It’s not my expert commentary Lyle, but rather the commentary of experts and league pundits North America wide.
On the old forum at the start of the year I linked some drilled down stats for each position in the league. On defence unsurprisingly Makar was #1 and either Morrissey or Hughes was #2 with the other being #3. Hughes has fallen this year, at least for now, for obvious reasons, and Werenski is now Morrisey’s competition for #2. As both Werenski and Hughes are dastardly Americans, there is simply no question that Morrissey is the #2 Canadian defenceman. All talk is about who should be his partner on the second pairing on the Olympic team. Parayko was his partner in the second pairing at the 4 Nations, but there is considerable doubt whether he will even make the team or if he does be in the top 6.
Morrissey is a minute muncher who has scored at close to a point a game pace and has been +10 or better most of the season on a team that is negative in goals scored. And that is playing against the other team’s top players all of the time and with approximately a -8 on his ledger for empty net goals against.
I get that there is little positive you can say about Winnipeg, but I think you are missing the mark by a wide margin when it comes to Morrissey