Undrafted But Undeniable

During his 2021-22 major juniors regular season with the Ontario Hockey League Hamilton Bulldogs, Logan Morrison racked up exactly 100 points in 60 games, then added 11 goals and 10 assists in 19 playoff games. He led his teammates in all categories, including Anaheim forward Mason McTavish, who was the No. 3 overall pick in the 2021 NHL Draft, AHL Coachella Valley teammate Ryan Winterton (2021 third-rounder who debuted with Kraken earlier this season) and 2022 Montreal second-round draftee Jan Mysak.

This past season, Morrison captained Hamilton and led the squad again in scoring until he was traded to Ottawa at midseason. With the 67s, he notched 20 goals and 19 assists in 22 games then led his new OHL franchise in postseason scoring with 10 goals in 11 games amid another prominent handful of NHL draft choices among teammates.

By the middle of the 2022 playoffs, the Kraken stopped all wondering why Morrison had not been selected among 200-some draft picks in not one, not two but three draft-eligible summers. Seattle signed Morrison to a three-year entry-level contract.

Through it all, Morrison exhibited maturity beyond his years, bringing no jealousy, no whining, no resentment. He is good buddies with Ryan Winterton and soaked up all the positive things the Kraken prospect said about the development coaches calling every week and Winterton’s conversations with the likes of Hall of Famer Ron Francis rather than brood why not him.

“If I told you it was easy, I'd be lying,” said Morrison. “It wasn’t an easy process being passed over three times. It is so cliche to say, but I used it for motivation I just put my head down and knew that if I kept playing the way I was, someone would have to take a chance on me, right? I'm very, very fortunate Seattle did ... it definitely wasn't an easy process but I think it made me a better person and player."

In fact, Morrison found his own development muse in a plus-one added to the mentoring of the coaching staffs in Hamilton and Ottawa. Morrison talks to his older brother, Mitchell, after every game he plays. Mitchell played three seasons of Junior A with Burlington of the Ontario Junior Hockey League, averaging a point per game in his final season with a strong leaning to setting up teammates’ goals but hitting the back of the net in double-digits all three seasons.

“He’s really smart and honest with me,” said Logan Morrison, brotherly love transmitting loud and clear over the cell phone line. “He sees things I don’t even see sometimes. It’s awesome to have that resource with someone so close to me.”

In his half-season with Ottawa, head coach Dave Cameron was another muse with an unignorable piece of advice. Cameron was speaking from 168 games played in the NHL, and numerous coaching stops in the OHL, AHL, and NHL (the latter eight seasons total with two as head coach with the Senators). Morrison shared that Cameron “harped” on his newly acquired defensive game. Morrison, always looking to get better, listened and didn’t hesitate to adapt.

“I feel like my defensive game really kind of took off from there,” said Morrison. “Obviously it’s something I am continuing to work on.”

Like Dave Cameron, Morrison’s coach with Coachella Valley, Dan Bylsma, has played and coached in the AHL and NHL as a defensive-minded forward. Bylsma is exuberant about Morrison’s opening stanza of the Kraken prospect’s professional career.

“He's got a bit of a junkyard dog type of game,” said Bylsma. “He makes plays, he's scoring [in games] and he scores a ton in practice. He has a knack for making the right play and the right shot and the right moment. He's a gamer.”

Morrsion is top-five in goals, assists and overall points among Firebirds teammates with three assists in his last four games. He didn’t start the season on the CVF power play but impressed Bylsma and his coaching staff to earn minutes in man-advantage situations from early on in the season.   

Bylsma pointed out one of Morrison’s first power play shifts as to why he advanced into the power play units.

“He's got a certain level of hockey sense and smarts and creativity,” said Bylsma. “When he got the opportunity on the power play and we score a goal because he makes the play downhill [winning a puck battle] and then sends a behind-the-back pass to Flower [defenseman Cale Fleury] for the goal. He’s super intelligent as a playmaker.”

Like most American Hockey League newcomers, Morrison said he was instantly impressed with both the speed and muscle of opponents and veterans in his own locker room too.

“It’s definitely a whole different level,” said Morrison. “It's crazy how much faster and, and how much stronger guys are ... One huge difference is puck battles. Everyone's so much harder on their stick. You have to make plays quicker. I feel like I'm adjusting well and I'm getting more comfortable every game.”

Morrison was getting his share of good looks early in the Firebirds season, the currency all players and coaches work in. The shots weren’t going in – Bylsma recalls a couple of Morrison head shakes – but the hockey players’ mantra is that if you get enough chances, you will hit paydirt with scoring plays.

Keeping the faith is clearly a skill Morrison has cultivated and he’s begun to bury more shots and see a few of his superb passes light the scoreboard via another teammate.

Bylsma agrees that Morrison has quickly aligned with the pace and physicality of AHL play and sees no reason Morrison can’t follow at-hand undrafted role models in the likes of Tye Kartye and Yanni Gourde on the Kraken roster in seasons ahead. He and Morrison are clear on what steps the young forward must take, which would, of course, include adding some muscle to his 6-foot, 179-pound frame.

“He's gotta work on his skating at the next level, working on his edges and his ability to play fast,” said Bylsma. “But if he keeps working like he's working at it now, he’ll get better. I'm not concerned about where he was drafted or whether he wasn't drafted. I'm concerned about whether he can be a player and improve in areas of his game similar to the way Tye [Kartye] did last year.”

Morrison says he is too busy practicing, playing games, and training in the gym to reflect much on the early months of living his dream to play hockey for a living and, naturally, put on an NHL jersey someday.

“Ever since I was three, I've been obsessed,” said Morrison, taking a moment and thinking about his answer. “I was a kid that was either playing road hockey, mini-sticks [lots of puck battles with brother Mitchell], or watching hockey on the TV. But I don't know if there's ever a moment I really thought, ‘I want to do this for a living.' You just kind of play and play and you're always just thinking about what's next, getting to the point where you are trying to earn a contract.”

Morrison admits he took a long enough pause after signing his NHL entry-level contract to be grateful to his parents, Leeanne and Charlie, for “driving me all over the country, all over North America really” and all of those skill sessions with his brother.

“That’s when it set in for me I have a chance to play hockey full-time,” said Morrison, recalling his achievement amid an OHL playoff series. “Then I just got right back to work.”