WINNIPEG — Self-awareness is a character trait that has rarely been in short supply for Josh Morrissey.
As Morrissey prepares for his second season as the Jets' undisputed No. 1 defenceman, his ability to carefully reflect on his up-and-downs has put him in a prime position to succeed in that role.
Last September, Morrissey was thrust into the job when Dustin Byfuglien asked for a personal leave of absence on the day before training camp was set to begin.
After an offseason that had already included the trade of his longtime defence partner Jacob Trouba and the departures of Ben Chiarot, Tyler Myers and Joe Morrow in free agency, there was already going to be an adjustment process for Morrissey.
Toss in a lucrative, long-term contract extension (an eight-year, $50 million deal that kicks in this season) and a letter added on his jersey as an alternate captain, and it’s easy to see Morrissey had a lot on his plate.
While he’s always relished the responsibility of being someone the Jets could count on, Morrissey admits there were times when he simply tried to do too much.
When that happened, the on-ice results weren’t always quite at the same high standard folks had come to expect from him — or what he’d come to expect from himself.
Speaking for over 20 minutes on Friday afternoon, Morrissey peeled back the curtain and provided some insight into what it was like to assess everything he’s worked through during the past 16 months.
“(As far as) my mindset coming into this camp, you referenced the reflection and I had the chance to do a lot of that obviously, sitting around and not having a whole lot to do,” Morrissey said. “I feel really refreshed coming into the year and really excited; I feel motivated and I feel like I’ve gone to another level maturity-wise, in terms of the athletic maturity and even in practice, I feel like my threshold of where I can work and how hard I can work, I’m trying to push that every day and I really feel excited about that. I’m excited to play, obviously. I’m really happy that we’re able to get this season going.”
As he enters his fifth full NHL season, Morrissey is planning to alter his approach ever so slightly.
“That’s funny you bring that up because that’s something I’ve really thought about over the off-season,” he said. “The best players make the other players around them better. And that doesn’t mean you end up doing more in your role and you try and do too much and sort of always get caught in that in-between, which I think I was little bit guilty of last year at times, especially in the first half of the year and sort of trying to do more and getting caught in that middle ground where you’re not doing anything or not doing your job sufficiently.
“That’s where you can be so good at your job and so consistent in your reads and consistent in your compete level and your battle level and your ability as a defenseman to end a play in your own end as fast as possible and get the puck to your partner and into your forwards’ hands. That’s how you’re making the players around you better. That’s really been something I’ve thought about a lot and is a goal of mine to continue to work on and improve at as we get into this season and as I move forward in my career.”
The thing about going head-to-head with the top players on the opposing team is that you need to be operating at peak efficiency all the time.
But that’s a welcome part of the challenge.
“That was really one of the things that I reflected on, was the next step in my career is to go to another level mentally. And by that, I mean competing against the best guys and feeling like you belong in that conversation and wanting to prove it,” Morrissey said. “Wanting to show your stuff and take on anybody in the league. And that's, I think, all the great players in our league have that mindset where they want to compete against the best.”
It’s only natural for a player to put undue pressure on himself after inking a new deal, and Jets head coach Paul Maurice believes Morrissey is now clear of that hurdle.
“I’ve seen an awful lot of defencemen get big contracts and it’s usually by points, but Josh earned his," Maurice said. "You see, in the next year, they almost try to justify it and it changes their game a little bit. I’ve just seen it happen over and over and over again around the league with players I had or just players around the league.
"That’s a bit of challenge, especially for defencemen, because priority one is you’re out there to defend and keep pucks out of the net. They go through a bit of a learning curve and then they realize that there was some really, really fine work by him that went into earning that contract, the whole idea of less is more and getting back to the basis of what it was that made you great. It takes a lot of confidence to do less and have faith that that’s the right thing.
“I thought Josh built over the course of last year. He had an injury early on that affected him. He was breaking in a brand new partner and we were spending more time at our end of the ice. All the things that maybe he had seen in his own game from years prior weren’t as easy to see last year. What I’ve seen from the first five days, he looks an awful lot like he did two years ago. He’s been right on the details of defending first and that’s what really drives his play.”
NEXT STEP FOR HEINOLA UNCLEAR
Jets forward Patrik Laine is going to have a new roommate once Ville Heinola wraps up his seven-day quarantine, but it’s still unclear where the Finnish defenceman is going to start the season.
The only thing you can count on is that Heinola won’t be in the opening-day lineup, since he will have been off the ice for more than a week after helping Finland capture a bronze medal at the world junior hockey championship in Edmonton.
Heinola could wind up on the Jets’ taxi squad initially, and playing a first-pairing role with the Manitoba Moose once the American Hockey League season opens remains a distinct possibility.
“I'm not sure yet, to be quite honest with you,” Maurice said. “So he's going to get through the quarantine. I don't know what the rules will be about where he gets to play and how all that works. We’ll be up and running at that time, pretty close to it. So he will be an option for us, I believe, to play. But again, we’ll go back to once we know what's going on with the American League team and we'll have a better understanding of how that group interacts with our squad.
“I don't want, if we don't have to have young players on the taxi squad – and so I'm not talking about the 23, I'm talking about the taxi squad – I don't really want young players sitting and watching hockey unless that's the only option that we have. But if the American League gets up and running then that will change the options for Ville. And one of them is he's part of our group.”
That quote would certainly provide some hope for Heinola, whose blend of hockey IQ, vision, puck-moving ability and skating makes him an intriguing prospect.
As for his expectations, Heinola sounds like someone who doesn’t want to get ahead of himself.
“It’s hard to say what I expect this season. I just want to get back on the ice when the time is (right). I don’t really know what’s going to happen next,” said Heinola, who had one goal and five points in eight games with the Jets last season. “Of course I want to play in the NHL, I tried to work hard to get there. I don’t know what’s going to happen now because there’s all the rules and the season’s a little bit different. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I try to work hard and try to get my game to that level.
“I think all areas are better now. I feel like I’m stronger, that I can skate better now. I think when I played in Finland, the biggest thing was how I can play defence better now. But (in) all areas I’m better.”
Morrissey is excited to see that growth on display once Heinola joins the group.
“Ville is a very cerebral player. He’s a very smart player,” Morrissey said. “He’s a great skater and he makes a lot of just little plays that you might not notice and are really elite and not everyone can do. I think just a general theme would be as you get older, he’s a little bit faster, a little bit stronger, probably a little bit more calm even with the puck. It’s sort of that natural curve that I think just comes from having the experience for him playing some NHL games, going back to Europe, playing again this year and just training and trying to work on his game.
“He’s a great kid so I’m sure he’s going to develop in his game and continue to have that mindset, which I think is the most important thing when you’re that age and you’re trying to go from where he’s at, drafted, to being an NHL player and probably bigger goals after that. So I think he’s got all the right attributes and it’s fun to see him continue to get better.”
With veteran centre Bryan Little expected to miss the season with a head injury and eventually move to long-term injured reserve, Maurice wasn’t ready to commit to whether the Jets would open the season with 22 or 23 players on the roster.
Forward Trevor Lewis seems to be solidifying his case every day to turn his pro tryout offer into a one-year contract.
Here’s how the Jets' main group lined up for the fifth day of on-ice sessions:
Nikolaj Ehlers-Mark Scheifele-Blake Wheeler
Kyle Connor-Paul Stastny-Patrik Laine
Andrew Copp-Adam Lowry-Mason Appleton
Mathieu Perreault-Nate Thompson-Trevor Lewis
Kristian Vesalainen-CJ Suess-Juona Luoto
Josh Morrissey-Tucker Poolman
Derek Forbort-Neal Pionk
Nathan Beaulieu-Dylan DeMelo
Luca Sbisa-Sami Niku
Connor Hellebuyck
Laurent Brossoit
Unfit to practice: LW Jansen Harkins, C Dominic Toninato, LW Marko Dano
