The Carolina Hurricanes have recalled top defense prospect Scott Morrow and reassigned defenseman Riley Stillman. Stillman will head to the AHL sporting a minor injury after taking a skate to the face in his first shift of Thursday night’s game. He received stitches on the inside of his mouth but continues to practice per Cory Lavalette of the North State Journal.
This move returns Morrow to the NHL after a recent hot streak in the minors. He has 10 points in 10 games since Carolina reassigned him on February 8th. Morrow is now up to 39 points in 51 AHL games, the third-most of any rookie defender in the AHL behind San Jose’s Luca Cagnoni and Anaheim’s Tristan Luneau who each have 42 points. Despite that hot scoring, Morrow hasn’t yet found his way onto an NHL scoresheet. He has no scoring and a minus-four through four career games in the NHL, with the appearances split evenly between last year and this year.
Morrow’s spot in the lineup on Sunday will depend on the availability of Dmitry Orlov, who missed Thursday’s game with a minor injury. Orlov returned to Carolina’s Saturday morning practice in full per NHL.com’s Walt Ruff. He seems good to go, but Morrow will be the quick fill-in should the Hurricanes need an extra hand.
This move also returns Stillman to the minor leagues for the second time in two days. Carolina successfully waived Stillman and assigned him to the minor leagues on Friday, but he was brought back to the NHL roster before Saturday’s practice. But it seems that was only for the extra skate, and Stillman will head back to the Chicago Wolves to build on his five points, 41 penalty minutes, and minus-three in 20 games. Stillman has also stepped into three NHL games this season, setting no scoring, five penalty minutes, and a minus-one.