Jets Sign Josh Morrissey To Two Year Deal

Better late than never, right?

It took all summer and even a few of days into the opening of training camp, but the Winnipeg Jets finally have a deal with Josh Morrissey. It’s a two year deal with an AAV of $3.15 million.

This bridge deal helps give the club a tiny little bit more flexibility in terms of contracts going forward as the Jets will go into next summer needing to deal with the likes of expiring ELC deals from Patrik Laine and Kyle Connor.

The 23 year old defenseman was 12th in team scoring with seven goals and 19 assists for 26 points. He along with Jacob Trouba ended up being the Jets best all-around defensive pair as both players saw their average ice time go up – Morrissey played almost a full minute more per game than he had the previous season which is not a small feat when playing on the same team with a minute muncher like Dustin Byfuglien.

Trouba and Morrissey go into this coming season as the favorites to be the club’s number one pairing, but not without some question marks still concerning their future. Trouba’s have been well documented, but for Morrissey, it was rumored a while ago that the Jets were wanting to lock him up to a long term deal at perhaps a cheaper rate, but Morrissey’s camp looked for a bridge deal in an effort to cash in a bit bigger after a couple of productive seasons.

There is no argument that 3.15 million for the next two seasons is great value for a defenseman who looks to be a part of the top pairing, but in the end it was the Jets who blinked first, preferring to sign the young defenseman to a deal now and get him into camp. They’ve already played hardball with one future defensive cornerstone, no need to go over that mess again.

Still, the next couple of summers will remain very interesting as the contracts for both Trouba and Morrissey will remain issues for the club. If both of them have the types of big seasons many are hoping for, the Jets could be costing themselves extra money in an effort to keep both players in the fold.

What do you guys think of the deal? Is a short term deal going to work for both sides in time, or have the Jets caused themselves even more headaches down the road? Sound off in the comments below or on our Twitter and Facebook pages.