Three Montreal Canadiens Players Who Need To Prove Something Down The Stretch

Jordan Harris

Jordan Harris is doing a fine job proving he belongs at the NHL level. But that does not guarantee that he will stick with the Canadiens organization forever. It is simply a numbers game and the Canadiens can not keep everyone.

Harris was a third round pick of the team in 2018 and has steadily developed into a smart, defensive defenseman. He played four full seasons of college hockey at Northeastern developing his game and finally made his NHL debut late in the 2021-22 season. He impressed last season as a rookie, teaming up with Johnathan Kovacevic to form a shutdown duo on the third pairing.

This season has seen steady growth from Harris as well. He appears like he might be able to turn into a minute munching defender who puts up a few points, but just plays solid defensively witout making mistakes and also makes good reads and smart decisions to knock pucks away from the opposing team and gets pucks up to the Canadiens forwards.

But will it ever be enough to stick with the Canadiens long term? The team already has Kaiden Guhle and Mike Matheson as left defenders, Jayden Struble and Arber Xhekaj are also left defensemen who played well this season and Lane Hutson will be arriving shortly.

Does Harris even have a place to play next season? He is going to have to go out there in the final ten games and prove he is one of the players they should keep long term and they should look to trade someone else this summer.