PODCAST: Barron discusses taking more faceoffs and having career season

As this article is being written, the Winnipeg Jets find themselves one point out of a playoff spot which is incredible to think of because they began the month of March 10 points away from postseason action.

The team has found its stride coming out of the Olympic break and while Morgan Barron said he enjoyed the three weeks away, he also found it to be a little long.

“It feels a lot longer than that,” said Barron on the Ground Control podcast.

“We had plenty of time to ramp up and get back to game speed, I think everyone was anxious to start playing again by the time it was over.”

On the topic of long breaks, when he gets to be around family and friends, Barron gets asked about the usual suspects, Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor but thanks to a huge amount of face time on the Jets social channels, people want to know about a certain backup goaltender named Eric Comrie.

“You guys have pumped some videos out of him and the world has got to see what he’s like,” said Barron.

“People seem to think it’s almost disingenuous, like what you see in the camera because he has so much energy. People have a hard time grasping that he can do that day in and day out.”

That energy as people have seen, isn’t just reserved for practice or his media availabilities, some of if it is being spent playing ping pong as the team has recently added a table outside of the dressing room.

“I remember one day because we kind of have to walk by this empty space where the ping pong table is right now to go the wives and family lounge,” explained Barron.

“So, I remember I did my work out after the game, I got in the sauna, I showered, I ate, I changed and I went to go pick up my girlfriend from the lounge and him and Gus Nyquist were still in their gitch playing ping pong. It was an hour postgame.”

It is those moments that we have found that this group remains tight even though it has been a challenging season in terms of wins and losses, especially following up a Presidents Trophy winning campaign.

“With the group we have, it’s such a good group of guys. There are definitely moments, right? Like I think back to that 11-game skid (mid-December to early January) and you are coming to the rink every day and its more difficult,” said Barron.

“Video sessions are not as fun, things like that. There’s always going to be ebbs and flows but at the end of the day, I think we are blessed to live the life that we live and be in the position we are in. Like I said, it’s great to have the group that we have.”

Before Logan Stanley was traded to the Buffalo Sabres, he let Jets fans know about Gabriel Vilardi, his swim goggles and diving for treasure. Further investigation into this matter turned up more information as there is a group that like to hit the pool when the team is on the road.

“Gabe is always there, he’s going no matter what and I think he’s realized I’m kind of the most likely to bend if you text me once or twice or three times, I’m going to go join him in the pool,” said Barron.

“So that’s probably been a good influence for me to get loose and then I would say outside of that, Al Iafallo comes a lot, Stan would come a lot when he was here and it always kind of flows. Depends on what city we are in, what hotel.”

Barron is having a career season with 23 points (11 G, 12A), he is one goal and two assists away from setting career bests in each of those categories. On top of that, the 27-year-old has taken almost 600 faceoffs this season, almost 400 more draws than last season, which has been a big adjustment.

“It’s been fun, it’s been challenging. Faceoffs are funny where it’s one of these things where I could be having a great game in every facet but if I’m getting cleaned in the dot it just drives me nuts,” said Barron.

“It sucks; it really does. A greater sample size, things come out and you realize (Jonathan) Toews is whatever, he’s at 60 per cent, he’s unbelievable at them. Sometimes in a game, you feel you are doing the right things and just losing them. I kind of feel like I’m playing catchup sometimes because I’m taking faceoffs against guys that have taken thousands and thousands over their career.”

Barron has enjoyed the challenge though and says faceoffs keep him very involved in the game and has really enjoyed learning from Toews, Mark Scheifele and Adam Lowry.