Morrison trade makes Hawks stronger
Whether Brendan Morrison is going to be the Blackhawks' second, third or fourth center, his acquisition on Friday night from the Calgary Flames has strengthened the team at a position that needed attention.
Morrison, 36, has racked up 200 goals and 601 points in his 15-year career playing between some top wingers, including Jarome Iginla with the Flames.
“Whatever the team wants me to do is what I'm willing to do,” said Morrison, who comes with baggage in the form of recent knee problems.
“I think I have proved in the past, I have played with some pretty high-end wingers before and found some success. I'd still like to think I'm a guy who can contribute in that manner, to be counted on on a nightly basis to help supplement chat Chicago has as far as offense.
“I'm ecstatic. It's exciting for me to step in and find my niche on this team. I think I can help, but at the same time, I don't know how much help this team needs. It's a pretty solid group of guys.”
Hawks general manager Stan Bowman sent minor-league defenseman Brian Connolly to the Flames in exchange for Morrison, who pronounced himself fully recovered from the torn left ACL he suffered last season in a game at the United Center.
Morrison complained after that game that he was chirped at from the Hawks' bench to get off the ice while injured.
“To me, that's a dead issue,” Morrison said. “I'm moving on.”
Bowman said he would leave it up to coach Joel Quenneville to decide how to use Morrison, whether on the second line possibly between Marian Hossa and Patrick Sharp, or on the third or fourth line.
“We've had some different options at center this year that I think has been well chronicled,” Bowman said. “Patrick Kane played the first month or so and I think he did a good job there. That's an option for us, but when you have a player (in Morrison), who has played center his whole career and been productive and been partnered with some very good offensive players.”
Kruger has been improving at second center but still lacks the offensive game to play there regularly.
“It's not always easy to play with really high-end wingers because they think the game a certain way and expect the puck at certain times,” Bowman said. Obvioulsy, Brendan has been able to do that throughout his career.”
This is likely just the first deal Bowman makes before the NHL's Feb. 27 trade deadline. He is still looking for a defenseman to play in the top five, and don't rule out him adding another top-six forward for the stretch run and playoffs.
“I'm not closing out any options, but I'm eager to see how this works out,” Bowman said of the Morrison trade.
“Obviously, this doesn't impact defense. That hasn't changed. We're still a month away from the deadline so I'm not going to rule out anything. But I like what Brendan can bring to the group. Now we have another established legitimate center, and that's a very important position.”
Morrison has appeared in only 27 games for the Flames with 4 goals and 7 assists. He spent part of the early season on injured reserve getting his knee into shape after the bad injury.
“I think what happened initially was I came back maybe a tad early at the beginning of the year,” Morrison said. “It was situation in Calgary, we didn't get off to a great start and we maybe forced myself back in action a little sooner than we anticipated.
“I just needed a little more time to work on some explosiveness. I know it's fine, I've been playing the past few months. It's solid and strong.”
Connolly likely was never going to get a chance to crack the Hawks' defense that is still a mostly young group. He lost ground on the depth chart, first to Nick Leddy and now to recent top draft picks Dylan Olsen, Adam Clendening and Stephen Johns.