Scott Morrow is a restricted free agent that made $916,667 this past season, and given how everything went during the 2025-26 season, it is probably best for all involved to just move on. The Rangers weren't interested in giving Morrow opportunities down the stretch of a season that was meaningless, and that screamed loud and clear how they felt about him.
Instead of re-signing him, sending him back to Hartford, and keeping him in the wings as an emergency spare, the organization should do the right thing before his value deteriorates any more.
Morrow is an NHL defenseman, but won't get his chance in New York
The right side is pretty crowded in New York, and the best chance for the Rangers to evaluate Morrow would have been when Adam Fox was injured. Morrow's game is the closest thing the Rangers had in-house to cover for Fox, but that assignment went to Braden Schneider.
In 403 minutes at 5v5, Morrow posted a 42.51 GF%, a 49.11 CF%, and a 48.84 xGF%. Those numbers aren't the best in the world, but easily clear Schneider's 46.28 GF%, 45.45 CF%, and 44.61 xGF% via Evolving-Hockey.
While Morrow may not live up fully to being the player the Rangers thought they were getting from Carolina, there are still teams out there who may be willing to give him a shot. In some ways they can treat Morrow like they did Nils Lundkvist, another right handed defender with an offensive minded game that was cast aside to make room for Schneider.
Rangers should stockpile as many draft picks as possible
Assuming that there isn't a traditional hockey trade of a prospect for prospect to be made, the Rangers should be fine with whatever draft pick they can salvage. The Letter 2.0 process is going to require some luck to be successful, and one of the best ways of doing that is having extra draft pick lottery tickets to take swings on players with upside.
The longer the Rangers hold onto Morrow in the minors, the worse off they will be. They should learn from their mistake of holding onto Brennan Othmann too long, and just rip the Band-Aid off with Morrow. If they get burned, so be it, but it's better to be aggressive and fail as opposed to being timid and passive.
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