Morrissey motivated by Norris snub

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This article was published 25/09/2023 (741 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Josh Morrissey may have chosen his words carefully, but that didn’t really soften his stance on the subject.

Not being a finalist for the Norris Trophy last season was a topic of conversation on Monday, and the Winnipeg Jets defenceman didn’t hide his disappointment — though he didn’t go as far as Dylan DeMelo did in his assessment of the situation at the end of last week.

“I wouldn’t say pissed-off. Pissed-off to me means I’d be mad at the situation. To me it’s more motivating, right? For me, guys in this league are all competitive. That’s why we’re here,” said Morrissey, who finished fifth on the Norris Trophy balloting after recording 16 goals, 60 assists and 76 points in 78 games last season. “For sure, that’s a thing that’s out of your control, but at the same time you want to try and win it, especially when you think you’re in the race.

“I don’t know if pissed-off would be the term, but just motivated and you want to build off that. It’s a competitive game, you want to win everything you can possibly win. So whether that’s games or an award or something if you’re in the mix, of course you want to try and win it. It just fuelled me this summer to try and improve on my game. Mainly for myself and my team, but that kind of stuff is for sure an external goal of mine.”

For context, this was the full quote DeMelo offered when asked about Morrissey and where his game could be going.

“Why can’t he get 80 points? Why can’t he get 90? He’s got the skill and the makeup, too, he’s very driven, internally,” said DeMelo. “I know he was quite disappointed and, for the lack of a better word, pissed-off, that he wasn’t one of the three guys for the Norris. We spoke about it and I told him, ‘You’re on my ballot, for sure. He’s got that inner drive to be the best player in the league. I have no worries that he’s going to come back and bring it again.”

To be clear, Morrissey isn’t someone who needs any additional motivation.

His drive to improve has been evident since he was chosen 13th overall by the Jets in the 2013 NHL Draft.

So what does Morrissey have in mind for an encore?

“I want to make this season a career year,” said Morrissey, who suited up on Monday against the Edmonton Oilers. “That’s been my motivation this summer. Obviously, you take a big step and I want to take another step this year. Whether that’s point wise or also (my) all-around game. There’s a lot of areas in my game I feel I can improve on and so I want to try and do that. Whether that results in more numbers let’s say or not, it’s more overall at the end of the year do I know I played a better game of hockey this season than last.

“That’s my goal and of course, in the role that I’m in and the power play time and stuff I would like to build off it (career-high points last season) but without sacrificing any other part of my game and growing other parts of my game too. So, yeah that’s been my biggest motivation this summer, I think if you watch the video and watch my interviews from the time I came into the league, I’ve always said I just want to keep getting better every day. I love the process, I love working with my teammates on trying to get better, it hasn’t changed regardless of having a good year or whatever. So I just want to build off that this year.”

He’s used the off-season to push himself to be better, whether he was a rookie playing alongside Dustin Byfuglien, being utilized on a shutdown pairing with fellow first-rounder Jacob Trouba or tasked with top-pairing minutes with DeMelo, his regular partner during the past several seasons.

That didn’t change when Jets head coach Rick Bowness offered his empowering words in the summer of 2022 and it wasn’t going to change after his career season either.

“Last year, he needed a little push to understand how good you are. Now he gets it,” said Bowness. “Now he sees how good he is. Now he sees that he’s a big difference-maker out there and he’s taken great pride in that. He clearly should be feeling very good about himself.

“The first conversation we had was let’s get you into the Top-10 (of the Norris Trophy vote). He got into the Top-5. That’s pretty good. But he’s not satisfied with that and that’s the best news that we can all have. I just know that he’s going to keep pushing. I don’t have to set a bar for him this year, he’s going to set it himself. But he knows my expectations for him are pretty high.”

Bowness has faith Morrissey is going to take another step forward in his progression and there’s a good reason for that.

“He’s a great player, he’s a great competitor and he’s just a wonderful person,” said Bowness. “We know he’s not going to sit back on last year and rest on his laurels.

“Everything went his way last year and we’re hoping it’s going to be the same this year. But regardless, we do know he wants more. He’s going to keep working hard, he’s going to keep pushing himself — which means he’s going to keep getting better.”

Morrissey is no stranger to dealing with weighty expectations and having plenty of responsibility on his shoulders.

That’s the way he likes it and it’s part of the reason he’s grown into a player who is considered to be among the best defencemen in the NHL.

“It’s kind of a generic answer, but I think everything. I don’t think it’s forcing anything more, it’s just executing plays more often,” said Morrissey, asked if there was a specific part of his game he worked on this summer.

“I went back and watched every goal I was on the ice for and every goal against from last season. five-on-five, four-on-four, five-on-four, everything else. I just tried to see if there were any tendencies for goals against that I can improve on defensively. Goals for, what I was doing well to score, create a chance, make a good play on a goal whether you got a point or not. So I just think it just stuff like that.

“(If) you can do something eight out of ten times, can you do it nine out of 10 times now, that kind of thing. Just improving on that ability to execute. That’s really what it is for me. Offensive improvement, and then on the defensive side trying to find the areas I can get better at positioning. Obviously took a big step offensively last year, but how can you continue to build at both ends, which I think makes you one of the better defencemen. The best defencemen in the game and in the history of the game, (those are) the guys that can do it at both ends against the best players and obviously, on the power play and all that. I’ve always loved the growth part of the game. That’s what my mindset is every day.”

ken.wiebe@freepress.mb.ca

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