Where are they now: The 2013 Winnipeg Jets draftees part one

We are just a month away from the 2024 NHL draft. The Jets will be drafting 37th overall in round two. Let’s go back 11 years and find out where the Winnipeg Jets 2013 draftees are now.

The Jets would be busy at the 2013 draft as they would draft 10 players. Rather than this being a 2,000-word blog, I will cut this in half and make it a two-parter.

The Jets would draft their future number one defenseman 13th overall in 2013, Josh Morrissey. The Calgary born defender, would spend the first three years in the WHL playing for the Prince Albert Raiders and the Kelowna Rockets. He would play for the St. John’s IceCaps in the 2014 postseason where he would get into 20 games, score two goals, and nine points in his first taste of professional hockey.

In 2014 and 2015, he would represent Team Canada at the World Juniors. In 2015, he would walk away with gold, a year after Canada would fail to win a medal.

In 2015-16, Morrissey would primarily play for the Manitoba Moose. He would play 57 games, score three goals, and 22 points. That season he would get into just one game with the Jets and have zero points.

Starting in 2016-17, he would start playing for the Jets full time. He has played 582 regular-season games with the Jets, scoring 66 goals and 311 points. In the playoffs, he has played 42 games, scored five goals, and 14 points.

This year he was a nominee for the King Clancy Memorial Trophy. Most recently, he opened a restaurant in the Hargrave Street Market called The 44.

The Jets’ first pick in the second round was Nic Petan, 43rd overall. He spent his first two years after being drafted with the Portland Winterhawks. In 2013, he would help win the WHL Championship and then in 2014, they would fall short of the championship to the Edmonton Oil Kings.

The guy looked like a steal of a draft pick as he would play 38 postseason games, score 17 goals, and 56 points in his final two WHL postseasons.

In 2015-16, he would get to play his first bit of NHL action, playing 26 games, scoring two goals, and six points. Petan would spend just three and a half seasons with the Jets. In total, he would play 108 games with the Jets, the most games he played with any NHL team. He would score five goals and 23 points during his time in Winnipeg.

He began the 2018–19 season with the Jets. He played sparingly for the Jets, appearing in just 13 games approaching the trade deadline before he was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for Pär Lindholm on February 25, 2019. On March 21, Petan signed a two-year contract extension with the Leafs.

He spent the last season playing for the Iowa Wild and the Hartford Wolf Pack in the AHL and played six games for Jets divisional rivals the Minnesota Wild. He is a free agent as of this summer.

The Jets would draft a second time in the second round, this time picking goaltender Eric Comrie 59th overall. The Edmonton native would spend the first two years after getting drafted in the WHL playing for the Tri-City Americans. Comrie had a strong 2013–14 season in the WHL and led the league in save percentage with a .925 save percentage and was named to the WHL (West) Second All-Star team.

Comrie joined the AHL full-time for the 2015–16 season, playing for the St. John’s IceCaps. He would spend two seasons with the Jets farm team and finally get his first NHL start on April 5th, 2017. He would win 5-4 over the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Comrie would be a third goaltender for the Jets during his first stint with the team, moving between the NHL and AHL during his first three seasons. He would sign a two-year, 1.4 million dollar contract in September 2017; less than a month later, he was placed on waivers and claimed by the Arizona Coyotes.

Comrie was assigned to the Coyotes’ AHL affiliate, the Tucson Roadrunners, on November 9 for conditioning purposes and was traded on November 30th to the Detroit Red Wings. In the first game Comrie would play that season in the NHL, he would face off against the Jets, allowing five goals on 30 shots, and was put on waivers and picked up by the Jets.

He would start the shortened 2021 season with the Jets training camp and was put on waivers yet again with The New Jersey Devils picking him up before putting him on waivers six weeks later, only for the Jets to pick him up yet again.

Eric Comrie most recently played for the Buffalo Sabres and their AHL team the Rochester Americans. He will be a free agent on July 1st.

The Jets would have two picks in the third round. Their first pick was 84th overall, they would pick a forward by the name of Jimmy Lodge. Lodge would play his first two seasons after being drafted in the OHL playing for the Saginaw Spirit and the Mississauga Steelheads.

In 2015-16, he would play 44 games for the Manitoba Moose and would only manage to score a natural hat trick the entire season. He would stay with the Jets organization until 2017-18 when he would take a break from pro hockey to do a year of pursuing academic opportunities through Canadian U Sports athletics. He would return to the ECHL to play with the Orlando Solar Bears. He would most recently play for the Tulsa Oilers in the ECHL. He would play 27 games, score four goals, and 9 points.

The Jets would draft JC Lipon 91st overall with their second pick in the third round. There must have been something in the water bottles in the WHL as the Jets would draft their fourth WHLer so far this draft.

Lipon was third in scoring during his final season with the Kamloops Blazers; he would score 36 goals in 61 games. In 2013-14, he would finally get his first taste of pro hockey with the St. John’s IceCaps. He would play for them for two and a half years before getting called up by the Jets to play his first game on January 18, 2016, against the Colorado Avalanche. He would only play nine games in the NHL before being sent back to the Moose. He would only score a single assist with the Jets.

He would stay with the Jets and Moose until the end of 2019-2020. After, he would go over to Europe. He played for Straubing Tigers of the DEL in Germany, scoring 13 goals and 23 assists in 34 games.

Part two featuring Tucker Poolman drops tomorrow!