Morrissey grows into leader for Jets inspired by memory of late father
Defenseman 'not sweating the small stuff' in breakout season
Tom Morrissey was 69 when he died Aug. 8 from cancer, a struggle for the Morrissey family that lingered throughout the 2020-21 NHL season.
"My dad and I were very, very close," Morrissey said. "In some of our last conversations, a lot of the dialogue from him to me was all about his biggest worry or concern as a father, us having great lives and moving forward. He didn't want my brother (Jake) or I to dwell on everything or have it affect us. That was his wish, that we would just go and play hockey and be happy kids and enjoy life and not let it hang over us."
Prior to that, Morrissey said that concern for his father's health was an added weight on his shoulders, a situation unknown to all but a few within the Jets organization.
Like so many other families in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, treatments, surgeries and hospital visits were a challenge. When Morrissey and the Jets played in his hometown of Calgary, none of his family, including his father, were allowed to attend because the NHL season was being conducted with heavy COVID-19 restrictions.
"All those things made it that much more difficult," Morrissey said. "I'm a guy that loves playing the game and have always had a lot of fun out there. For me, last year it was just one of those things where that fun and excitement was just harder to conjure up, if you will. I just felt like I had a weight on my shoulders and maybe some of the other things you could rely on to give you a boost, well, the fans weren't there, all those things. So it was a tough year."
Jets assistant Charlie Huddy said it was a feat for Morrissey to get through last season when NHL teams had to operate without normal social settings like gathering for dinner and had to follow strict regulations while traveling and away from home.
"What he was going through with his dad was a real tough situation," Huddy said. "It was a real personal thing for him. I was there if he had anything he wanted to share. He did a little, but not a whole lot. It was so unfortunate. At some point we all go through it in our lives with our parents. I understood. He handled it as best he could. It was tough for a young guy to lose his father at a young age.
"Say what you want, it wears on you after a while when you come to the rink. Yeah, you're a professional, but it's always in the back of your mind, 'How's my dad doing now?' For me, I think he handled it as best he could. He played the best he could, went out and did his job."
Morrissey scored 21 points (four goals, 17 assists) in 56 games and led the Jets with an average ice time of 23:33 per game last season. It wasn't a huge drop from the 31 points (five goals, 26 assists) in 65 games he had in 2018-19, but Morrissey wanted more than to just do his job. And as he worked through the grieving process after his father's death last summer, he found a way to turn negatives into positives.
"I just felt like I started to get really excited for the year, excited to get back and play and that I could certainly live that wish of his to just go and not dwell or beat myself up over anything, just go and enjoy life and enjoy the season," he said. "That's the best way I could honor him and our relationship, him as a dad."
It was a stepping stone to better things. Last summer Morrissey put a renewed focus on his fitness and also changed strength trainers. When he arrived for training camp in September, he felt those investments had paid off, and with a clearer mind, a brighter outlook emerged.
"There was just the freedom of feeling there's nothing on your mind, you're just in the moment," he said. "You're free to do your thing, to just go play with nothing else on your mind, I would say, from pretty early on. I appreciate the game a lot more and just having the ability to go out there and have fun more than I ever have. The situation just made me see that more. I'm not sweating the small stuff as much. It's more just part of the process and I'm enjoying the game."
The Jets themselves are in a desperate spot in the Western Conference playoff race. With nine games to play, they are seven points behind the Dallas Stars for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference and play the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre on Monday (7 p.m. ET; NHLN, SN, RDS, NHL LIVE).
But during this season of team inconsistency and question marks, Morrissey has emerged as a leader with his play. The 27-year-old has set NHL career-highs in goals (11) and points (32) in 70 games. His average ice time of 23:42 per game leads the Jets and is the highest of his seven NHL seasons.
One of the best examples of that leadership was seen against the Colorado Avalanche on Friday. With the Jets trailing 4-3 and their goalie pulled in the last minute of regulation, he found himself defending as the last man back against Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon.
When MacKinnon shot for the empty net inside the Winnipeg blue line, Morrissey made a kick save with his left leg to prevent the goal, and then moments later quarterbacked the Jets power play to the game-tying goal by Nikolaj Ehlers that sent the game to overtime.
"He's been fantastic," Jets center Mark Scheifele said. "Offensively he's brought it to a new level, whether it's beating guys off the blue line or carrying the rush. I love to see a guy like that with so much confidence with the puck. He's been absolutely phenomenal for us and it's awesome to see that he's still growing. It just shows how high his ceiling really can be. With the way the game's going, the Josis and Makars, and how much they drive play, I think Josh has only taken that and brought his game up more and more because of it. I think we're all excited to see each and every game what he can do."
Huddy, who won the Stanley Cup five times with the Edmonton Oilers during a 17-season NHL playing career, has been a Jets assistant for 11 seasons. He said he loves the refreshed, improved version of Morrissey.
"I don't think after a game I've sat back in there and thought Josh wasn't very good tonight," Huddy said. "He's played hard every night, trying to do the right things. Everybody makes mistakes, but he's playing and trying to be a leader for us and moving forward. For me, he's had a real good year to this point. It's unfortunate we haven't had it as a group."
Losing his father has been difficult, but Morrissey said the future is clearer for him.
"From a team perspective it's been a year that has been frustrating and we're not in a position right now we'd like to be and it's disappointing," he said. "But on an individual level, I think it's been a good year for me in the sense that at the start of my career, I made some big strides and then for about two seasons I was almost in idle. Some of that was just learning about taking on more. You need to learn by experience as well. And whether it's the power play, special teams, offensive situations, I wasn't really tasked to do those my first three years.
"This year I felt like I've proven to myself that I can go to another level and hang with that type of player, type of group, and I hope I'm going to be on that climb of improving my game. It's been fun and I feel like there's lots for me to improve on, more that I can do as a player for our team. I'd say it's given me a lot of confidence that way, that until it comes to fruition in some ways, you don't know. It's been a big confidence boost for me this year, and I'll try to build off that for the years moving forward."
