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A Tale of 2 Prospects: Ehlers & Morrissey |
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A tale of 2 Prospects Ehlers & Morrissey
The dawn of training camp is a great time for rumours. Players are back in their various cities, the media coverage ramps up and the stories and rumours, trades and more comes along too. In this case it’s about the latter, a story or understanding of two particular Jets prospects: Ehlers and Morrissey.
The Jets have done well in their drafting since 2011 with many pundits considering them to have one of the deeper pools of prospects in the league. When Josh Morrissey was drafted he was taken a bit off the board at 13th and many of the rankings had him at lower teens or twenties for the first round. Morrissey was touted as a special kind of player with a high intelligence and was said to have ‘thought’ the game well, just not top 15 in that year by most lists.
The season after his draft year with the Prince Albert Raiders was successful for Morrissey as he earned 28 goals and 45 assists in 59 game that season. He was under the tutelage of Cory Clouston former coach of the Ottawa Senators and Dave Manson, a former Winnipeg Jet from the 90s. Things were good and even though the Raiders lost in round one of the playoffs Morrissey was able to join the Jets farm team the St. John’s Icecaps for 8 games in their Calder Cup run that spring.
That second run ended in disappointment and that may be where the first signs of the other side of Morrissey began to show, maybe.
The next season in St. Albert saw Morrissey play 27 games with only 7 goals and 14 assists before he was traded to the Kelowna Rockets. In Kelowna he had 6 goals and 11 assists in 20 games. His total for the season was 13 goals and 25 assists in 47 goals, a noticeable drop off in production. While the stacked Rockets came out of the WHL to challenge for the Memorial Cup they fell to the Oshawa Generals 2-1 in OT, Morrissey had 5 points in 5 games during the tournament.
Nik Ehlers was taken the year after Morrissey in the 2014 NHL entry draft, 9th overall. He was highly touted after coming over from the Swiss league and then promptly putting up 104 points, 49 goals and 55 assists, with the Mooseheads in 63 games. He lost his centre after that season, Jonathan Drouin, but still had 101 points in 51 games, 37 goals and 64 assists.
The Mooseheads never made it past the 3rd round in the playoffs in either of those seasons in the playoffs but Ehlers continued to shine in the ‘second season’. In 2014 he had 11 goals an 17 assists in 16 playoff games and this past spring in 14 games he had 10 goals and 21 assists.
Upon the end of the season Ehler put out a tweet that has since been deleted it was saying goodbye to Halifax, the team and the fans. It’s a curious one that had Jets observers scratching their heads, was Ehlers going to be a pro in Winnipeg as being in the AHL was probably not likely to happen du to the current agreement?
It was odd but as the spring and summer unfolded and now at the dawn of training camp there seems to be a spot for Ehlers to lose. That is not the case with Morrissey.
Ehlers has nothing left to gain in the CHL. He can’t learn anymore about how to be a pro, or the game of hockey as it relates to being a professional player. He’s ready to make the jump, but is Morrissey?
This is where the path of the two player diverges. There is a spot for Ehlers, he just has to show that he’s ready to take it, or to contrary prove that he is not ready. For Morrissey it’s different, there is a plethora of depth defensemen in the Jets right now who can provide what he likely will as a rookie this year. More so, no room has been made for him or anyone else within the defence prospect ranks. There may be a reason for this and not the one you think.
While Morrissey has elite skill and hockey IQ, it may be something else that’s holding him back not just a roster spot being available. Morrissey may think he is ready but by some accounts the Jets and others do not believe he is and that’s because of what is believed to be an ‘attitude issue’.
Off the record two prominent hockey writers have confirmed what has been rumoured about Morrissey for a bit, that he becomes defeatist when faced with adversity. It’s not that these writers have said it’s true but that they confirmed to hearing the same things as this writer.
Upon further investigation it was explained to me by someone within the WHL that Morrissey may have had a ‘meeting’ with some important people to discuss how he manages his emotion and expression. There are accounts of him expressing his emotion with body language, if not full verbal attitude, and the effect it has when things go wrong. This is not from the opposition, it’s the general word from those who know the WHL.
Winning is tough, and losing is even tougher and no player should like to lose but it might be more with Morrissey, it might be about adversity. One thing for sure is that any player who makes the NHL has overcome some sort of adversity and grown from it. That’s what the Jets might want to see from Morrissey too, and that’s not a slight towards the player. It’s part of his development.
Consider that the Jets are about to embark on a youth movement. If they take a step backward, or more, is having a kid who they want to be a cornerstone of the team with a defeatist attitude the right move, for him and the team? Morrissey may want to play for the Jets, he may believe he is ready but he will have to show he has matured and is ready to handle the grind of NHL life. That proving ground is in the AHL.
The situation is set for Morrissey with the Jets as their farm team is now in the same city. He, like the rest of the prospects on that team, will get the best of both worlds. However, unlike Ehlers he may have more to prove to show he is ready. This too may seem a bit unfair and unbalanced in approach but has Ehlers given the Jets anything to worry about other than being able to play the game as a pro?
That’s the difference between these two prospects. It may be old school thinking about ‘character’ having a high value, or too high, but when you have to prove you belong physically in a tight situation for spots you can be sure character matters too.
The Jets have set the standard for what they believe is important attributes in a player and apparently Ehlers meets it until he shows otherwise. For Morrissey there’s one more hurdle of adversity to cross and how he does that might dictate how and where he goes as a professional hockey player.
Winnipeg Jets Blogger •Winnipeg Jets Writer • 
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