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Carp wrote a Morgan Barron article in the athletic:
After his Cornell men’s hockey team had beaten Boston University 2-0 in a late November showdown at Madison Square Garden, longtime Big Red coach Mike Schafer looked around the arena’s corridors and said, “I hope the Rangers aren’t paying too much attention.”
He was kidding, of course.
The Rangers are paying very much attention, in particular, to a big, well-rounded junior winger named Morgan Barron. In fact, Rangers GM Jeff Gorton and coach David Quinn (who was there rooting on his alma mater) happened to stop by postgame to say hello to Barron.
The Rangers selected Barron in the sixth round (No. 174 overall) of the 2017 NHL entry draft. If that draft were redone today, Barron would certainly go much higher than that, likely in the second round, perhaps the top of the third.
His draft position is moot now and the Rangers patiently are awaiting his decision to turn pro, though it sure seems like he’ll be signing after this season and NCAA tournament are over.
“You see it once in a while,” Gorton said about late picks that blossom (the Rangers having a certain Hall of Fame-bound goalie they plucked in the seventh round once upon a time).
“Teams have had success with those guys. You always like to think you can when you’re at the draft table and your name is coming around. You like to think your fifth, sixth, seventh round, you’re going to hit on one of them. Yeah, it’s difficult. Obviously it’s a hard league to make. But kudos to our scouts who watched him basically in high school and throughout and felt the need to draft him and push for him. So far it’s turned out pretty well.”
Sometimes you swing and miss in the first round. Sometimes you hit a home run later. You hope to have fewer misses, naturally, but you also hope they more than even out.
Barron could, the Rangers hope, turn out to be a steal at No. 174. They are also in a situation where they need some of their forwards to blossom. The rebuilt cupboard is stocked with defensemen who are here or on the way – Adam Fox, Ryan Lindgren, Libor Hajek, Nils Lundkvist, K’Andre Miller, Yegor Rykov, Matthew Robertson, Joey Keane, Tarmo Reunanen, Zachary Jones, Hunter Skinner, Nico Gross among them – and the Rangers also have vets Jacob Trouba, Brady Skjei and Marc Staal presently.
Even among the forwards the Rangers have in New York and in the pipeline – Kaapo Kakko, Filip Chytil, Vitali Kravtsov, Brett Howden, Lauri Pajuniemi, Karl Henriksson, perhaps Lias Andersson if they can settle some differences – they sure could use one who is big and strong and plays a complete game.
Barron, one of Cornell’s tri-captains, goes 6-foot-3 and 217 pounds and leads Big Red – the No. 1-ranked team in college hockey – in goals (nine) and points (21) through 19 games (a 14-1-4 record). Rangers coaches and fans might also appreciate this: he also leads the team in shots on goal (69).
“It’s been awesome so far,” Barron said before Cornell beat Dartmouth 3-2 and tied Harvard 1-1 over the weekend in Ithaca. “I think our team is going along pretty well. We only have one loss so far, so if we keep winning – and personally I feel like I’ve made some big strides, obviously had a really good start, a quick start, in terms of the scoring. I’ve been able to hold up pretty well throughout the course of the season. I think one of the biggest goals coming into the season was to compete consistently and be the best player on the ice as consistently as possible. So far I’ve been really happy with that. I feel like, aside from maybe one or two games, I’ve been really happy with my performance in just about all of them. So it’s been really successful so far, but there’s definitely a big emphasis this year on being able to finish it at the end of the year, playoffs and NCAA tournament time and all that good stuff. Those are the games I’m really looking forward to.”
While coaches love the players who are on the right side of the puck, as Barron is, they love offense too. With Cornell, it’s defense first. The Big Red just gives opponents nothing and has allowed more than two goals once in 19 games – a 3-3 tie at Union.
“I think here at Cornell we play a game where we try to work from our end out in the sense that we don’t like giving up chances,” Barron said. “But there’s a ton of emphasis on being able to produce offensively and being able to bury your chances and create as much as possible. So I think I’ve seen pretty steady improvement in my own production throughout my three years here, and the team as well. We’ve been lucky enough to really improve our offensive production throughout the years and I think we’re trending in the right direction right now to hopefully go on a deep run and be a team that can really play well on offense and defense.”
That is what Schafer likes about Barron’s game too.
“I call him a throwback,” Schafer said. “As a kid, he’ll do anything, as a coach, that you’ll ask. He’s a coach’s dream. What I mean by that is he wants constructive things. He wants to work on things as a player. He’s very cerebral. But what I mean by a throwback is he’s not distracted by all the noise. He’s not distracted by wanting to get to that next level. He just stays in the present, works hard with his teammates, works hard at his game. He’ll block shots in practice and not think anything of it. He’s a coach’s dream. That kind of leadership, that drops down to everybody else. Other guys are looking at, when one of the better players on your team has that kind of mentality it’s infectious. He’s humble, he works hard, he’s a gamer, a good teammate. I think that’s what makes him an outstanding prospect.”
The Rangers aren’t prodding Barron’s decision, and he insists he hasn’t yet made it. Nor is there any reason for him to have done so at this point.
“No, I haven’t,” Barron said. “That’s something we talked about a little bit with my coaches at the start of the year. There’s a mutual agreement that we both wanted to wait until the end of the year to start thinking about those things because, obviously, that can have quite a big distraction for both myself and the team. So I wouldn’t expect to have a decision made until our season’s over.
“I think (the Rangers) are pretty much on the same page as me and the coaching staff here at Cornell in that they don’t want any of that stuff about next year to influence my season in any way. They’re just letting me play my hockey here and we’ll figure that all out after.”
Gorton echoed that. Of course, the Rangers would love to have him come out after his junior year. But they can wait, too. Given what has happened with the development of some of their forwards in particular this season, it’s more than likely Barron’s pro career would start in the AHL.
Schafer attended the Rangers’ prospects camp in Stamford, Conn., in June and had that conversation with Gorton and his staff.
“Our plan is to basically leave him alone, let him play there and then we’ll talk to him at the right time,” Gorton said. “He’s focused on having a great year, he’s had a great start, and really what we like to do there is just leave him alone and let him play.”
At that level, Barron is developing just fine. The Rangers keep an eye on him and know he’s getting better as the season goes on. His stock has risen where it matters most – in their eyes.
“He’s gotten better every year since we drafted him, so that’s encouraging, any time you get a player who does that,” Gorton said. “But, listen, he’s a guy that puts in his work in the offseason. He’s done everything that way. He’s a great athlete, a big boy, obviously.
“I think it’s a nice blend of skill and power. He can shoot and he goes to the net. He’s a guy that wins his battles, and a guy that’s really improved his skating, over time, for a big guy. He’s had a lot of success on the wing, he’s played center in his past, and he’s a real versatile guy. As you look at him going forward he should be a guy that could be a power-play guy, could be a penalty killer, can play in kind of all situations and looks like he can go up and down a lineup.”
A native of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Barron expects to soon be joined by his younger brother, Justin, as an NHL prospect.
Justin Barron, a big, mobile right-handed defenseman, plays for Halifax in the QMJHL and could be a first rounder (he was ranked 15th among skaters from the Canadian junior leagues in the latest Central Scouting draft rankings for 2020). Justin made his way to Ithaca to see his big brother play over the weekend.
Morgan Barron said the obvious about himself, that he projects as a power forward who uses his size in all areas of the ice – to protect pucks, retrieve pucks, play along the walls and in front of the net. He has worked hard in the summers since his draft year, putting on 15-20 pounds of muscle while improving his skating and working on the nuances of his game.
“When you get drafted that’s the start of the journey for just about every player,” Barron said. “Once you do get picked, it’s pretty much a clean slate within the organization. I don’t think, especially the Rangers, care too much whether you’re a first-rounder (or) a seventh-rounder. Everybody gets the same opportunities at development camp and that’s what I’ve kind of tried to run with. I’ve been happy with my development so far here at Cornell. I’ve loved it. I feel like I’ve made some good steps, for sure.”
As important, the Rangers have drafted – they and Schafer believe – a kid with big-time character.
“It’s hard to draft and know a kid’s character, what makes him tick,” Schafer said. “He came out kind of a late bloomer. He was a true freshman and put on 15 pounds. But his determination, his staying-in-the-present mentality of working on his game – he wanted to get a little bit quicker, he wanted to add a little more endurance, and he’s done that. He’ll do what he needs to do. What he does down the road – coming back or going (pro) – it’s Morgan’s decision and he’ll make the best decision for himself. But he’s just an outstanding kid.”
Wearing one of the three C’s for Big Red is something he takes to heart.
“We vote on it here,” Barron said. “We have for my three years. So any time your peers can appoint you to a position like that, I don’t think it’s something to be taken lightly. It’s been a fun experience for me to try to learn how to be a leader, in the locker room and on the ice. It’s been fun so far.”
And yes, the Rangers are watching.
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