BLOOMINGTON, Minn. - As Brendan Morrison stood at the podium delivering his acceptance speech at last night's Hobey Baker Award banquet, he stood between his past and his future.
Sitting at the table to his left was Red Berenson, his coach at Michigan for the past four years, a time during which Morrison arguably had the most remarkable career in Michigan's storied history.
At the table to his right sat Lou Lamoriello, general manager of the NHL's New Jersey Devils - who drafted Morrison in 1993.
Lamoriello was in attendance to receive the Legend of College Hockey award, but allusions to the future were inevitable.
"Brendan, hopefully in the very near future we can get you to trade that Michigan uniform for a Devils uniform," Lamoriello said. The two didn't talk business, Morrison said, but guest speaker Keith Magnuson, a former NHL standout, did some playful bartering on Morrison's behalf.
"Your words about Brendan," Magnuson said to Lamoriello, "we have them recorded, and he would like 12 million over three years." Morrison, apparently liking the numbers he heard, continued the joke by asking Magnuson to represent him.
Lamoriello said that he hadn't seen Morrison play when the Devils drafted him but trusted a scout who praised Morrison enough to make him a second-round pick.
Now, having seen Michigan's all-time scoring and assists leader play, Lamoriello is looking forward to adding Morrison's natural hockey sense to the Devils.
"It's something you can't teach anybody," Lamoriello said. "He sees the ice well, he makes the people around him better, and he anticipates well."
Lamoriello thinks Morrison will fit in well with the Devils, assuming they can sign him.
"He's the type of player we don't have a lot of," he said. "With the other players we have and the way the pro game is, he'll get a lot of support in the areas that aren't his strengths. And that's what makes a team. And that's what makes him a top prospect."
With the Decathlon Athletic Club filling its banquet hall - at $80 a plate - in his honor and former great players praising his accomplishments, the evening easily could have been an ego trip for Morrison.
But for Morrison, it was more like the fulfillment of a childhood dream.
"These are guys I remember watching growing up," Morrison said of his company at the head table. "To actually see them up here and be associating and talking with them - it's just a huge thrill and it's really humbling.
"It's an experience I'll remember for the rest of my life."
Also humbling are Morrison's statistics.
He led the nation in scoring this season with 88 points (31 goals, 57 assists). His 284 career points put him in seventh place on the all-time NCAA Division I scoring list.
But as Berenson said, team stats were always more important to Morrison.
"He's doing the things to win games - not to score points or to look good," Berenson said. This season, the Wolverines won a school-record 35 games, and the senior class finished with a record of 132-26-8, also a school-best.
But what will stick in everyone's mind is Morrison's overtime goal against Colorado College last season - Michigan's first national championship in 32 years. The announcement of Morrison as the 17th Hobey Baker Award recipient capped a season filled with awards for the senior. He was named a West All-American for the third consecutive season and became the first player in the CCHA's 26-year history to be named conference player of the year two consecutive seasons.
Last night's speakers focused on why college hockey is a better option for young men than playing in the major junior leagues.
And Berenson said that players like Morrison are what have made college hockey thrive. "If you continue to bring in more players like this," he said, "Then college hockey will be in good shape."
MARK FRIEDMAN/Daily
Brendan Morrison, recipient of the 1997 Hobey Baker Award, attended a banquet in his honor last night in Minnesota. The New Jersey Devils hold Morrison's rights and are attempting to sign him.