Josh Morrissey – Prince Albert Raiders – 2013 NHL Draft

One of the highly touted defenseman for the 2013 Entry Draft, Morrissey is an extremely smart defense-man who plays with a bit of an edge that often goes unnoticed because he plays with such calmness in any given situation.

Morrissey is already one of the best puck moving defenseman in the WHL.

He gets his team to transition very quickly and makes very smart decisions with the puck. He has very good vision and sees the ice well. One knock to his game is that he does not shoot enough from the point. He has a pass first mentality and while his playmaking skill is an asset, he needs to take more shots when given an open lane to keep opponents honest.

Defensively, he is not strong enough to physically dominate anybody, but he uses his intelligence to keep opponents to the outside. Morrissey has an active stick and is confident with his skating ability to stick tight to opponents in any situation. He needs to improve on not over committing to plays and trying to be too aggressive. He takes hooking and holding penalties because he gambles too often, gets beat off the boards and needs to take a penalty to prevent them from scoring.

Josh Morrissey has really improved his overall game from the beginning of the season. He has gained a lot of confidence and it really shows. He definitely needs to put on some muscle to be able to handle bigger players as a pro.