I still can't believe that Morrissey has been that bad this year. I've seen some of the numbers but by my eye-test he is not even close to that bad. I am more inclined to doubt some of the models. He is also playing big minutes against the oppositions best and doing it with 3rd pair partners. He is not a #1 Dman. Never was. But I think he is still a top pair Dmen, with a good partner.
Imagine if the Jets had one, or even two legit top 4 right hand defenders!! Well, we do have one in Pionk, but he never plays with Morrissey. In their limited time together last year, they were good, and Pionk has improved a lot since that time. Not sure, that may even have been pre-season last year.
They are not an ideal match, being to much alike, but I would still like to see them together in the absence of a better partner for Morrissey. Trouble is, that leaves our 2nd pair too weak. Or might. That appears to be Paul's reasoning.
Morrissey - Pionk
Forbort - DeMelo
Stanley Poolman
would be a more orthodox arrangement of best to worst.
The list of excuses for Morrissey fall flat once you use any logic and fact checking...
Ice time?
Pionk played more mins than Morrissey last season, and DeMelo played similar mins, with better results.
This season Pionk has played slightly less mins, with far superior results.
Forbort has played far more mins than a player of his capability optimally would on most teams, yet has severely less bad results.
That said, when Morrissey was at his best season he was on avg seeing 2nd pairing ice time and was the 4th option by the coach to step on the ice most time (behind Trouba, Byfuglien, and even Myers).
Usage?
Pionk played almost as tough matchups as Morrissey last season with better results.
Pionk and Forbort have faced tougher matchups with lesser QoT for forwards, with better results.
Morrissey last year played tougher mins than Morrissey this year, and was still better.
Rotating Linemate?
When DeMelo first stepped in to WPG he didn't have just new pair, who strated as Beaulieu, he had new forwards to play with, and his results were better... oh PS the Beaulieu-DeMelo was deployed as the Jets top pair at the time (and at the same time Morrissey was with Pionk as the second pair).
And not about fact checking but priors based models suggest Morrissey has never been very dominant anyways: