Rangers hope Scott Morrow is 2nd defense prospect acquired from Carolina to thrive in New York

Yahoo

2 days ago

Adam Fox and Scott Morrow have more in common than simply being right-shot defensemen for the New York Rangers.
Each is a gifted puck mover, who starred in college, and eventually was traded to the Rangers by the Carolina Hurricanes. Their paths to Broadway were a bit different, but still the many similarities make for an intriguing comparison of sorts.
Fox was selected by the Calgary Flames in the third round (No. 66 overall) of the 2016 NHL Draft. He had zero intention of ever playing for the Flames, so they traded him to the Hurricanes on June 23, 2018. Less than a year later, Fox was traded to the Rangers.
All of this while Fox was still attending Harvard.
Don Waddell, Carolina's general manager then, was told by the defenseman's camp that he'd sign with the Hurricanes if they traded for him. Waddell pulled the trigger, sending Noah Hanifin and Elias Lindholm to the Flames in a deal that included Dougie Hamilton and Fox's rights. But things changed quickly.
'About two week later, the agent called and said, 'We changed our mind. We want to move to the Rangers,'' Waddell said on the Cam & Strick Podcast. 'So obviously, we traded for him thinking he was coming — and he didn't.'
Fox returned to Harvard for the 2018-19 season, then was flipped to New York before he could become an unsigned unrestricted free agent out of college.
And as Waddell revealed, that history nearly repeated itself with Scott Morrow.
WATCH:
Familiar situation for Hurricanes
Just like Fox, Morrow was a top college defenseman with leverage. And just like Fox, the Hurricanes risked losing him for nothing.
'Last year with Morrow … he was going to graduate earlier, unbeknownst to anybody,' Waddell said. 'If we didn't get him signed before August 15 (2024), he would've been free.'
Carolina narrowly avoided a repeat. They signed Morrow and he turned in a solid first season as a pro in 2024-25, largely in the American Hockey League — where Fox never played a single game — and then 14 NHL games.
Then on July 1, the Hurricanes moved Morrow to the Rangers as part of the K'Andre Miller sign-and-trade. Not because he demanded it. But because they wanted Miller.
Scott Morrow following in Adam Fox's footsteps with Rangers
The Rangers have already seen what an elite college defenseman can become in the NHL. In three seasons at Harvard, Fox recorded 116 points (21 goals, 95 assists) in 97 games, and was widely considered one of the smartest puck-moving players — regardless of position — in college hockey.
Morrow's path hasn't been identical, but the production is on the same level. Over three years at UMass, he posted 94 points (28 goals, 66 assists) in 109 games. He's second all-time in points by a defenseman in program history.
Both players made immediate impacts as freshman. Fox tallied 40 points in his first season, while Morrow broke out with 33 and became the first freshman in UMass history to earn First Team All-American honors.
Fox made a seamless jump to the NHL and quickly became a fixture on the Rangers' top-pair. He won the Norris Trophy as top NHL defenseman in 2020-21 and has 361 points (63 goals, 306 assists) in 431 games.
Morrow didn't jump straight to the NHL, and he's not guaranteed a roster spot out of training camp with the Rangers either this fall. But there's a good chance that he will land a spot on the third pair and give the Rangers a solid second puck-mover on the blue line. Right behind Fox, that is.
He's not exactly following Fox's direct path. But the similarities are there.
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