The Norris Trophy-worthy defenseman for the Winnipeg Jets plays in all situations, logs heavy minutes, and not even Rick Bowness, the ever-positive coach, would consider such a folly in finding a comparable replacement.
But that's what he will have to do after Morrissey sustained a lower-body injury just 1:43 into the first period of Winnipeg's 5-4 double-overtime loss to the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 3 of the Western Conference First Round on Saturday. Bowness said after the game that Morrissey
would be out for the rest of the best-of-7 series
, which the Jets trail 2-1 heading into Game 4 at Canada Life Centre on Monday (9:30 p.m. ET; ESPN, SNW, TVAS2, ATTSN-RM).
"The guys that are in the lineup, they're going to play their games, and whoever we put in tomorrow, they're going to play their game," Bowness said. "They're not Josh Morrissey, so we just expect them to play to their strengths. Whoever we put in tomorrow, just play to your strengths and we'll be fine."
That player will likely be either Logan Stanley or Kyle Capobianco, who will have the tall task of replacing a defenseman who was second on the Jets with an NHL career-high 76 points (16 goals, 60 assists) in 78 regular-season games. Morrissey also led the team in average ice time per game (24:14).
Stanley had three points (one goal, two assists) in 19 regular-season games, and Capobianco had two goals in 14 games.
"It's never easy to lose your difference-maker," defenseman Nate Schmidt said. "A guy that has been driving the bus for us all year. He does so many things for you on the ice as well as off."
RELATED: [Complete Golden Knights vs. Jets series coverage]
As bleak as it is that such a talented player will be unavailable in such a crucial game, the Jets chose to look at the positives on Sunday.
"We want to build off what we did in the third period," said Bowness, who suggested he may dress seven defensemen. "That crowd was unreal yesterday and it's going to be unreal tomorrow.
"We're leaving last night's game with a good feeling on how we battled back. We did have a good overtime and [Pierre-Luc Dubois] hits the post in (the first overtime). That's how close a game that was, so we should be able to feed off of that tomorrow going into the game."
Yes, they fell behind 4-1 late in the second period Saturday. But they then scored three unanswered goals in the third period to force the game past regulation before losing on a goal by Michael Amadio at 3:40 of the second overtime.
And they did all that with just five defensemen, each playing huge minutes. Neal Pionk played a game high 41:08 and was one of three Winnipeg defensemen to play more than 30 minutes. By comparison, Vegas did not have a single player above the 30-minute mark.
Pionk, who had the highest ice time of his NHL career and said he hadn't played that much in a game since his youth hockey days, will now be the No. 1 defenseman for the Jets. He had an assist on each of the third-period goals and played virtually every other shift for the final eight minutes of Game 3.
"It should give us motivation that we can come back from anything and that we can overcome any challenge," Pionk said. "We didn't finish the comeback, but coming back down from three goals and tying the game should be a spark or some motivation for the rest of the series."
