A left-shot defenseman with eight goals and 32 points in 131 career games with Montreal, Harris has spent the bulk of the past two seasons with the Habs after completing a four-year career at Northeastern University. A native of Haverhill, Mass., he suited up for Team USA’s World Juniors squad in 2019-20 and was a third-round pick of Montreal in the 2018 draft.
In other words, he has some strong bona fides, and the 24-year-old expects to be able to continue to build his game going forward. He also thinks Columbus is a good place to do it based on previous trips to play the Blue Jackets and good things he’s heard about the city and organization from former CBJ player/Montreal teammate David Savard, as well as current and former Ohio State players with Massachusetts ties like Mason Lohrei, Gunnarwolfe Fontaine, Jake Wise and national championship women’s player Cayla Barnes.
“(I played there) my rookie year, and it was an unbelievable experience, just with the atmosphere and the cannon,” he said. “It’s just exciting. There’s a lot of excitement and it’s rowdy, and it seems like a great place to play. Everything I’ve heard so far from David Savard and buddies who went to Ohio State, they’ve all had fantastic things to say about the area and Columbus and the organization, so I’m definitely really excited about all of that.”
Harris is also familiar with Sean Monahan, who signed a five-year contract with Columbus this summer after playing last year with Montreal and Winnipeg, and Johnny Gaudreau, who he’s met a few times skating in Massachusetts, where Johnny Hockey was a standout at Boston College.
So it shouldn’t take much time to settle in with the Blue Jackets, and Harris said he can’t wait to get started.
“It just seems like a hungry group and a young team still trying to prove themselves, and that falls in line with where I am in my career,” Harris said. “I’ve played a couple of years but still like I have a lot more to give and I'm definitely hungry to prove that, show that. (There’s) new management, new coach, so there’s a lot of exciting pieces there.”
Harris also noted the transition to the NHL from college has many aspects to it, from the number of games on the schedule – double from NCAA hockey – to the fact that players have different lifestyles away from the rink. It’s all been part of a process for Harris, and he thinks all that he’s learned will help him as a player going forward after posting a 3-11-14 line and minus-5 rating in 56 games with the Habs last season.
“I think now that I have a better feeling and understanding of how things go and I have some games under my belt, I really feel like the next step in what I want to do is showcase what I work on in the summer, what I can do as a player,” he said. “I think as a defenseman, I’m not the biggest defenseman, but there’s a lot of tools I can use to defend hard and join the rush. I think there’s some offensive stuff I want to continue to add to my game while not taking away from my strengths as a defender.
“There’s a lot of good stuff, and I definitely I feel like there’s more that I can give, and I'm excited to show it and have been working on.”
Harris said that while he’s a left-shot defenseman, he can also play the right side, doing so his freshman year at Northeastern and also last season with the Canadiens. He also found out about the trade yesterday while he was at HomeGoods picking up a table for his apartment back in Massachusetts.
"It definitely was not what I was expecting going into HomeGoods," he said with a laugh.
Getting to know him should be fun for CBJ fans, including the fact that Harris – who is biracial and Jewish – is a member of the NHL/NHLPA Player Inclusion Coalition created in recent years to help grow the game. His hope is to be able to continue to act in that role and build the sport in Columbus upon his arrival.
“I think that hockey is a beautiful sport, and I’m incredibly lucky to be able to play hockey every single day,” he said. “But life is more than just hockey; it’s about how you impact people, it’s about what you do for your community, uplift it. I’m really looking forward to helping out however I can in Columbus. It’s something we’re very passionate about and definitely want to continue for sure.”
