As we find ourselves two-thirds of the way through the season, the inevitable talk of who wins the Norris trophy comes up. There have been some great candidates throwing their names into the mix, but one name stands out above the rest. That name is Josh Morrissey.
If this was based purely off of numbers, of course other names may come first. However, when comparing where Morrissey is this year under Rick Bowness, to where he was last year under Maurice/Lowry, the difference is night and day. The Jets are one of the top teams where defence is involved in scoring, and Morrissey is a big part of that.
Leading the team with over 50 assists, Morrissey is also on pace to score just shy of 20 goals. He could easily find himself scoring north of 90 points by the end of the year.
Aside from the numbers, he has shown that he is capable of stepping into the role of a leader of the team after Wheeler was stripped of the "C" prior to the start of the season.
Averaging just shy of 24 minutes of ice time, Morrissey is seeing the most playing time of his career and making the most of it. Blocking nearly 100 shots, throwing nearly 80 hits (not to mention he's not quite 200lbs), and still having a +/- above zero despite the Jets riding a terrible month of February is just the tip of the iceberg.
Other names come up, and rightfully so, but Morrissey deserves to be in the conversation. The question is...if not Morrissey, then who?