Montreal Canadiens: Jordan Harris Recognized for Terrific NCAA Season

The Montreal Canadiens are about to sell off veteran players ahead of the trade deadline.

Depending on how deep they plan on cutting this roster, the team could look a lot different when they face the Boston Bruins on March 21st, especially on defence.

Ben Chiarot is sure to be traded as a pending free agent with lots of trade value. Brett Kulak and Chris Wideman are also in the last year of their contracts before hitting free agency so they are likely on the way out.

Jeff Petry has also asked to be traded and though he is playing much better under new head coach Martin St. Louis he is still likely heading out of town. Whether that happens or not, the team is going to need some help on the blue line to close out the season. They could bring up Sami Niku from the minors, but there are not a lot of NHL ready options in Laval right now.

One player that could help fill that void on the blue line is Jordan Harris.

The Habs third round draft pick in 2018 is just wrapping up yet another strong season for the Northeastern Huskies. In fact, he was just recognized for his outstanding play last night.

Harris plays in the Hockey East Conference, and they handed out their annual awards yesterday. Harris helped Northeastern finish first in the 11 team conference on the strength of their defensive game and ability to shutdown the toughest of offensive opposition.

The team’s terrific defensive system had Jordan Harris as its backbone and that point was further driven home when he was named the Hockey East Defensive Defenceman of the Year.

Harris has always shown a strong two-way game during his college career and his terrific defensive game is what makes him so ready to step right into the NHL when his NCAA career is over.

That college career will come to an end this season, we just don’t know exactly when. Northeastern will begin its Hockey East playoffs this weekend with the conference Quarterfinals. As the top seed in the conference, Northeastern will be huge favourites, but it is just a one game showdown so anything can happen.

If they do win, they move on to the conference final four which will be played next weekend. The semifinals are on Friday March 18th and the two winners that day will face each other for the conference championship the following night.

If they win their conference, Northeastern will automatically move on to the NCAA Championships. Even if Harris’ squad loses, they could get an invitation to the tournament as 16 teams play off for the national title.

Those play downs begin on March 24th, and the National Championship game will take place April 7th.

There is still a lot of uncertainty around whether Harris will sign with the Canadiens following his college campaign. As a 4th year college player he has the right to wait until the middle of the summer and then become a free agent and sign with whichever NHL team he wants.

Of course, new Habs general manager Kent Hughes used to coach Harris as a peewee and Hughes sons Riley and Jack are teammates of Harris at Northeastern. So, the Canadiens general manager has as good a chance as anyone of convincing Harris to sign with the Canadiens.

After being named the best defensive player in his college conference, and earlier this season being named to the long list of Hobey Baker Award nominees, it would be a nice pickup for the Canadiens if they could replace one of their outgoing defensemen with Jordan Harris.

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