If I was Winnipeg, yes.

From LA's perspective, absolutely not. Morrissey has been trending downward for the last couple seasons, and his cap hit is significantly higher than his value. He's not a bad player, just not worth the contract he makes. Could be interested, but WInnipeg would need to retain, and LA isn't giving up a 1st or Vilardi. Maybe a 2nd and someone like Kupari or Madden.

The is terrible for Winnipeg. Trading a top pairing defenseman for a middle 6 winger. Morrissey is far more valuable than a meh winner.

He had a few bad years after losing his parter in Trouba (which was a stellar paring btw). Couple that with the Jets losing the rest of any capable defenders and pairing him with guys like Nathan Beaulieu, what do you expect? He never was a play driving top line defender but has steadily improved and is coming back into form. Although he will never be a #1 play driving DMan, him and Schmidt/Pionk and/or Demelo have been capable T4 defenders.
Jets desperately need a #1 defender but the Jets decline.

I’m usually on board with your takes, but JoMo isn’t a top pairing DMan. He’s coming back into form, but he still needs a capable partner to play with to steady him. And he’s my favorite player, I even named my puppy after him. It was Morrissey or McAvoy (wifey is a huge B fan). To bad Chevy didn’t trade up to get him. Now he’s a #1 defender!

Morrissey should be sending part of his paycheck to Trouba. Could be top pair dman if partnered with a true number 1 dman but on really good teams he is a 2nd pairing dman. Three things to win cup very good goalie, depth down the middle and big minute Norris type dman. Jets have two of the three. They haven't recovered from 33 quitting.

Fully agree. He’s a great #3, and could definitely be a complimentary top line D, but he’s not a #1. Funny thing though, not only did JoMo have issues acclimating to losing Trouba, it appears Trouba had some growing pains as well. It’s not often you see that kind of pairing that relied on each other and were so complimentary together. I don’t think either are #1s but they played like they were when together.

Possibly a case could be made for him to be a #3, but you can also make a case he's a #2. It also depends on what you and I call a #2 or #3, which is subjective. So, I could hear that debate.

However, as we both agree here trading a top 4 defenseman for a low end 2nd line/average 3rd line winger, even with the first added in is just plain bad for the Jets.

Morrissey would be harder to replace than Villardi would be.

Looking at the risk-reward ratio, I would do this as the Los Angeles GM.

From LA's perspective, what are the risks?

Risk #1: we make this trade, and Vilardi turns into the top-6 forward we expect him to be.
Risk #2: we make this trade, and the first-rounder turns into a first-line player in 2 or 3 seasons.
Risk #3: we make this trade, and Morrissey turns out to be a failure opposite Drew Doughty.

Loss from Risk #1 eventuating: minimal, since Vilardi isn't playing on the Kings now, but with Ontario
Loss from Risk #2 eventuating: minimal, since the draft pick almost certainly won't mature into an NHL player for a couple of seasons
Loss from Risk #3 eventuating: more than minimal, because we'll have lost the value of Vilardi and the pick, but that wouldn't be the end of the world

Reward: we make this trade, and Morrissey turns into the #1LD we've always wanted to be opposite Drew Doughty.

In my opinion, the chance of Morrissey turning out to be just what we need probably exceeds the chance of the 3 risks listed happening. So I'd do it.

Tier 1- the absolute elites, McAvoy/Hedman/Buff etc. Guys who you can pair with anybody and make them look good. Buff and Weber made ChiaPet look good. Minute munching, all situations Norris candidates etc
Tier 2- guys who can maintain their play while playing with lesser players. JoMo can’t do this. He gets dragged down playing with the BooLoos. He needs a complimentary player such as Trouba to maintain this spot or a Buff to excel.
Tier 3- JoMos happy spot. He can drive plays, still eat a lot of minutes but can elevate his line mates and is definitely more relaxed and efficient.

I think if we were able to get a T2 RHD such as Pulock through, say through a FeFe trade, JoMo would excel as a top line DMan.
Top line D rarely get traded and almost none come through free agency, we need to draft one.