Staff Report Cards : Jeremy Morin

Tonight we look at the folk hero in the world of Blackhawks' social media, Jeremy Morin

			All situations							5 on 5 on-ice							EV					5 on 5
	GP	G	A	P	TOI/60	S/60	Sh%	PenD	CF%	CF% rel	GF%	GF% rel	Sh%	Sv%	PDO	ZS%	ZS% rel	EVTOI%	PPTOI%	SHTOI%	QoC TOI%	QoT TOI%
Regular Season	24	5	6	11	9.1	12.6	10.90%	5	62.60%	10.40%	59.10%	7.90%	10.70%	89.70%	100.4	70.60%	17.80%	17.40%	6.20%	0.20%	26.90%	26.70%
Playoffs	2	0	0	0	6.4	14	0.00%	-1	50.00%	5.10%	0.00%	-62.50%	0.00%	75.00%	75	50.00%	-3.40%	12.40%	0.00%	0.00%	25.30%	26.60%

Jeremy Morin is one of the tougher players to grade due to the smaller sample size. Morin dressed for 24 games in the regular season and averaged 9:09 TOI which was the lowest of any forward to dress in 2013-14. He did post a 62.6 CF% which was the highest of any player on the team who played at least 21 games. Morin was not afraid to shoot the puck in his limited time on ice. His 12.1 shots per 60 minutes was the highest on the team. He put up 46 shots on goal in his 24 games. That doesn't sound like a whole lot until you see that Michal Handzus only had 50 shots on goal in 59 games. Morin added some speed on the outside and wasn't never one to shy away from a hit. He was credited with nine takeaways and did not commit a single giveaway all season long.

The most frustrating part of Morin's season was his usage. He never earned Joel Quenneville's trust over the course of the year. Only 18.6% of his zone starts were in the defensive end and he had the lowest QoC of all the forwards who played in at least 21 games. Morin also had one of the shortest leashes on the team. It seemed if he had a bad turnover or a silly penalty at an important part of the game his night and turn in the lineup would be over. The frustration of Morin's usage built up throughout the year with Blackhawks fans on social media. Even his former teammate Brandon Pirri used the #FreeMorin hashtag on Twitter.

Morin had his best run of the season when he got to play every night down the stretch. Jeremy dressed in each of the last six games of the regular season while both Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane were out of the lineup nursing injuries. He was able to create some nice chemistry with Peter Regin and Bryan Bickell. He scored four of his five goals during the last five games of the regular season when he finally was able to get comfortable and not have to worry about a trip back to the pressbox for making a mistake.

Morin is a restricted free agent this summer but Stan Bowman said he still has a future here in Chicago. He had 47 points in 47 games down in Rockford but has yet to given a chance to play regularly at the NHL level. He proved that he could produce when playing every game, but he needs to earn that chance. So why hasn't he received his chance to get a permanent roster spot? It's more than just the "Q hates young players" theory. Quenneville sees Morin in practice every day and obviously there is something missing. Hopefully, he can take the same path that Ben Smith took this past season and earn his head coach's trust. I feel Morin can still be a productive bottom six forward who can add to the depth of the team.

Final Grade : C+