On paper, the New York Rangers did great business by re-signing young blueliner Scott Morrow to an extremely team-friendly one-year, two-way contract. However, there are some aspects of Morrow’s situation and new deal that may bring headaches to the front office in Manhattan in the near future and throughout the 2026-27 NHL season.
After the Rangers announced Morrow’s contract extension on their social media, news broke of the financial breakdown of the defenseman’s two-way deal. “Contract is $850,000 at NHL level, $125,000 if he’s in the AHL,” Vincent Mercogliano of The Athletic reported on his X account.
With Morrow expected to be a depth player, occasionally stepping in to an NHL role but mostly playing in the AHL, the two-way deal makes sense as he would make roughly 14% of his NHL salary when in the minor leagues. Money-wise, it’s sound business for the Blueshirts. However, sending Morrow down to the minors won’t be as easy as some might believe.
Morrow must clear waivers
The 23-year-old right-handed defenseman is waiver-eligible. Thus, in order for the Rangers to send him down to their AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack, Morrow must clear waivers. New York can assign Morrow to the AHL before the start of the season, but if he is called up at any point, he must go through waivers before being sent down.
Scott Morrow of the New York Rangers at UBS Arena.
That means the Rangers risk losing Morrow to another team. Morrow’s numbers may not jump off the page, but he is still young and signed to a very team-friendly deal, meaning one of the other 31 NHL teams may want to get its hands on him.
Regardless, waiver eligibility is an aspect of Morrow’s situation that not many seem to take into account when analyzing his one-year extension. Because his new deal is a two-way contract, many fans assume Morrow is waiver-exempt. That’s not the case.
Two-way contracts don’t exempt a player from going through waivers. All a two-way contract means is that a player earns a different salary in the NHL than he does in the AHL. Morrow’s case illustrates that to perfection.
Morrow’s future and his place on the NY Rangers
By the time the season ends, Morrow will become a restricted free agent (RFA), so the most likely scenarios in which New York could lose the former second-round pick from the 2021 NHL Draft, originally selected by Carolina, would be through waivers or an offer sheet next summer.
With a revamped defensive corps, the Rangers are confident in what they’ve built. That could hint that Morrow won’t be used much. However, Mike Sullivan and company will also want to see what they have in the young defenseman, and perhaps he turns out to be an in-house replacement for Braden Schneider, whom the Blueshirts remain on the fence about.
New York needs to see more from Morrow, but it must also give him more opportunities to showcase himself. Last season, he appeared in 29 games, recording six assists and no goals. The sample size remains small, but the climb will get steeper regardless.
Key year for Morrow
The fact that Morrow arrived in the return for the K’Andre Miller trade helps him little. Obviously, it may not be a fair evaluation or comparison considering Miller was part of a sign-and-trade and the Rangers’ main acquisition in return was a conditional first-round pick. Still, the trade package remains in the back of every fan’s mind in the City That Never Sleeps, and sooner or later, Morrow must show that his arrival in town was not a mistake.
No one is asking him to replace Miller’s production, not now, at least, but the fanbase hopes the Connecticut kid is part of the solution rather than another item on the long list of what could have beens at the front door of Madison Square Garden.
