The Capitals signed veteran center Brendan Morrison to a one-year contract worth $1.5 million on Friday afternoon. It’s an interesting move for a club looking for a second-line center after Sergei Fedorov decided to finish his career back home in his native Russia.
Morrison, 33, is an 11-year NHL veteran. A durable player for the Vancouver Canucks, where he put together a streak of 542 games played in a row, the 5-foot-11, 181-pounder has struggled with injuries in recent seasons. Morrison underwent right knee surgery in April of 2008 to repair a torn ACL. He has also undergone procedures on his hip and wrist as well as for a sports hernia.
“Everything kind of came at once,” said Morrison, who had targeted Washington as a place to play early in the free-agent process – thanks in large part to its recent playoff success, its corps of skilled young forwards and the presence of good friend Mike Knuble, who himself signed with the Caps as a free agent on July 1st. Knuble and Morrison played on the same line together at the University of Michigan for two years and spent a season on the same team in Sweden, Linkopings HC, during the 2004 NHL lockout.
All contract offers fielded by Morrison and his agent were for one year. His conversations with the Caps indicated they want him to play on the second line. Does that still hold?
“I sure hope so. That was the initial talks that we had. That’s kind of what we discussed,” Morrison said. “Obviously I know nothing is guaranteed and they don’t hand out positions. But I feel if I get my game back in order and play the way I’m capable of playing that that is the role I want and the role I expect myself to fill.”
The key to that is his health. Morrison started last season with the Anaheim Ducks, but said it took well into the season before his knee felt fully recovered from the ACL surgery. By then he was playing for the Dallas Stars, where he finished strong over the final 19 games. Morrison ended up with 16 goals and 15 assists. He has scored 20 goals four times in his career and six times topped 50 points. But his numbers have also declined each of the last three years.
“As much as you don’t want to believe that when you start the season – I thought I’d dealt with it and thought I was healthy – but my legs didn’t start coming around until probably the 3/4 mark of last season,” Morrison said. “Skating has always been one of my assets and I was having real difficulty at the beginning of the year getting to places and challenging guys and beating guys. So it was frustrating. But I felt over the last 20 games of the year that my legs were starting to come back.”
With the signing the Caps are hovering close to the NHL’s salary cap of $56.8 million. Exact numbers are unavailable because the team still has five restricted free agents to sign – and could conceivably cut ties with any of them. But there are certainly a few bigger contracts the Caps would love to escape – center Michael Nylander is owed $8.5 million over the next two years but was benched for most of the postseason; goalie Jose Theodore has one year left on his contract at $4.5 million, but lost his job in the playoffs to rookie Simeon Varlamov. Is Morrison’s signing a precursor to another move to clear cap space? That will have to wait until later in the month.
“Brendan is a veteran center with offensive skill and we think he can help our club,” said Caps general manager George McPhee through a team spokesman. “He has a clean bill of health and is committed to coming to camp in great shape. We think he could really flourish here.”
