Scott Morrow’s season with the Rangers has turned into a strange waiting game, and Monday night only made it look worse. For the 14th straight game, he watched from the press box while New York fell 6-3 to the Los Angeles Kings, another night in which the team kept him out of the lineup despite having clear reasons to reconsider.
That tension has been building since the Rangers kept Morrow on the roster to start the season out of concern they could lose him on waivers. But if he is not going to get into games anytime soon, the logic behind keeping him around starts to fall apart. At that point, a trade feels like the natural next step.
Mike Sullivan was asked before the loss about Morrow’s situation and whether the team needed to get him into action or send him to Hartford. He acknowledged the obvious problem, but the Rangers still did nothing about it.
"We don't like having any of our players on the sidelines for any length of time. It's not in anybody's best interest, especially a young player like Scotty.
There are circumstances around it. He's been great.
He's a great pro. He understands it.
We've communicated it with him. He works extremely hard to try to keep his game at a level where, when he does get the tap to go in, that he has an opportunity to have success.
But I don't think there's any doubt that it's not in any player's best interest to be on the sidelines for that length of time. That's a discussion that we've had internally, and we'll try to manage it accordingly."
That answer said plenty. The action said even more.
The Rangers have been dealing with defensemen who are clearly not right physically, yet Morrow still has not gotten a real chance. Sean Durzi has not missed a game, but he has missed multiple practices for maintenance days and has looked hindered.
Against the Kings, Sullivan adjusted his pairs, moving Braden Schneider up alongside Marcus Pettersson and dropping Durzi. After the game, Sullivan confirmed Durzi is dealing with physical issues.
Via Mollie Walker
"It was an accumulation of events over time. We felt as a coaching staff, for the first probably 7 or 8 games, Marcus and Durz were a pretty solid pair for us.
They get hard minutes, they get a lot of D-zone starts against top players. That pair has been pretty solid for us.
I think the last 5 or 6 it's been a little bit of a struggle for them, for whatever reason. Durz is battling through some stuff physically and I'm sure that might be part of it.
But we just felt to affect a little bit of change, maybe we'll split the pairs and see what we get. It wasn't a reaction to the game tonight, it was an accumulation of events over the course of the last probably 4 or 5 games."
Even with that information, Morrow stayed out. The weekend in Ontario made the whole situation look even more confusing. Matthew Robertson was recalled from Hartford as insurance for the Ottawa game, giving the Rangers another defense option in case Durzi’s condition forced a change.
That chance never came. Durzi played, Robertson sat in the press box with Morrow, and then Robertson was sent right back to Hartford on Sunday.
By Monday night against the Kings, Durzi was still laboring. Instead of giving Morrow his regular-season debut, Sullivan simply rearranged the pairings in the middle of the game. Durzi was pushed down to the third pair, Schneider was moved up, and the Rangers carried on without ever really answering the question of why Morrow was there at all.
Then comes the six-day break before the Rangers host Edmonton on Sunday, which only sharpens the point. If there was ever a time to rest Durzi and give Morrow a longer look, this was it.
No one is asking Morrow to arrive as some instant top-four answer. But the Rangers have not exactly created a fair test.
He has not been given steady ice time, consistent partners, or a real chance to show what he can do. If they have already decided he is not part of the plan, then the cleanest move is to move on and stop wasting the spot.
The situation also has consequences beyond Morrow himself. It is making life harder for 18-year-old rookie Alberts Smits, who is already dealing with the usual growing pains of his first North American season.
Pairing that with Schneider’s erratic puck management only makes the adjustment tougher. Schneider keeps getting runway without consequence because nothing inside the lineup is threatening his minutes.
Morrow may have upside, but upside does not matter from the press box. If the Rangers are not going to use him during an injury-riddled stretch, then the organization needs to make a decision and stick to it.
In Other News...
Panarin Just Reopened A Brutal Rangers Reality At MSG
Artemi Panarins return to Madison Square Garden once again put a spotlight on what the Rangers gave up when they moved on from him. In his second visit back since the trade, he was right in the middle of the action, scoring a goal and adding an assist as his new club handled the building with ease. For a Rangers team still trying to settle into life without him, it was another reminder of how quickly an old star can make a new place feel like home.
Panarin has been productive from the start this season, piling up seven goals and four assists in 10 games for the Los Angeles Kings, while the Rangers continue to look for answers from the player they brought in to replace him. Pavel Dorofeyev has managed only three goals in 14 games, and his recent move down to the third line only deepens the concern about whether New York has found the right answer yet. [Read more 🡒]
Rangers Still Have One Big Pavel Dorofeyev Debate Hanging Over Them
The Rangers have enough problems without having to worry about one of their big offseason additions, but Pavel Dorofeyevs early stretch in New York has become part of the conversation anyway. In a season where the club has dropped five of its last six and has had to navigate the ripple effects of Igor Shesterkins injury along with its own defensive issues, Dorofeyevs adjustment has been closely watched because he was brought in to help add more bite to the attack.
His numbers through 14 games have lagged a bit behind what he showed with the Vegas Golden Knights, but there are signs he is settling in. Dorofeyev has started to flash more of the offense the Rangers expected, and his recent run of productivity suggests this is still a work in progress rather than a finished judgment on the move. The bigger question now is whether the Rangers can count on that trend to keep building as they try to steady themselves. [Read more 🡒]
Rangers Prospects Are Starting To Build Real Momentum Overseas
A handful of Rangers prospects kept busy overseas last week, and there were signs that the organizations development pipeline is starting to pick up some real traction. Rico Gredig got on the board for EV Zug in Switzerland, while Mikkel Eriksen continued to hold a prominent role for Frjestad BK in Sweden, where he has been seeing top-six minutes and finding ways to stay involved offensively.
For a Rangers system that is always under the microscope, those kinds of updates matter because they show more than just ice time. Gredigs first goal of the season and Eriksens steady work in Sweden were part of a broader stretch that also included other prospects getting reps in their own leagues, a useful sign that several young players are building confidence at once rather than waiting for one breakout to carry the group. [Read more 🡒]