Josh Morrissey Chooses the Jets When It Would Be Easy Not To

There’s something worth noticing about Josh Morrissey saying he’s committed to the Winnipeg Jets right now. It would be easy to understand if he weren’t. Connor Hellebuyck has asked for a trade, and suddenly the Jets are staring at the possibility of losing one of the best goalies in the league and taking a pretty serious step backward. When one of your biggest stars wants out, everybody else gets asked the same question, even if nobody says it out loud: Do you want to be here for what comes next?

Morrissey wants to stay right where he is.

That matters because he isn’t some newcomer passing through Winnipeg. He has spent his entire 11-year NHL career with the Jets. He knows the organization, the city, and what the team has been trying to accomplish. He also knows what it feels like when things go well and when they don't. His answer isn't that everything will be wonderful. It’s simply that he still wants to be part of it.

That’s a different kind of loyalty than what we usually hear about in professional sports. Players don't owe organizations their careers, and teams don't owe players permanent homes. Hockey is a business. Everybody understands that. But there is still something meaningful about a player looking at an uncertain situation and saying, essentially, this is still where I want to play.

The Jets could be rebuilding if Hellebuyck leaves.

And maybe Morrissey understands something that gets lost when everybody starts talking about rebuilds. Teams don't rebuild around logos. They rebuild around people. If Hellebuyck is moved, Winnipeg will need somebody who knows what the organization is supposed to look like on the other side of that move. Morrissey could be that person.

He’s also not exactly a passenger. Last season he played 77 games, averaged 24:43 a night and put up 55 points. He’s entering the next two years of his contract as a top defenceman and one of the most important players the Jets have. So there’s a little more to this than a player saying he likes Winnipeg.

Hellebuyck might want to move on, but Morrissey wants to help whatever happens.

Hellebuyck may be telling the Jets he wants a different future. Morrissey is saying he’s willing to help build the next one. For a team potentially heading into a very difficult season, that might be one of the more important things anybody in Winnipeg has said all summer.