Morrissey steady presence on blue line

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This article was published 18/01/2017 (3167 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Josh Morrissey must have one of the more complicated jobs in hockey.

He plays a regular shift with the mercurial Dustin Byfuglien — not a task you would normally entrust to a 21-year-old, but it’s a role the rookie defenceman has embraced.

Byfuglien, the club’s highest-paid player and a high-risk gambler in the offensive zone, can be hard to read.

“I think, no matter who you’re playing with, the more you play with them the easier it gets,” Morrissey said prior to Winnipeg’s 6-3 win over the Arizona Coyotes Wednesday night. “Their tendencies, what they like to do, things like that. As the year’s gone on, our chemistry together has just grown.”

His average ice time of 18 minutes, 30 seconds per game is 10th among first-year NHL defencemen and head coach Paul Maurice’s reliance on the Calgary product appears to be growing.

To begin the season, Morrissey kept his offensive forays to a minimum. He has shown he has good instincts, knowing when the moment is right to push forward offensively, while remaining mindful Byfuglien can jump into the play at just about any moment.

“I’m sure the first while playing with a first-year defenceman he didn’t want to hang me out to dry or anything like that by being offensive,” said Morrissey, who recorded an assist Wednesday. “You’ve seen him lately, making some outstanding plays. The goal against Calgary comes to mind. He’s got a unique ability.”

Burmistrov’s return

Alexander Burmistrov returned to face his former teammates Wednesday. The injury-depleted Coyotes, who claimed him on waivers Jan. 2, started Burmistrov on their top line and he also saw duty on the power play.

It was the sort of opportunity that didn’t materialize during the 25-year-old forward’s second tour of duty with the Jets.

“He wanted to play with real good players — I understood that,” Jets head coach Paul Maurice explained prior to the game. “There came a point in time where I had to make a decision between Nic Petan playing more minutes and him playing more minutes.

“So Alex has a perfectly legitimate beef with me because I never gave him that opportunity to play with Blake Wheeler and Nik Ehlers or especially this year, (when) Patty Laine comes in. That’s the opportunity he wanted — I never gave him that opportunity.”

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @sawa14