It’s not Patrik Laine or Kyle Connor, but the Winnipeg Jets did manage to get one of their most important players signed to a long-term contract ahead of training camp.
The team announced on Thursday that it has signed defenseman Josh Morrissey to an eight-year contract extension that will run through the end of the 2027-28 season. The deal carries a salary cap hit of $6.25 million per season, doubling his current salary.
Morrissey is entering the final year of a two-year deal that pays him $3.15 million this season.
The 24-year-old Morrissey has developed into one of the Jets’ top defenders over the past three seasons and will no doubt be expected to take on an even bigger role this year following the offseason departures of Jacob Trouba, Tyler Myers and Ben Chiarot from the team’s blue line.
He was limited to just 59 games a year ago but was on track to have his best season in the NHL with six goals and 25 assists. The 31 total points were a career high.
While getting Morrissey signed long-term is important and eliminates a future headache, the Jets still have a lot of problems to deal with in camp. Laine and Connor remain unsigned as restricted free agents, the team did nothing to address the departures on defense around Morrissey and Dustin Byfuglien, and their long-term salary cap situation is about to get awfully difficult once (or maybe if?) they are able to get Laine and Connor re-signed to long-term deals.
MORE:
• ProHockeyTalk’s 2019 NHL free agency tracker
• Your 2019-20 NHL on NBC TV schedule
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Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.