New York, Los Angeles, and now Chicago.
Brad Morrison’s path to the pros has always taken him to the biggest of NHL cities and he continued down that road on Sunday when he was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks in a one-for-one deal that sent defenceman Olli Maatta to the Los Angeles Kings.
Morrison learned about the trade Sunday morning when he got a call from ‘Hawks general manager Stan Bowman.
“I’m just excited to get another chance somewhere,” said Morrison, from his off-season home in Kelowna. “Obviously they saw something in me and wanted to give me a chance. It’s been a bit of a journey and it’s just starting again.”
Morrison will attend Chicago’s training camp and he will likely start the season in the AHL with the Rockford Ice Hogs, about an hour-and-a-half away from the Windy City. The next hockey season is supposed to start in December but that’s not yet finalized with the pandemic still not under control.
“They don’t really have much to say right now because they don’t know when camp’s going to start,” Morrison said.
Considered one of the top prospects in the Kings’ farm system, the 23-year-old Morrison was assigned to the ECHL’s Fort Wayne Komets last fall but an injury-plagued season limited him to 17 games and he finished 19 points (six goals and 13 assists). He suffered a high-ankle sprain in a game early in the season and missed four months. He was close to being back to full health in mid-March when the COVID-19 outbreak forced cancelation of the rest of the season and playoffs.
“It’s not an easy league to produce in, it’s not easy to maintain points,” said Morrison. “There’s less spots for goalies, like a starter in the (ECHL) could be a third-string goalie for an NHL team.”
The former Prince George Cougar forward played four seasons with his hometown Cougars and spent his final junior season with the Vancouver Giants/Lethbridge Hurricanes. He joined the Hurricanes at the trade deadline in 2018 and put up a blistering point pace in the playoffs, leading the WHL in playoff scoring that year with 16 goals and 37 points in 16 games. The Hurricanes went on to lose a seven-game Eastern Conference championship series to the Swift Current Broncos, the eventual WHL champions.
Drafted by the New York Rangers in 2015 in the fourth round, 113th overall, Morrison went unsigned until May 2018, when he inked a three-year $2.23 million entry-level contract with the Kings and he started his pro career in California that season with the Ontario Reign, the Kings’ AHL affiliate. In 50 games in 2018-19 he scored 10 goals and had 10 assists for 20 points.
Maatta, 26, a two-time Stanley Cup winner with the Pittsburgh Penguins, has played 427 career NHL games with Chicago and Pittsburgh, collecting 124 points, including 29 goals. He finished with four goals and 12 assists in 65 games this past season with the ’Hawks.
Morrison’s contract that expires in 2021 and carries a cap hit of $743,333 US. His minor league salary is $60,000 US. According to CapFriendly, Maatta’s cap hit on a one-way deal is $4.083 million per season through 2021-22.
Morrison, who now spends his off-seasons in Kelowna, is the youngest son of Pauline and Doug Morrison. Doug played 23 games in the NHL as a winger with the Boston Bruins from 1979-85. Brad’s uncle Mark, Doug’s brother, also grew up in Prince George and played as a centre for the Rangers from 1981-84. He just completed his third season as an assistant coach for the Anaheim Ducks.
Brad’s sister Maggie is married to Josh Gorges, the former NHL defenceman who played 783 games over 17 seasons in the league with San Jose, Montreal and Buffalo before he retired in 2018. Gorges has been a mentor for Brad throughout his hockey career. He also lives in Kelowna and Brad works out with him regularly at his home gym.
“A guy like that, obviously it’s nice to have him around as a family member and someone to talk to about hockey or even if it’s just about everyday life and being a professional,” said Brad. “He’s helped me a lot and he’s been good to me.”
