an attractive, upside option for a club that needs a boost to their transition game.
