Five Minutes With Dallas Stars’ Brenden Morrow

(si.cnn.com)

FRISCO – Hockey players define summer in terms of how long it has been since they last played. For Stars captain Brenden Morrow, summer “has been nine months.”

His 2008-09 season ended abruptly last November following only 18 games because of an ACL tear. He was hopeful of rejoining the team for another playoff run, but the extended absences of players like Morrow, Sergei Zubov and Brad Richards contributed to a 12th-place finish in the West.

Summer in Dallas saw Tom Hicks replace co-general managers Brett Hull and Les Jackson with former Stars favorite Joe Nieuwendyk, who in turn replaced coach Dave Tippett with Marc Crawford.

Morrow is back on the ice and ready to start his 10th season in Dallas. The following is from a brief visit with Morrow this week at StarsCenter in advance of training camp:

How stressful was it to try to get back from the knee injury and hope the team would catch fire and qualify for the playoffs?

Maybe stressful. It probably helped raise my excitement, kept me motivated more than anything.

How is the knee?

The knee is not a problem. It’s the hands that are the problem now. They’re trying to catch up to the rest of me. But I think everyone’s in that same boat.

When you went into boards with that injury, you didn’t think it was anything serious.

It was pretty freaky. I actually got up and finished that shift and tried to take one more. I’d had an MCL tear, and I just figured I’d aggravated it. After that second shift, I knew there was something wrong.

One of your first calls after the injury was to Joe Nieuwendyk, in the Toronto front office at the time, because he’d rehabbed from two knee surgeries.

I’d never had a serious injury like that. [Not counting the slashed wrist from two seasons earlier.] I wanted to do my homework, make sure I was comfortable with the procedure. I talked to friends of mine that had gone through it. Joe had done it and come back and had success. I just wanted to know who he used. He used “Coop” [team orthopedist Dan Cooper], which made it that much more comfortable. It was an easy decision for me to have it done here and have the rehab done here.

Did you ever envision Nieuwendyk back here in this role?

I wouldn’t say I saw him coming back, but I knew just how classy he was and how professional he was when he was here, that he would find somewhere to do it. I could even see him on a big stage in Toronto if he would have stuck it out a little longer. He’s well schooled and pretty well spoken. He thinks things through. I think he could have handled that stress and pressure of doing it in Toronto. I think we’re lucky to have him here.

How is father-in-law Guy Carbonneau [fired as coach by Montreal late last season]?

He just had double hip replacement. It’s probably a good thing that he’s got some time off. I think for him – whatever it’s been, 25, 26 years, every year getting prepared for a season – to have that excitement and then not to have it this summer, it’s probably pretty tough on him. But he has his health to worry about this summer.

You turned 30 in January. Does that make you one of the team’s elder statesmen?

I’m starting to feel it a little bit. The young guys coming in. Being the father of three and having that all day and then coming in and being a little bit beaten up and having 18-, 19-year-olds come in like it’s no big issue. It’s starting to catch up to me.