We’ve examined the free agent possibilities out there for a few players this off-season but there’s one formerly prominent scoring center out there still without a home. Former Canucks star Brendan Morrison is still looking for an NHL job and after down years with the Stars and Capitals the last two seasons, he’s looking to pick his career up.
Like many other veterans out on the free agent market, he’s hoping to latch on somewhere but Jim Jamieson of The White Towel finds out that Morrison has some standards he wants met.
Morrison, an unrestricted free agent, is still looking for a team to land with. But he won’t accept a tryout contract. It’s got to be a guaranteed contract or he won’t go. He’s also made up him mind that he won’t play in Europe.
“We’re still talking to some teams and hopefully something comes through by Friday,” said Morrison on Tuesday. “But a lot of teams have the same message. We want to start camp and see what we’ve got here.”
As last season wore down, Morrison did as well, scoring just 18 points from the start of 2010 through to the end of the playoffs and the Caps exit in the first round. Since his running days with Markus Naslund and Todd Bertuzzi in Vancouver, Morrison’s production has slipped tremendously. He was brought to Washington last season to perhaps reignite his game with a high-powered Caps offense searching for a second line center. Things started well, but fizzled hard at the end.
Morrison seeking out all those demands to get a job once again in the NHL seems a bit crazy given how the market has been all off-season and how even vets in better negotiating position than what Morrrison has had to change their focus. You just have to hope that Brendan Morrison’s salary demands aren’t out of whack or else he’ll find out that the winter will be very cold off the ice.