Boston Bruins: Joe Morrow Skating On Thin Ice
Boston Bruins defenseman Joe Morrow is fighting to stay with the B’s and the NHL. But at the moment, he’s just one round away from getting knocked out of the ring.
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Boston Bruins defenseman Joe Morrow is in his fourth season with the Bruins organization. He turns 24 next month. Unless Morrow can prove he can be a top-six defenseman while Zdeno Chara is injured, Morrow could be spending a lot more time on the ninth level or worse.
He was considered to be a future NHL star when he was drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round(23rd overall) of the 2011 Entry Draft. The Bruins ended up getting him as part of the trade that sent genuine NHL star Tyler Seguin to the Dallas Stars. Now, Morrow is the last remaining piece of a trade that will be regarded as one of the worst in former GM Peter Chiarelli’s career.
Morrow’s biggest issue right now is consistency. He’ll have a good game, followed by a rough one. If he has two or three strong games, the pendulum inevitably shifts back to the other side of the fence. While he can play solid hockey, his Jekyll-and-Hyde playing style has proven maddening to the fans (and likely the front office). It’s the main reason he’s played in only eight of the Bruins 21 games so far this season.
Morrow has played in 55 NHL games (It’s taken three seasons to get that many games under his belt.). So far, he’s put up just nine points and two goals. He has a -5 rating and a 2.7% shot success rate.
Morrow was a given a great chance to get himself in the door with the injury to Zdeno Chara. So far, the door hasn’t let Morrow in. In fact it’s bolted itself shut. He was a -2 on the ice tonight, and his inability to stop an opposing player led to goals by the Ottawa Senators and the Calgary Flames.
His paring with Kevan Miller hasn’t helped his situation either. Both players seem tentative at times, and lost in others. It certainly doesn’t help that Miller is the only blueliner that has played fewer games than Morrow (due to his hand injury).
Morrow is still hoping to grab that brass ring this season though. He’s hoping to stay active in the roster and help the Bruins however he can to get the B’s back into the playoffs this season.
“I came into training camp in good shape and I came in ready to play, and I think the hardest part was not playing those first couple of games and trying to maintain that fire inside that I had when I believed I was going to start the season and play well right from the first game,” said Morrow a few days ago. “And to sit in the stands for a month and a half and come in and start playing again, I feel like it’s a lot harder than people kind of give credit for.”
At the moment, the best thing Morrow can do is to keep the bleeding under control into Zdeno Chara returns. If he can get to that point, he could see himself getting another contract. If he can’t help the team when they need it most, that failure will be remembered when the B’s go shopping for another blueliner at the deadline.