After a few years of “will he or won’t he?”, the Montreal Canadiens have announced that they have signed defenceman Jordan Harris to a two-year NHL entry-level contract.
The Canadiens have agreed to terms on a two-year, entry-level contract with defenseman Jordan Harris (2021-22 to 2022-23). #GoHabsGo https://t.co/w6E1wEADxF
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) March 26, 2022
The agreement will see Harris earn $750,000 per season at the NHL level and contains signing bonuses of $92,500 each year. The deal also has performance “A” bonuses in the second year, to a maximum of $425,000. Harris is set to make $70,000 per season at the AHL level.
Drafted in the third round, 71st overall, in 2018, Harris was a standout defender for four years at Northeastern University.
The previous Canadiens regime tried to sign him last year, but Harris opted to return to NU for one more season. Then came an infamous quote in which former general manager Marc Bergevin said that if Harris didn’t want to sign, there was “nothing the team could do.”
Harris has always maintained that finishing his NCAA career was important to him and was the team’s captain in his senior season.
Kent Hughes has since changed that narrative, having made it a point to spend his early days as general manager watching the Beanpot tournament with Jeff Gorton, and sounding far more optimistic about getting a deal done. Harris played with Hughes’s son Jack at Northeastern. Interim head coach Martin St. Louis’s son also plays at the school.
Harris will burn the first year of his two-year entry-level contract upon playing his first NHL game in the organization, much like Ryan Poehling and Charlie Lindgren did in recent years. He will then be one full season away from getting a potentially more lucrative deal for the 2023-24 season.
Harris will wear #54.
