Claimed:Rookie Profile - Kasey Morgan [Final 8/8]

[Denver 198]

Height: 6'1''
Weight: 195 lbs.
Wingspan: 6' 5.9"
Birthday: August 11th (22)
Nationality: American
Hometown: Portland, Oregon
College: Ohio State
Position: RW (Right Wing)
Shoots: Right
Playstyle: Playmaker
Awards:

• Big Ten Player of the Year
• All-Big Ten First Team
• Named to the U20 American Team
• Hobey Baker Award Winner

OVERVIEW
Four years ago, Kasey Morgan wasn’t on anyone’s radar as a high end prospect. The underestimating of his talent has been traced back to his years in high school when he was passed over for other players to play on the 1st line. Many Division I schools considered him to be an average at best at Right Wing. He ended up landing at Ohio State playing for the Buckeyes in the Big Ten Conference, he started small and proved he’d become a value to the program later down the road.

In his first season, Morgan made it onto the 4th line where he displayed a high IQ for game, not to mention maneuverability to skate on the fly and pass with the highest of proficiency. Entering his sophomore year, Morgan wasn’t an All-American caliber talent, but he changed that with his performance on the ice.

Morgan doubled his stats from the previous season, piling up as many goals as he could. As a result he had some big games, including leading Ohio State to a win over in state rival Miami Ohio. Morgan is also human, so he had some ugly games against teams he should have dominated. As he closed his sophomore season he was able to parlay his successes into a string of wins that almost landed Ohio State into the NCAA Frozen Four on the men’s side.

As a junior his season was marred with having to play through the injury bug running through his team. He was forced to pick up the slack. It’s what nurtured his skill set that could potentially make him a great first-to-second liner in the VHL. While he might not have learned to check his man as hard as a grinder, he has an above-average playmaking ability that will grow underneath the right coaching in the VHLM and beyond. He had some professional scouts attending is games, they all saw something in him (raw talent if anything) that needed to be harnessed into something.

Most professional scouts also revealed that he could easily become a late first-rounder in a great draft class, but because of how the class might shape up to be another great class for the VHL; Morgan might just fall through into the bottom of the Top 10. He could be picked as early as the 11th pick or so.

As a senior Morgan was the Big Ten’s second-leading scorer behind Western Michigan’s Chance Stevenson. He was invited to the US National U20 Team, despite the jump in stats playing for Ohio State. His time with the U20 team was cut short due to injury; he missed time after pulling a few muscles in his right knee his first game back. Ohio State finished second in the Big Ten and defeated Miami Ohio in their rematch. Ohio State missed the Frozen four by 1 ½ games back, but they were still winners for how well they played throughout the season. At the end of the season Morgan was named to the All-Big Ten First Team, he also was named Player of the Year.

PLAYER METRICS / STATS




VHLM Combine Numbers
Aerobic Fitness (Fatigue Duration): 12:00
Aerobic Fitness (Vox2max): 65.9 (ml/kg/min)
Agility & Balance (Agility Matrix): 4.42
Anaerobic Fitness (Mean Power Output): 11.5 (watts/kg)
Anaerobic Fitness (Peak Power Output): 18.2 (watts/kg)
Anaerobic Fitness (Fatigue Index): 43.4
Vertical Jump: 26'18''
Pull-Ups Consecutive: 10

TALENT ANALYSIS
Morgan is considered to be one of the best college players headed into next year’s VHL Draft Class. He’s one of few Americans lined up with a chance to believably become a high end talent. His skating, passing, and hockey IQ are all at a high level, and remains coachable while making other players around him better. Although he’s praised for his offensive caliber, Morgan can be used in any given situation. He’s certainly a VHL-ready prospect, with room to grow underneath the right conditions and coaching going forward the next few years. With a huge upside, it’s hard to see how he can fail if given adequate time to develop behind some season or veteran players surrounding him.

PROS / CONS
PROS:
Hockey IQ - When you draft a playmaker into the VHL, you want him to be aggressive. You want a player who’s trustworthy and believes in himself and in his teammate’s abilities to make plays. You want a guy who can handle the puck, making plays whenever the game is on the line. Morgan is that guy. He’s not afraid to pull the trigger, shooting or passing from any one area of the offensive zone regardless of the game situation. He has a natural sense of where to be, making crisp plays whenever and however he can without question. Generally speaking, Morgan has a good feel for the game and shows the ability to process what he sees in front of him at a moment’s notice. He’s got a keen disposition that’s hard to teach, making him an natural playmaker who’s explosiveness will get him anywhere on the ice he wants to be.

Puck Handling - Morgan’s ability to handle the puck makes him one of the true enigmas of his draft class. Having exhibited a fair amount of zip on his passes and seemed to have very good accuracy on his wrister to “wow” onlookers during his pre-VHLM workouts. He’s able to use his eyes to psyche out his defensive match up on passes. Virtually he seems like he sees the entire rink at the blink on an eye, preferable he’s a pass-first player and tends to only shoot whenever he has a moment when he isn’t being marked as hard. In terms of touches, Morgan is solid without rival in this department.

Mechanics - Every coach thinks they can fix mechanics, for most hockey mechanics are a lot harder to unlearn in most respects. One of Morgan’s second best traits happens to be the fact that not only is he fast, his explosiveness does give away to some great skating. Coupled with good arm movement and cardio, you can see whenever he crosses over the blue line he’s capable of weaving through defenders. Most of the time he tends to want to create off the pass, being a past first player he’s enabled himself to ‘go’ from the first touch where he can either feed to puck to a far more manageable position or shoot from right where he is.

CONS:
Checking – Morgan isn’t the most physical wing out there. He doesn’t have enough weight to get physical with the opposing team. It’s hard for him to get his shoulder down enough for a hit, it’s what usually lands him in the box. This also leads to Morgan tipping off players around him whenever he’s going for a hit. Morgan does have experience making reads defensively that a coach would want him to make, but that doesn’t mean he’s fully developed in this area.

Instincts – For all his advances as being a playmaker, Morgan has a fair amount of work to do in terms of being an instinctive Right Wing. He reacts quickly and closes in on the puck tight enough, but he tends to play outside of the set formation at times. He’s using his natural play making ability to cover up where his instincts fall flat. As mentioned earlier, he has a knack for locating the puck and making plays with it. If nothing else, Morgan is very confident and aggressive doing his part.

Leadership / Confidence – Undisciplined or Unfocused aren’t normally words you’d use to describe Morgan, but that’s what happens whenever he’s on the ice. Morgan doesn’t respond well to certain styles of play be it grinding or just plain dirty. He lacks a certain maturity to stay within his game, most of the time he can be seen playing with emotion versus actual skill. At times he can become a bit choppy at times. Whenever emotionally charged it’s almost as if he goes out looking for a penalty. He has been known to raise his stick, while it is rare it does happen whenever he isn’t playing his game. He lacks certain qualities to become a natural born leader, but he makes up for it by actually having the potential to become one. For the most part Morgan needs to learn how to stay confident late in games, no matter if his team is leading or their down a couple goals.

FINAL ANALYSIS
Morgan has the hype as being a first-round, pick and his skill set certainly warrants that. However, he’s still got a bit of a ways to go in his development to become a key part of any VHL franchise. There’s a large chance that he can be over-drafted based on his raw ability. The talk of him being a top 10 player in the future is a huge toss up based on what we’ve seen. Morgan still needs some work but he has shown improvement over the course of his college career to inspire confidence in his development, that he could also be a huge piece to any franchise looking to build around him and a supporting cast. It’s worth it that he was a start at Ohio State and should continue to contribute to any VHLM franchise that drafts him early into his career. He presents huge value if he should slip into the later rounds due to his raw ability. He may have a high spot early on in VHL Draft Class rankings, but he will have to contend with some of the best to either keep it or climb higher up the rankings than initially placed.

[Phil 5,119]

Very comprehensive and a lot of effort. I love this. Way to be Denver! Nice graphic work too

[Tylar 219]

Overview: 2/2 - Wow great rookie profile. Nicely done with an in-depth look at your player. Probably deserves more than the 8 but . 

 

Pros & Cons: 3/3 - Fantastic stuff.  

 

Grammar: 2/2 - I did not see or catch anything which is fairly impressive. Good job.

 

Presentation: 1/1 - Yes

 

Overall: 8/8

[Kendrick 4,741]

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