Jets Get Josh Morrissey Back After 14-Game Absence Just to Flex on the NHL

The Winnipeg Jets have been treating the rest of the NHL like a minor-league warmup schedule, and now they are getting their top-pairing anchor back. According to Daily Faceoff, defenseman Josh Morrissey is officially returning to the lineup after a 14-game absence.

Usually, when a team loses a guy who eats up heavy minutes for a month and a half, their defensive structure turns into a yard sale. But the Jets just rattled off consecutive wins against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Vancouver Canucks, and Montreal Canadiens without him. They even dropped six goals on Vancouver just for fun.

"Daily Faceoff reported: 'Jets’ Josh Morrissey returns to lineup after 14-game absence'"

Morrissey is in the middle of an eight-year contract with a $6.25 million cap hit, and he was logging over 20 minutes a night before he went down. For context, missing 14 games in the NHL is roughly 17 percent of the season. That is an absolute eternity in hockey time, and usually enough time for a franchise to completely collapse or at least forget how to clear the crease.

Instead, Morrissey is walking back into a locker room that is already humming. It is the professional sports equivalent of showing up three weeks late to a group project only to find out your partners already finished the presentation, secured an A, and bought you lunch.

The timing could not be worse for the rest of the league. The Jets host the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday, giving Morrissey a chance to shake off the rust before a heavy Central Division clash against the Dallas Stars on Friday.

If you are holding a futures ticket on Winnipeg to make a deep run, this is exactly the news you want to see. They survived a massive injury stretch without a scratch, and now they get their defensive anchor back just as the schedule gets heavier.