The New York Rangers have brought along another veteran for training camp, announcing today that Joe Morrow will attend on a professional tryout. Morrow spent last season with the Winnipeg Jets, but was not issued a qualifying offer and became an unrestricted free agent.
Morrow, 26, was a first-round pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins back in 2011 but has bounced around the NHL since then. Making his debut with the Boston Bruins in 2014-15, he’s played 162 games since then including 41 last season with the Jets. Once a feared offensive threat in the WHL, Morrow hasn’t brought much of that to the NHL level where he has just 32 points over the years. Still, he will provide some extra depth in Rangers camp and get to show teams around the league that he’s still worthy of an NHL deal.
The Jets payed Morrow $1MM last season, but you have to think he won’t get much more than league minimum at this point if he was unable to find a deal through the summer. That could be a savvy pickup for a team like New York that could potentially flip him at the deadline to a defense-needy team for an asset, however small.