ANALYSIS: Josh Morrissey making his mark as a Winnipeg Jets franchise favourite

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With 417 points and 720 games played in his career, Josh Morrissey is among the NHL’s elite blueliners.

And what Winnipeg Jets fans are watching is something truly remarkable.

Over the last few years, we’ve promoted Morrissey as a Norris Trophy candidate.

In fact, it was only a couple of seasons ago that we declared from this chair that Morrissey did more for his team than the eventual winner of the award, Erik Karlsson, did for his as the NHL’s best defenceman.

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Now we’re not here to further debate about how the voting went or to practice revisionist history from three years ago, but what we can proclaim is that Morrissey is as vital to the Jets today as he was then and even slightly more important.

And that was never more illustrated than in the last week, where he surpassed Dustin Byfuglien for the franchise lead in points by a defenceman and then followed that up by ascending Toby Enstrom for the most games played by a defenceman in team annals on Tuesday night.

Overall, it’s two significant milestones that he has not only superseded, but where he is in his career currently — and how much highway he still has left — will most assuredly make both records almost unreachable in many of our lifetimes.

At this point, Morrissey, who turns 31 later this month, is right in the middle of his prime. If he can stay healthy, he will likely play 1,000 games and amass 600 points in a Jets uniform, albeit he’ll need one more contract before he truly closes in on those numbers.

But what we’ve watched for 11 seasons has been special, particularly for a blueliner who has only combined the offensive side of his game with his defensive prowess in the last handful of years.

Morrissey is as good on one side of the puck as he is on the other, and that’s a major reason why Team Canada keeps calling his name.

He may never win the Norris trophy, an award sadly skewed more toward offence than defence, but that won’t stop us from using this airtime to promote Morrissey as a Norris candidate every few years.