Wednesday, June 22, 2016
By Tom Williams
YOUNGSTOWN
Since 2011, the Youngstown Phantoms have produced one player selected in the NHL Draft’s first round and two in the second round.
This weekend, the Phantoms are hoping Cam Morrison, their leading scorer this past season, will add to the USHL team’s legacy that includes Kyle Connor (17th overall, Winnipeg Jets, 2015), Scott Mayfield, (34th, New York islanders, 2011) and Max Letunov (52nd, St. Louis Blues, 2014). Monday, Letunov’s rights were traded by the Arizona Coyotes to the San Jose Sharks.
In its recent Draft Preview, The Hockey News projected Morrison as the 54th pick for this weekend’s draft in Buffalo. He has the highest ranking of any USHL player not on Team USA.
The first round will be conducted on Friday evening while rounds two-seven will begin Saturday morning.
“It’s an honor and I’m excited, but I just don’t know what is going to happen,” Morrison said Tuesday. “You really don’t know what’s going on until your name is called.
No matter what, the native of Aurora, Ontario, said he will be playing for Notre Dame this fall.
“He’s an unbelievable goal scorer,” Phantoms head coach Brad Patterson said of Morrison who scored 66 points (34 goals, 32 assists) in his one season in Youngstown. “They aren’t always pretty.
“He has a great knack of getting the puck in tight spaces,” Patterson said. “He has a great hockey IQ.”
Patterson said Morrison is not your typical leading scorer, adding that he doesn’t have to be paired with two top scorers to succeed.
“His skill set is completely different than most — that may be why so many teams are intrigued,” said Patterson who was promoted to head coach two weeks ago. “He gets to areas where other guys don’t. Within 10 feet of the net, he’s probably the best player we ever had.”
Morrison lives about two hours away from Buffalo and will be in attendance at the First Niagara Center.
Two defensemen with this year’s team — Conner Moore and Luke McInnis — could be selected. Moore scored 33 points and McInnis 28.
Patterson said McInnis has the better shot even though he feels Moore had blossomed into one of the USHL’s best defenders.
“Luke is a little more rounded,” Patterson said. “He has a solid game and plays with little bit of edge.”
McInnis, the son of former NHL player Marty McInnis, lives in Higham, Mass., and said he won’t be traveling to Buffalo. Instead, he’s making preparations to enter Boston College last this summer.
“I probably won’t watch it,” McInnis said.
Patterson said that after the Christmas break Moore was the top four defenders in the league,
“He began thinking quicker and it caught up with the rest of his skills,” Patterson said. “He’s a tremendous athlete in so many sports.”
Patterson said that NHL scouts are divided once you get past the Top 100 prospects. That’s why the organization feels that forward Yushiroh Hirano, the team’s third-leading scorer with 46 points, might be a longshot to get drafted.