Player Discussion: Winnipeg Jets select D Josh Morrissey (1/13)

[Atoyot]

What a great read. The posts that stand out to me are the one with the cliches about "low hockey IQ" and "all tools no toolbox".

Josh has to be one of the smartest players around.

Also loved the post about the draft party hosted by Stu and James Wright. Shows how far we've come.

Remember how enamored everyone (myself included) was with Wright? The guy gave us 2 goals in 97 games.

 

[garret9]

Remember how enamored everyone (myself included) was with Wright? The guy gave us 2 goals in 97 games.

Hey... he did provide 0.6 GAR over those games. Oh wait... that's replacement level hahaha. (note: he's a minus GAR player if you ignore penalty differential)

 

[Maukkis]

Following up on my initial thought about the '13 first round being weak, let's see what kind of defensemen were up for grabs. (analysis based on SKATR and whatever knowledge I have. Feel free to disagree.)

#4: Seth Jones - absolute f***ing stud. Top 10 in the league?
#7: Darnell Nurse - top 4 guy, skates well, puts up some points and has some mean streak to his game too. Not a bad one whatsoever.
#8: Rasmus Ristolainen - oh boy. Unproductive, bad defensively... in a hellish role in Buffalo. Probably rushed in the worst way too. Not convinced. Tough to gauge what he really is (or what he would have been), but by no means is he a defenseman to build a D corps around.
#11: Sam Morin - either he is injured or in the AHL. Bust territory...
#13: Josh Morrissey - we know.
#15: Ryan Pulock - emerged last year as a offensively strong top 4 option. Not too strong a year so far for him, but he would definitely be a quality piece in any team's top 4. Unsure if there is more to him, though, and the defensive side of the equation is a bit questionable.
#16: Nikita Zadorov - kind of tough to make an argument for him being anything more than a #4D at this point. Physical as hell, but that is about it.
#18: Mirco Mueller - all kinds of meh.
#26: Shea Theodore - looking very, very good on the Knights. Of the non-Jones defensemen drafted in the first round, I'd say he is the closest thing there is to Morrissey - maybe, just maybe even a bit better than him.

As for the other rounds, there is an abundance of depth guys with some NHL games, Butcher, and Pesce. That is surprisingly weak.

In short, we went in with pick #13 and came up with - at the very worst - a top 3 defenseman from this draft class, probably even the second best. Cannot complain, especially when four of them were already picked by the time we got our choice.

 

[rubikscube]

Following up on my initial thought about the '13 first round being weak, let's see what kind of defensemen were up for grabs. (analysis based on SKATR and whatever knowledge I have. Feel free to disagree.)

#4: Seth Jones - absolute ****ing stud. Top 10 in the league?
#7: Darnell Nurse - top 4 guy, skates well, puts up some points and has some mean streak to his game too. Not a bad one whatsoever.
#8: Rasmus Ristolainen - oh boy. Unproductive, bad defensively... in a hellish role in Buffalo. Probably rushed in the worst way too. Not convinced. Tough to gauge what he really is (or what he would have been), but by no means is he a defenseman to build a D corps around.
#11: Sam Morin - either he is injured or in the AHL. Bust territory...
#13: Josh Morrissey - we know.
#15: Ryan Pulock - emerged last year as a offensively strong top 4 option. Not too strong a year so far for him, but he would definitely be a quality piece in any team's top 4. Unsure if there is more to him, though, and the defensive side of the equation is a bit questionable.
#16: Nikita Zadorov - kind of tough to make an argument for him being anything more than a #4D at this point. Physical as hell, but that is about it.
#18: Mirco Mueller - all kinds of meh.
#26: Shea Theodore - looking very, very good on the Knights. Of the non-Jones defensemen drafted in the first round, I'd say he is the closest thing there is to Morrissey - maybe, just maybe even a bit better than him.

As for the other rounds, there is an abundance of depth guys with some NHL games, Butcher, and Pesce. That is surprisingly weak.

In short, we went in with pick #13 and came up with - at the very worst - a top 3 defenseman from this draft class, probably even the second best. Cannot complain, especially when four of them were already picked by the time we got our choice.

So once again Chevy made the best selection possible he could with what he had. Love it.

 

[Robinson2187]

Remember how enamored everyone (myself included) was with Wright?

No

 

[CorgisPer60]

I don't remember what my thoughts were at the time. I knew nothing about him, so I reserved judgement until after I saw what he could do. The only thing I know for sure (based on hear-say) is that the Jets tried to move up to 12 so they could take Max Domi. I know there was palpable angst in here when Domi went at 12 to the Coyotes. In the end, I'm glad that the draft ended up the way it did.

 

[Ezpz]

Sometimes you're wrong; sometimes you're right.

 

[ps241]

Sometimes you're wrong; sometimes you're right.

Glad you came by to take a bow.....that was a pretty epic post (prediction) against the flow on those first few pages. Had you watched Josh play much going into the draft?

 

[Saintb]

Sometimes you're wrong; sometimes you're right.

If HF had a hall of fame you would be in it for that post.
By the way it's great seeing the Habs have a better year. Lots of support for them in this area.

 

[Ezpz]

Glad you came by to take a bow.....that was a pretty epic post (prediction) against the flow on those first few pages. Had you watched Josh play much going into the draft?

I was following prospects a lot closer then due to the lockout and my assumption the Habs would suck. I wasn't working at the time and hockey was one of the ways I kept occupied. I was also under the impression Bergevin would sell off guys like Markov, Plekanec, Gionta, and Cole. I thought long term we needed someone to play with Subban(I was convinced to be hopeful for Galchenyuk by the armchair scouts until I myself believed he would be the saviour.)

I noticed Erik Karlsson destroying the league the previous year at 150 pounds soaking wet and kind of figured at that point Tinordi and Beaulieu were not going to be what I had hoped and the league would change. As the season went on this was also the first year Suter and Weber had been split up; previously their success had been attributed to Weber, but Suter was amazing in Minnesota as well. I realized at this point the Habs needed to stop drafting for size(they didn't.)

I basically started following all the D prospects and liked Morrissey the best(aside from Jones obviously). I was legitimately scared the Habs were going to go for Morin or Mantha. Unfortunately the Habs didn't sell; they attempted to fast track their rebuild and drafted a bunch of plugs. I wanted Zykov or Theodore where we ended up drafting. The guys I'd been following and wanted were not in the cards: Morrissey, Wennberg, Horvat, Lindholm. More than anything I wanted to tank and draft Barkov but I'm not the GM of the Habs.

The Jets actually were announced as getting their franchise back on my birthday a few years prior; so I'd been following them to an extent and Scheifele was another guy I was hoping for in 2011, but once again we weren't even close to drafting that high. In 2012 it was the same thing, if we'd not finished so high I was looking at Trouba. Even then I was advocating Forsberg with Trouba as my back up over Galchenyuk and had to convince myself Galchenyuk would turn out fine.

I was very confident in the Jets scouting staff over my own teams' at this point; so I came here to let out my feelings of jealousy. Their picks kept aligning with my own opinions. You guys kept doing it too, as I was advocating Ehlers from the beginning of the 2013-14 season. Roslovic was the first first rounder that didn't make me jealous, I absolutely did not want him for the Habs due to his "upside".

I moved abroad in late 2015 so I'd stopped following hockey so closely; only catching NHL games. Now unfortunately I work 50 weeks a year in a foreign country while simultaneously studying full time; alas, I barely have time to follow half the games at the NHL level, and I certainly have no time to watch prospects anymore. Plus I got married and the wife isn't so big on hockey.

 

[ps241]

I was following prospects a lot closer then due to the lockout and my assumption the Habs would suck. I wasn't working at the time and hockey was one of the ways I kept occupied. I was also under the impression Bergevin would sell off guys like Markov, Plekanec, Gionta, and Cole. I thought long term we needed someone to play with Subban(I was convinced to be hopeful for Galchenyuk by the armchair scouts until I myself believed he would be the saviour.)

I noticed Erik Karlsson destroying the league the previous year at 150 pounds soaking wet and kind of figured at that point Tinordi and Beaulieu were not going to be what I had hoped and the league would change. As the season went on this was also the first year Suter and Weber had been split up; previously their success had been attributed to Weber, but Suter was amazing in Minnesota as well. I realized at this point the Habs needed to stop drafting for size(they didn't.)

I basically started following all the D prospects and liked Morrissey the best(aside from Jones obviously). I was legitimately scared the Habs were going to go for Morin or Mantha. Unfortunately the Habs didn't sell; they attempted to fast track their rebuild and drafted a bunch of plugs. I wanted Zykov or Theodore where we ended up drafting. The guys I'd been following and wanted were not in the cards: Morrissey, Wennberg, Horvat, Lindholm. More than anything I wanted to tank and draft Barkov but I'm not the GM of the Habs.

The Jets actually were announced as getting their franchise back on my birthday a few years prior; so I'd been following them to an extent and Scheifele was another guy I was hoping for in 2011, but once again we weren't even close to drafting that high. In 2012 it was the same thing, if we'd not finished so high I was looking at Trouba. Even then I was advocating Forsberg with Trouba as my back up over Galchenyuk and had to convince myself Galchenyuk would turn out fine.

I was very confident in the Jets scouting staff over my own teams' at this point; so I came here to let out my feelings of jealousy. Their picks kept aligning with my own opinions. You guys kept doing it too, as I was advocating Ehlers from the beginning of the 2013-14 season. Roslovic was the first first rounder that didn't make me jealous, I absolutely did not want him for the Habs due to his "upside".

I moved abroad in late 2015 so I'd stopped following hockey so closely; only catching NHL games. Now unfortunately I work 50 weeks a year in a foreign country while simultaneously studying full time; alas, I barely have time to follow half the games at the NHL level, and I certainly have no time to watch prospects anymore. Plus I got married and the wife isn't so big on hockey.

Excellent post.


Well getting married and having an active life (understatement with a full time job and studies) is generally a better game plan for life than being between jobs but crushing it on prospect predictions on a Hockey website so congrats on moving on up.

Hey with your eye for talent you might find this story interesting about one of the Jets part time scouts.

Meet Dan Shrader, the full-time sanitation worker who the Winnipeg...

Thanks for dropping by.

 

[Daximus]

Any word on Morrissey's injury yet?

 

[Peter Tagli Eddie]

From WFP.
Morrissey left Tuesday's game against the San Jose Sharks with a lower-body injury after blocking a shot and did not practise Wednesday.
"He might be in the lineup tomorrow night," said head coach Paul Maurice of Morrissey. "He feels much better today. We’ve gotta get him out in the morning skate and if he feel’s strong enough, we’ll do that."

Sounds somewhat promising.

 

[Daximus]

From WFP.
Morrissey left Tuesday's game against the San Jose Sharks with a lower-body injury after blocking a shot and did not practise Wednesday.
"He might be in the lineup tomorrow night," said head coach Paul Maurice of Morrissey. "He feels much better today. We’ve gotta get him out in the morning skate and if he feel’s strong enough, we’ll do that."

Sounds somewhat promising.

Good to see. I was worried for a bit. Even if we have to leave him out a game we have buff coming back so we can deal for 1 game.

 

[Ducky10]

I figured him even coming out for a whirl in the 2nd was a good sign. If there was any structural damage there is little chance that would have happened. Likely all about pain threshold and swelling at this point.