Josh Morrissey week-to-week as Jets roll into Chicago

The update came from Chicago, hours before the Jets took on the Blackhawks, and it wasn't the one Winnipeg wanted.

Mike McIntyre

@mikemcintyrewpg

News from here in Chicago: #NHLJets coach Scott Arniel just said Josh Morrissey is now week to week. No surgery involved, but a longer timeline to recover than the team hoped.

Some background. Morrissey got hurt in the first period of the Jets' 3-2 win over Colorado on October 7, when he missed a bodycheck and went straight into the boards. He was holding his right hand as he came off, came back briefly in the 2nd and then left for good. The team called it day-to-day right after. Day-to-day has now turned into week-to-week, so whatever the original hope was, it's gone.

It's a real loss. Morrissey had 3 assists to open the season and was playing about 23 minutes a night before he went down. He's 31, he put up 55 points in 77 games last year, and he's the guy the whole Winnipeg blue line is built around. The Jets have started 4-1-1, but staying hot without your best defenseman for weeks is a different job.

Then morning skate added another scare. Namestnikov crashed hard into the boards near the end of practice, and Arniel left his status up in the air until closer to puck drop.

Mike McIntyre

@mikemcintyrewpg

FYI: Namestnikov took a hard tumble into the boards near the end of morning skate. #NHLJets Scott Arniel said they'll see how he feels closer to game-time, but if he can't go, Lambert would step in. Also, no decision yet on possible AHL conditioning stint for Salomonsson.

Lambert is the next man up if Namestnikov can't go. He was one of 2 healthy scratches, along with Bauer, at morning skate. On the back end, Salomonsson still isn't quite ready, and there's no call yet on whether he goes to the AHL for a conditioning stint first. That's important, because every option the Jets have for filling Morrissey's minutes runs through guys like him getting healthy.

Mike McIntyre

@mikemcintyrewpg

Greetings from Chicago. #NHLJets morning skate underway. Connor-Scheifele-Perfetti Niederreiter-Björck-Vilardi Rosen-Lowry-Iafallo Namestnikov-Barron-Koepke Ferraro-Pionk Samberg-DeMelo Fleury-St. Ivany Skinner Lambert, Bauer healthy scratches. Salomonsson not quite ready.

For now the D pairs at skate were Ferraro with Pionk, Samberg with DeMelo and Fleury with St. Ivany. That group has to eat a lot of minutes for an unknown stretch. "Week-to-week" with no surgery is about the best version of bad news, but it's still bad news. What to watch next: whether Namestnikov dresses tonight, what they decide on Salomonsson, and whether "longer than hoped" ends up meaning 2 weeks or a month.