Shane Doan or Morrow a Good Fit?
By Matt Thorn
The St. Louis Blues have been rumored to be interested in both Shane Doan and Brenden Morrow. Both are veteran players and have been in the NHL for awhile. First some positive and possible negatives to signing Doan.
I will start with the positives. Doan will obviously bring more leadership to the Blues as he served as captain for the Phoenix Coyotes. Even at 35 years old Doan played in 79 games last season, registering 22 goals and adding 28 assists last season. He seems to be the type of player who does not mind getting down near the net and putting in the garbage goals. Doan is a free agent, which means the Blues would not give up any current players to acquire him, albeit undoubtedly a lofty sum.
There are some negatives associated with Doan, most of which have nothing to do with his play. There are reports an unknown Eastern Conference team offered Doan a 4-year $30 million dollar contract. If the Blues were to match the offer and get Doan, he would fall under an NHL 35+ rule meaning even if Doan retires two years into the contract the Blues would still take the cap hit until the contract runs out. At 35 Doan’s best hockey is most likely behind him and he has only been a 30 goals scorer twice in his NHL career. One of the positives of Doan being a free agent can also turn to a negative for a team like the Blues. If the Blues put up the kind of money rumored to sign Doan they could end up losing players currently on the roster in the upcoming years because of the cap hit from Doan’s contract.
I’ll now shift focus to the Dallas Star’s Brenden Morrow. Morrow is 33 years old and 2 years younger than Doan. Morrow also would bring leadership to the Blues since he was the captain for the Stars. Morrow is in the last year of his contract so if things did not work out in St. Louis they only have a one year commitment to him. He is a consistent two-way player, and would definitely be a good fit in the system under head coach Ken Hitchcock.
The negatives for Morrow seem to be heavy. Morrow missed 25 games last season with both neck and back injuries. Morrow only had 26 points last season in the games he did play. It would be a huge risk for the Blues to trade for Morrow who made $4.1 million last year considering the injuries. To further compound this issue, Morrow has only played more than 70 games in four of the past seven seasons, making him a clear liability. The Blues would have to trade for Morrow, which can be a negative depending on what the Stars want. I personally would not give up young talent for Morrow. The Blues did acquire some draft picks when dealing Crombeen, which could come into play when trying to make a deal for Morrow.
If the rumor of the 4-year $30 million dollar contract are true, the price tag for Doan is to high. If Dallas is willing to accept future draft picks for Morrow he may be worth a look, but if he can’t be on the ice because of injury he won’t be any help. I don’t think either Doan nor Morrow will wind up with the club, more for financial considerations than anything else.