Talented, two-way defensemen have the longest average learning curve in professional hockey, and if it’s not because that position actively participates in more of the action around the rink than any other, it’s because that player’s mistakes are most punitive to his team.

When a defenseman messes up, he often takes the goalie with him. The talented two-way defenseman playing top-four minutes is the position in hockey that mechanically and mentally asks the most of a player.

Joe Morrow aspires to become that kind of player in the NHL, and after an encouraging NHL stint playing some second-pairing minutes opposite Dennis Seidenberg this season, he’s back in the AHL helping the Providence Bruins win games and, at the same time, continuing to develop his skills. The 22-year-old (Dec. 9), 6-foot-1, 204-pound, left-handed shot said after Friday night’s 2-1 overtime victory over conference-leading Manchester that the higher-paced NHL game seems to suit him.

“I do feel like I play a little better up in the National Hockey League. I think I’m a little more effective in being able to get pucks to forwards quickly and get the puck out of your zone quickly, too, so I feel like I skate a little more when I’m up there and skate to open ice to draw someone away from someone else in order to give them the puck,” Morrow told Rink Rap after Friday night’s game at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center. “I’m not trying to do everything myself. It definitely is a different type of game, and I feel I’m a little more suited for that style, but until that time comes I’ve got to figure out how to be effective down here, too.”

A noticeable difference from last season to this has been the economy in Morrow’s puck play. Whereas time to think led to turnovers last season, this time around he’s keeping it simpler and playing more first-thought hockey, especially in his decisions advancing the puck.

But P-Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy does not want to see Morrow limit his approach to quick touches and system plays. Cassidy thinks Morrow is a higher-end talent than that and wants to see him improvise more.

“I liked his first game back, but I think he’s too casual down here right now. … The economy of his game needs to be good every night so it translates up there, but he needs a little more of the Griffith-Koko where, ‘Hey, you know what? I’m a good player down here, I can get away with a few things,'” said Cassidy. “You still want to continue to build that part of it where you’re — I don’t (want him too conservative) and that’s me.

“The message is going to come from up top when he starts to get away from it, but you know what? Until he gets away from it — like we’re talking about (Seth Griffith) now — then we’ll have a conversation about ‘Reel it in.’ But I’d rather have him (need to) reel it in than have to push it out of him, and I think that’s where we’re starting to see a difference in (David) Warsofsky. He’s starting to want to be a difference maker when the opportunity arises.”

Warsofsky, who had NHL written all over him when the 2013-14 season ended but found himself back in the AHL when the salary cap tightened options for many NHL teams, factored in both Providence goals. Warsofsky tied Friday’s game in the second period and assisted on Khokhlachev’s OT-GWG.

Cassidy thinks Morrow can continue exploring his own offensive upside, and this is the place and time.

“The thing with Joe right now, I think there’s more there to his game offensively with the puck, with his skating and his shot,” said Cassidy. “He’s got to pull it out of himself, too. … He’s got to understand and walk out of this building and say, ‘I’m in Providence, not in Boston. I can still do some things. That’s where you always find the balance. … We’re not trying to change his whole game, just here you can be a little more creative. The canvas is a little more blank for you.”

Prospects bring different skill sets and different mindsets to the game, and those evolve as well through developmental seasons. A defenseman gets better, then it seems he’s gotten worse, but growth curves always include patches of rough sledding. The Bruins have themselves a keeper here and, despite positive signs during Morrow’s NHL stint this season, will let development run its course.

The great news for Providence (20-17-5-1, 10th in the Eastern Conference) is that AHL players who spent time significant this season in Boston are not mailing it in. The P-Bruins are playing an intense brand of hockey and showing some forward depth. They just beat a first-place Manchester club. If the Monarchs, as reported, relocate out west along with the Worcester Sharks, then it will be the end of an excellent AHL rivalry.

Morrow isn’t the only player showing progress in his career. Rangy RW Brian Ferlin, skating with north-south forwards Matt Lindblad (center) and Justin Florek (LW), is meshing nicely and within that structure has become quicker on his feet. According to Cassidy, Ferlin has shown the most in-season improvement on the team. He had skated earlier in the season with the more dynamic Ryan Spooner and Alexander Khokhlachev.

“The (Lindblad-Florek) group is straight line,” said Cassidy. “I think (Ferlin) is better suited to that (style).”

Griffith, a small winger known for quickness, made a big physical effort late in regulation of Friday’s game to beat a defenseman 1-on-1, almost getting a clean shot away. He came back in overtime with Khokhlachev to produce the game-winning goal.

Trying things and exploring upside are things Cassidy wants to see from the Bruins’ prospects in tandem with learning both sides of the puck and the systems that Boston plays. Being flimsy and not strong on the puck is the fat on the bone of talent, and a more industrial approach needed to play against men is something that Cassidy does not want his players confused by. So it’s hard work, it’s tough but, yes, make a move to try and win the game. Be as good as you are, be the player the Bruins drafted.

“The tough part is you can get away with stuff here versus how it’s going to work out (in the NHL) so you want to make sure they’re not too fancy because you won’t be able to do that up there, but we want them to help us win games,” said Cassidy. “They have to be given the freedom to do what they do best. It’s just then you’re trying to relate to them, ‘OK, mix in the good habits with it.'”

Whether players learn it from their AHL coach or from the experience of playing in the NHL against big, rangy players who have speed, the learning never stops.

Mistake prone last season, Morrow hit a groove upon his recall to Boston where found a comfort zone trying to accomplish less. When dressed, he primarily played on the second pairing with Seidenberg playing the right side, something Seidenberg has done only in a shutdown pairing with Zdeno Chara. Now Adam McQuaid is on the right side of Boston’s second defense pairing with Seidenberg, a left shot, on the left. But Morrow and Seidenberg worked well together, better than Seidenberg worked with Dougie Hamilton. The Bruins opted to go with the veteran pair and the team went into the All-Star break on a 6-1-1 run that has vaulted them into the Eastern Conference playoff eight.

Morrow looks at his time in Boston this season as a bit of a turning point.

“It helped quite a bit, just with the whole confidence level,” he said. “Once you get to play with faster players, stronger players, when you come back down here you’re a half step ahead of everybody else, and … being up there really kind of taught me how to simplify my game and how effective I was when it was like that. So I just to try bring that back down here, bring some pace and just little things like that. It definitely did help a lot.”

Now midway through his third pro season — second in the Bruins organization — Morrow is the future piece in the two-for-four trade that sent Tyler Seguin and Rich Peverley to the Dallas Stars for Loui Eriksson, Reilly Smith, Morrow and Matt Fraser. Fraser was claimed off of waivers by the Edmonton Oilers, but Eriksson scored in Boston’s dramatic victory Tuesday night in Dallas while Seguin did not, providing a rare context to view the trade. Smith has shown the signs of a developing NHL winger with scoring ability, and Morrow may wind up becoming the best part of the deal for Boston, albeit one whose impact has barely been made.

“The development process (the Bruins) have here is really good,” said Morrow. “They choose to take their time with their players and make sure that when you do get called up you play to your potential and you don’t hurt the team, you help them,” said Morrow. “Every single player down here is given the opportunity to develop and to become a National Hockey League player before they’re given the opportunity to play in the National Hockey League.

“Whenever the opportunity comes, if it’s next year or whenever it comes, I’ll be ready for it,” said Morrow. “It was kind of nice to go up there and maybe prove some people wrong to a point where they say I wasn’t ready defensively and little things like that. I thought I did a good job, and all the media and all the coaching staff kind of backed me up on that one so I’m pretty proud of that.”

The P-Bruins are at Springfield at 7 p.m. Saturday.