On Friday afternoon the Dallas Stars announced that team captain, Brenden Morrow, will be out for at least six months after tearing his anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee the previous night against the Chicago Blackhawks. Morrow will likely require surgery to repair the knee. In his absence, the Stars chose to call up Landon Wilson from the AHL Grand Rapids Griffins.
"It adds to what has already been a frustrating season, but we have to pull together and face the adversity and overcome it," coach Dave Tippett said to the Dallas Morning News. "This will test the strength of our group. Are we willing to bond together?"
Morrow was trying to make a hit in the third period against Chicago on Thursday night when he caught the edge of his skate in a rut on the ice and fell awkwardly. With about six minutes remaining in the game, Morrow limped to the Stars dressing room. He did not return.
In 18 games this season Morrow has recorded 5 goals, 10 assists, for 15 points, with 49 penalty minutes. He was slowly leading the Stars out of the cellar with his leadership, but now he will be forced to watch from a press box in a suit rather than suited up with his teammates.
"You can't replace him. There's just not another player like him around," said co-general manager Brett Hull to the Dallas Morning News. "What we have to do is find a way to play without him."
Much like fantasy owners, like me, who built a team with Morrow in mind, the Stars must find a way to recover roster-wise. The Stars are dangerously close to the salary cap but will likely file for a long-term injury reserve exception on Morrow’s $4.1 million salary.
According to the Dallas Morning News, Co-GM Les Jackson said the team is looking into salary cap implication and owner Tom Hicks’ budget to determine the possibility of a trade.
Most likely Dallas must rebuild from within. For now, the answer is Landon Wilson, but the Stars have many talented prospects and this season could go from being a Stanley Cup year to a rebuilding year after an injury like this. Building up the young talent will be good for this club and make this team very dangerous in the future.
On Saturday the Dallas Stars will face their Pacific division rival, the Anaheim Ducks, at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. The puck drops at 7pm Central and will be radio broadcast on WBAP-AM 820 and on television on Fox Sports Net Southwest..
For Ken Armer’s Ducks vs. Stars preview tune into NHL 2Day at 12:30 central for talk around the league, more news on the Morrow injury, and everything else hockey as Armer and Co-host Alan Bass discuss this past week in the NHL.
Image: Courtesy of Yahoo Sports and Getty Images
Quotes: Courtesy of the Dallas Morning News
Stars Press Release: Courtesy of Dallas Stars website
Ken Armer is the NHL Community Coordinator for Bleacher Report and also serves as the Community Leader for the Dallas Stars. He can be contacted on his profile or by e-mail at karmer@bleacherreport.com.
9 comments Last one added 7 months ago — Leave a Comment
Steven Resnick 7 months ago
I will say this then I'm not wishing injury on him. I'm just saying that payback comes in different forms. Morrow has injured several players throughout his career on cheap shots. Unfortunately for him injuries are a part of sports it doesn't matter if you're a hockey player, a football player, a basketball player, etc....Now Morrow knows how it feels and maybe there will be less cheap shots taken by Morrow once he returns from the injury.
Edit Comment Cancel
Ken Armer 7 months ago
You've clearly never played the game of hockey, and for sure never were seriously injured playing any form of sport. Morrow is en emotional leader and sets the physical and emotional tone for his team. Every player in the NHL at some point has head-hunted, every player does to a degree regardless of talent or league played in but you don't act like you have about it.
Injury in any instance is unfortunate. Another comment on class, avoid swearing as it makes you look unintelligent when commenting.
Edit Comment Cancel
Ken Armer 7 months ago
Just making sure you know Morrow was injured by falling incorrectly, not via a cheap shot. Didn't want his injury to bring you too much satisfaction. He'll be back to true form in six months.
Edit Comment Cancel
Steven Resnick 7 months ago
I edited my comment so it may not make sense when you first wrote the comment.
Edit Comment Cancel
Ken Armer 7 months ago
I'm really not sure whats been going on with the comments on this article, must be a glitch because my reply makes no sense as that was not the original message there. I know I'm confused.
Edit Comment Cancel
Fahad Zaidi 7 months ago
According to www.yahoo.com, Morrow is going to miss the rest of the season
Here's the link to the article:
http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news?slug=ap-stars-morrow&prov=ap&type=lgns
Hard to be optimistic when a team loses their backbone, especially when a team is not playing as well as they should. Morrow had a locker room and an on ice presence. He's a great leader. Hopefully, a set back like this will make the team come together and guys will step up. There is still a lot of veteran leadership in this team such as Modano, Richards and Turco. It'll be interesting to see how this team responds to this situation.
Go Stars Go
FZ
Edit Comment Cancel
Ken Armer 7 months ago
Morrow with previous injuries rehabs very hard. I figure he will be back at the very end of the regular season and ready for the playoffs, if Dallas makes it.
Edit Comment Cancel
Melissa Grissom 7 months ago
i don't know...it might take until next season
Edit Comment Cancel
Jim Neveau 7 months ago
As if the Stars needed any more trouble. I think that they could compete in this conference if they could just stay healthy. Turco is finally turning around after his horrendous start, and it seemed like Morrow was helping the team find their legs. My condolences to fans of the Stars.
Edit Comment Cancel
Leave a Comment
You must register to post a comment.