The upcoming season will be an interesting year to keep our eyes on several Winnipeg Jets prospects.
It’s a transition year for players like Nic Petan and Eric Comrie, who will be taking part in their first full professional seasons. Connor Hellebuyck and Joel Armia, among a few, will be trying to take the next step in their careers and contribute at the National Hockey League level.
One guy who is a little column A, a little column B is Josh Morrissey. The Jets first round pick in the class of 2013Â will start the season as a pro for the first time after an incredible run in the Western Hockey League and like Hellebuyck, if he plays well enough, he could force his way onto the Jets roster this season.
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Morrissey put together an impressive junior hockey resume. The captain of the going-nowhere Prince Albert Raiders, he was the big fish dealt in last year’s WHL trade deadline – going to the eventual league champion Kelowna Rockets were he averaged close to a point per game on the back end.
The defenceman also played in the last two World Junior Hockey Championships with Canada. In addition to last year’s gold medal, Morrissey finished the tournament with four points in seven games with a +9 rating, good enough to earn him a spot on the tournament’s first all-star team.
Morrissey’s offensive talents are immediately noticeable from shift number one. He’s an excellent play-maker who can lead a steady offensive zone rush with smart decision making. He’s even more dangerous on the power-play, a guy teams in the WHL had to keep a constant eye on while killing penalties.
One possible question mark some have with Morrissey, like Petan and Nikolaj Ehlers, is his size. At six feet even and 185 pounds, Morrissey would certainly be on the smaller side of defenceman in the NHL. But he certainly did not play small in junior and despite his size, he provides a somewhat surprising and welcoming physical edge to his game (you can see a glimpse in the above video).
Smooth-skating blue-liner with a high hockey IQ. Great vision, future power-play quarterback. – Winnipeg Sun
Where to watch Morrissey this season will be an interesting story line to watch during training camp. With a left side depth chart consisting of Toby Enstrom, Mark Stuart, and Ben Chiarot, the Jets should be okay but there is plenty of room there for Morrissey to play his way onto the big club. If not, plenty of ice time awaits him with the Manitoba Moose.
Wherever he ends up, the fact remains the Jets have a young, supremely talented defenceman in their organization with Morrissey. I seen Morrissey firsthand many times during his WHL career and it’s hard not to get excited about the player he can possibly become. A heady, offensive player who doesn’t shriek his defensive responsibilities, he’s a well rounded player who has the potential to a top-end defenceman in the National Hockey League.
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