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Canes Sign Scott Morrow

Signed to a 3 year ELC effective this year, so the year is burned and he’s eligible to play right away.

May as well. The D depth behind DeAngelo is basically nonexistent. OK, it's Coghlan ... which may actually be worse than nonexistent. Also. sounds like Chatfield might be a bit banged up so they might end up testing that depth a bit down the stretch. There are a lot of Canes watchers who see more in Morrow than I do, but by all accounts he's worked hard to shore up his d-zone issues over the last two college seasons and he bounced back with a really good junior year after a sluggish sophomore season. I figure he's a depth PP point guy at worst and maybe he grows into the rest of his game the way Chatfield did.
 
Yeah the depth come playoff time can never hurt with a long run, especially at D. We all know that Pesce is likely gone and who knows what the Canes may decide with Skjei when it comes to a new contract, I think it's safe to say they see Morrow in the top 6 or 7 on D next year.
 
Yeah the depth come playoff time can never hurt with a long run, especially at D. We all know that Pesce is likely gone and who knows what the Canes may decide with Skjei when it comes to a new contract, I think it's safe to say they see Morrow in the top 6 or 7 on D next year.
Pretty safe bet, I'd think ... depending on what they decide for the shutdown pairing. I'm guessing Orlov ends up stepping up but he can play either side. I doubt we'll see both Pesce and Skjei coming back, but it's tough to say with this bunch. It may depend on what they end up doing up front. I'm sure they'd love to keep Guentzel around if they could avoid a stupidly long term. There's going to be a lot of dominoes lined up and some of the math will potentially change depending on how things go in the post season, you'd think.
 
I could definitely see the Canes losing both Skjei and Pesce and effectively having Orlov/Chatfield become our 2nd pair with Morrow and a cheaper stay at home vet TBD end up our top 6. Is that a good idea? Well, probably not. That type of approach would leave a substantial investment amount available for the forwards, so if Guentzel is interested in staying here the Canes can be plenty competitive with his AAV.

No matter how stomach churning what happens with our UFAs ends up being, I will say again that we have to give the Canes management crew the benefit of the doubt.

I'm sure the Canes are hoping that 25-26 has a D that looks like:

Slavin-Morrow
Nikishin-???
???-???

Morrow is going to be given every opportunity to slide into Burns spot when Burns retires. Nikishin is going to be expected to move right into that 2nd pair spot. Of course we have no idea at all if Morrow and Nikishin are up to the task, this will be one major unknown over the next 2 seasons.
 
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Yeah, that's why I say that the outcome of this season will factor in. Win the Cup and it certainly validates the current approach. Bomb out in the 2nd Round and it's an indictment on the current approach. Somewhere in between? Yeah, who knows. If I had to guess, I'd say they put their D budget into bringing back one of the Skjei/Pesce pairing, slide Orlov up to fill the gap (remembering that he can play both sides), bring in a veteran LD to play with Chatfield (who also needs a new deal) and let Morrow learn the pro game in the A ... at least on paper.
 
Not a bad plan and asset to have both Morrow and Nikishin in your defense plans for the next several years. Canes under this current regime have always prioritized the blueline so not out of touch to think they could always trade for another top four option on D if they lost both Skjei and Pesce to free agency.

Slavin/Burns first pair, Orlov/and a newly acquired top four D and a third pairing of Morrow/Chatfield with a vet D from free agency in the mix is not bad next year.
 
If I had to guess, I'd say they put their D budget into bringing back one of the Skjei/Pesce pairing...
This is what I think will happen, too. I don't see us losing both Pesce and Skjei (and I really think Skjei is more likely to depart for greener pastures). Signing Morrow is a sure sign that the Canes are preparing for a reorg on defense. Securing Nikishin is next. Oh, and re-sign Chatty.
 
Signing Morrow is a sure sign that the Canes are preparing for a reorg on defense.

I think they’d sign him regardless of their plans. He’s an asset. If they don’t sign him the lose him. If they wait they risk alienating him. Don’t think you can read anything more into it.

I think they keep Skeji and lose Pesce. But it depends on how things go in the playoffs. If they don’t make a deep run they may want to make some pretty fundamental changes.
 
I think they’d sign him regardless of their plans. He’s an asset.
This. It's actually a huge deal to get a prospect of Morrow's quality under contract while he still has college eligibility the way things are going with those guys these days. Play him or trade him, whatever. But with a full ELC attached, the Canes get value either way. Without it, he plays another year in college and then picks his spot and Carolina gets a fire sale draft pick at best.
 
This. It's actually a huge deal to get a prospect of Morrow's quality under contract while he still has college eligibility the way things are going with those guys these days. Play him or trade him, whatever. But with a full ELC attached, the Canes get value either way. Without it, he plays another year in college and then picks his spot and Carolina gets a fire sale draft pick at best.
He graduated in 3 years, so he could have declared himself a college free agent on August 15, so it’s a bigger deal.
 
He graduated in 3 years, so he could have declared himself a college free agent on August 15, so it’s a bigger deal.
Missed that ... so yeah, HUGE get for the Canes. They either had to get him signed or dump his rights for whatever they could get before he got UFA rights.
 
He graduated in 3 years, so he could have declared himself a college free agent on August 15, so it’s a bigger deal.
No actual recollection, but it seems as though ten years ago players of that quality would have waited us out and gone elsewhere. Things have changed for the better.
 
No actual recollection, but it seems as though ten years ago players of that quality would have waited us out and gone elsewhere. Things have changed for the better.
Ten years ago? Fox basically did it 5 years ago.
 
No actual recollection, but it seems as though ten years ago players of that quality would have waited us out and gone elsewhere. Things have changed for the better.
It's down to the individual at this point. Fox gave Carolina the college brushoff not too very long ago, but he had his heart set on the Rangers. If Morrow really wanted to play for ... check map ... the Rangers or Bruins (most likely childhood faves) then he could have easily done the same thing. Turns out what he wanted was to pressure the team into burning that first year on his ELC. Fine. As you guys know by now, I'm fine with these guys using what little leverage they get under the CBA.
 
Makes sense. You want him ready to go later on just in case. May as well chuck him in there and see how it goes. Two games left against Columbus and one against Chicago ... it's not like there aren't some chances to shelter a pairing against those rosters.
 
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