Philadelphia Flyers: Hard work pays off for Samuel Morin

After a long and expensive July filled with trades, trades, draft selections, and even more trades, one would assume Philadelphia Flyers GM Chuck Fletcher would take a few days off to rest, relax, and maybe hit the shore for some fun in the sun, right?

I mean, in the span of a week and change, Fletcher has ditched the franchise’s fifth-leading assister, a former second overall pick, a pair of promising former second-round picks, and a feel-good young UDFA, plus four draft picks for deals ranging from steals – Ryan Ellis – to solid swaps – Cam Atkins – and even a deal for Rasmus Ristolainen that could go down as an all-time dud if initial evaluations prove true. Why not take some time off to reconfigure the hypothetical board, especially with free agency opening up on July 28th at noon EST?

Well, maybe he will, but first, Fletcher wanted to secure a new deal for one of the feel-good stories of the 2020-21 NHL season.

Samuel Morin, welcome back to the Philadelphia Flyers on a one-year, one-way contract worth $750,000.

After losing three young Ds, the Philadelphia Flyers made the right call on Morin.

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If Samuel Morin never takes the ice again, there’s a decent segment of the Philadelphia Flyers’ fanbase who will consider the former 11th overall pick a disappointment at best and an outright bust under the most critical lens.

Initially making his way to Philly by way of the Rimouski Océanic of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, Morin began his Flyers career with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms and didn’t make an NHL on-ice debut until April 4, 2017, where he logged 17:47 in a 0-1 overtime loss to the New Jersey Devils.

From there, Morin remained an NHL staple, appearing in 170 AHL games from 2013-20, versus nine appearances for the Flyers. Granted, that wasn’t all on Morin; he suffered a pair of brutal ACL tears 19 months apart in 2018/2019 and looked like a very unlikely addition to the Flyers’ active roster in 2020 thanks to the presence of players like Robert Hagg, Shayne Gostisbehere, and Philippe Myers.

Things got so dicey for Morin that he actually switched positions in an attempt to re-launch his career as a hard-hitting, bottom-six enforcer like New York Islanders winger Matt Martin.

Did all of that work ultimately work out? No. Morin didn’t make the NHL roster out of camp and was kicked back to the blue line when he returned to the AHL, but the then-25-year-old put enough good skating on tape to earn a long-term call-up midway through the month of February and record a career-high 20 games of action in his first propper NHL season.

And now, with Ghost, Hagg, and Meyers all gone, Morin will have a very real chance to compete for a bottom-four left defenseman behind Ryan Ellis and Travis Sanheim.

Will it work? Only time will tell. The Flyers certainly didn’t invest too much money in Morin moving forward and have the option to kick him to the AHL and Taxi Squad without issue should he pass through waivers unclaimed, but after having his career prospects very much called into question by a pair of brutal knee injuries, the fact that Morin is now the proud owner of a one-way NHL contract is something to be lauded, even if his role this fall is anything but defined.

Who knows, maybe Morin will turn in another performance like his major against Brendan Lemieux in the closing minutes of a loss to the Rangers back in March, or his streak-spoiling goal in the very next game to secure a W over New York, maybe the former 11th overall pick could be in line for a multi-year contract extension that keeps his Philly career rolling for the foreseeable future. Certainly worked for Rasmus Ristolainen in Buffalo, and it could prove comparatively lucrative for the player selected three picks later in the 2013 NHL Draft.

Next. A requiem for Jakub Voracek. dark

After acquiring Cam Atkinson on draft weekend, Chuck Fletcher made it clear that the Philadelphia Flyers can’t return the same core of players and expect different results with each passing season. On paper, that concept is fair, and the team will surely test it in the forthcoming season with a very new look at both ends of the ice, but one can’t become solely committed to change just for the sake of it. Though the sample size isn’t huge, Sam Morin provided himself an intriguing option worthy of another look, and to his credit, Fletcher made sure to give him that chance coming off of the best season of his career. File this one as a crowd-pleasing W.

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