‘It hurt not playing’: Morrissey on injury during 2026 Olympics

For Winnipeg Jets defenseman Josh Morrissey, the 2025-26 season was a successful one at the individual level, as he racked up 55 points in 77 regular season games, but a bit disappointing on the team level.

Morrissey and the Jets followed up a Presidents’ Trophy win by missing the playoffs altogether this past season, and after appearing in three games as Team Canada won the 4 Nations Face-Off a year ago, Morrissey missed all but one game at the Winter Olympics as the Canadians ultimately fell to Team USA in overtime in the gold medal game.

The 31-year-old was injured during the opening game against the Czechs and missed the rest of the tournament while his teammates badly missed the puck-moving ability he brought to the defensive unit as the event wore on.

On Tuesday’s episode of Barn Burner, a podcast from Flames Nation, the Calgary native joined host Ryan Pinder to discuss the disappointment he felt in not being able to be there for the national team in the biggest moment.

Ryan Pinder: And then it’s game one against Czechia at the Olympics, you get injured, and it’s like, ‘How is this happening again?’ Like you’ve got to be so frustrated at that.

Josh Morrissey: Yeah, I mean equally if not more, I suppose, in that it’s the Olympics. Unfortunately, I injured my shoulder, and looking back on it now, I suppose the one saving grace for me was like, it wasn’t like hey, you’re out two months so mentally I was checked out the rest of the way. There was still a chance to potentially come back, and so we did everything we could with the medical team and what not. All the different things you can do behind the scenes, but sort of the same thing, just couldn’t get it to a place where I could go at that level, especially with a healthy body [available]. Yeah, tough, ended up missing some time afterwards… Disappointing to say the least, but some of my greatest memories being there and being in that room with the guys. Obviously it hurt not playing. It killed not being able to be out there and feel like you could help the guys in the final. A helpless, brutal feeling, but definitely hoping that there will be more opportunities to represent Canada and have another shot at it.

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode below…